Weekend MFP Notes from 2/15/09

Xerox is protesting a bid award given to a Ricoh dealer. The Westport Public School District of Connecticut awarded their contract to Advanced Copy Technologies, owned by Greg Gondak. The contract was for 60 months with b/w clicks at $0.009. Xerox claims that its subsidiary, CBS, should have won the bid because it was substantially less, including clicks at only $0.0042. The contract included 5 million clicks per quarter.

- Xerox announced it sold two of its X980 production print systems. These units have twin engines, and use flash fusing for top speed of 900ppm.

- Xerox announced it won a bid to provide 20 color MFPs to Fiat Automotive of England.

- Kodak gave an update on its future color inkjet press, called the Stream:
- 2500 ppm top speed
- 508-660mm wide web that move rolls of paper at 150-200 meters per minute
- Designed to compete against the HP Digital Web Offset press
- Will launch in early 2010

- In a study conducted by PIA/GATF, postcards made by a Kodak NexPress S3000 survived being delivered by the U.S. Postal Service with less marks than any other production color system tested.

- IKON won a bid from the Winchester School District of Indiana. The contract is for 5 years.

- In a survey completed by the Photizo Group the following was discovered about dealers who provide managed print services:
- even after an assessment is performed, only 52% of prospects end up signing up for a MPS contract
- The fastest growing segment of customer that is choosing MPS are those with 500-999 employees
- 92% of companies that try MPS renew their contracts

- Hewlett Packard claims that by the year 2011 that its printers will use 40% less energy than they do today.

- Hewlett Packard announced 0% interest lease programs to boost sales of its printers and MFPs.

- Microsoft, in an effort to increase sales, announced it will open Microsoft stores in the U.S., just like Apple Computer has done. Also considering this supposedly is Hewlett Packard.

- BERTL recently completed a test of the Konica Minolta bizhub PRO 1050e, and gave it the coveted “5 Star” award. The report can be purchased at www.BERTL.com. Example of review includes this statement; “BERTL was impressed with the system’s steel paper drawers, which we found to be very sturdily constructed – a key advantage for high volume applications”

- Oce’ announced it will sell its paper making division to Precision Paper Company. Oce’ will sell its plants in Guilford, CT, Charleston, IL and Corona, CA. Purchase price not announced.

- Panasonic launched a new desktop color laser AOI (all-in-one mfp) offering, called the KX-MC6000 series:
- 20ppm top speed
- 4 tandem OPC drum design
- A4 (letter/legal size only)
- Scan/copy/print/fax
- 50 sheet document feeder
- Optional automatic duplexer
- 3.6” full color LCD display
- 1200x1200dpi (does not offer true 8 bits per pixel)
- Can receive faxes into memory, and then preview them on the LCD
- Pricing not announced
- optional extended warranties do not include supplies

- In Japan, Panasonic has requested that 10,000 of its employees go out and buy 1,000 yen worth of Panasonic electronic items to boost company revenues.

- Some involved with the construction of Canon manufacturing plants in China are involved with scandal. Norihisa Oga, president of Oita, Japan based Daiko Contracting, demanded and received millions of yen from another contractor, Nichimatsu, after winning contracts to build plants in Hiratsuka. Major construction firm Kajima Corp. is suspected to have provided Daiko billions in yen in return for securing Canon contracts.

- Okidata announced that it plans on launching more floor standing A3 color LED MFPs during the ITEX trade show.

- Kyocera announced that it will bring 15 new MFP models to market in 2009, most of which will be color laser devices. The company also announced the formation of a dealer council, which will be led by Jim Oricchio, owner of Coordinated Business Systems.

- Ricoh announced it will resell DocuLex Archive Studio content management solution software. Packages for 10 users start at $11,994.00 MSRP.

- Ricoh showed its embedded software capabilities at the recent IBM Pulse conference in Las Vegas. Their booth showed IBM’s Tivoli Asset Management software running on the control panel of a Ricoh color MFP.

- Lexmark now shipping its T650 series of A4 b/w MFPs that offer speeds up to 53ppm. While the MSRPs start as low as $2500, the optional extended warranties do not include the expensive supplies. The black toner cartridge, with a yield of 36,000 pages, based on 5% coverage per page, sells for $508.20 each.

- US Express Leasing has changed its name to Tygris Vendor Finance and has offices in Chicago, Stamford and Parsippany.