MFP Weekend Industry Notes 09/13/09

Gathered from Print4Pay Hotel Members from around the world and a few moles in very good places!

Konica Minolta has signed to be the Platinum sponsor for the upcoming ON DEMAND trade show in Russia on 10/28-11/3/2009.

Results of a survey conducted by the InfoPrint (division of Ricoh) of IT Managers who are responsible for print/mailroom operations/CRDs:
- 2/3’s believe they are spending too much on postage
- More than half have not planned for or implemented Intelligent Mail barcoding for postal discounts
- Nearly half feel that their operations could be running more efficiently
- 90% feel pressure from management to lower costs
- 66% are trying to reduce print volumes
- 60% encouraging e-delivery of documents
- 38% considering workforce reductions
- 77% believe they could benefit from more automation

Hewlett Packard announced that it has authorized Pitney Bowes to be a dealer for its upcoming HP T300 Inkjet Web Press, a production color inkjet system. Details:
- PB plans on bundling with a mail finishing system
- PB will provide software transformations from AFP/IPDS, Metacode and/or LCDS protocols
- PB will provide service and support
- Will be called IntelliJet system, with approximate MSRP of $4 million
- 400 feet per minute in full color
- 30” wide printing
- 1200x600dpi
- Will start selling in January of 2010
- PB will build showroom for product in Shelton, Connecticut

Large printer, RR Donnelley & Sons Co. of Chicago, announced it will assist Hewlett Packard in designing future color inkjet presses.

Kodak taking a gamble with its booth at Print 09 Show in Chicago. For the first time, it will not display any of its production print systems (DigiMaster, NexPress, Prosper, Versamark, etc.). Instead, it will have a 24 foot long multi-media display to show videos of the equipment. In contrast, Xerox will apparently have at least 18 models on display running jobs.

Canon now shipping the imagePRESS CR Server A7000, which is a relabeled Creo print controller for its imagePRESS C7000VP system.

Ricoh announced, that through its InfoPrint division, it is offering versions of its 90/1107/1357 production b/w systems with MICR toner for check printing. In addition, it will offer MICR ink for the InfoPrint 5000 color inkjet system (relabeled product from Screen of Israel)

Ricoh announced that its factory direct branched will now sell VoIP phone systems from Fonality. No kidding, Ricoh had stated they were not going to rely on hardware!

EFI announced a new operating system for its Fiery print servers called System 9 featuring:
- embedded JDF technology, enabling integration with 3rd party workflow applications
- includes version 5.0 of Command WorkStation
- optional Fiery SeeQuence Suite (Impose, Compose)
- IPP enabled printer support
- Will ship in Q4, 2009

Xerox’s Chief Technology Officer, Sophie Vandebroek, announced that Xerox plans on launching a production color system using the wax technology used in the ColorQube.

Xerox launched the iGen4 220, which is advertised as printing full color at 220 impressions per minute. This is actually two iGen4s bolted together, so paper moving at 110ppm has both sides imaged at same time. Pricing not announced.

Oce’ announced the new JetStream 3300 production color inkjet system:
- top speed of 492 feet per minute
- prints up to 30” wide on rolls of paper
- comes standard with black ink, and option allows for CMYK
- pricing not announced

Oce’ announced the new VarioPrint 6320 Ultra production b/w system featuring:
- Cutsheet printer
- 308ppm top speed
- Maximum monthly duty cycle of 10 million per month
- Pricing not announced

Oce’ announced that during the PRINT 09 trade show in Chicago, it will have a CS665 (relabeled Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6501) printing free copies of a perfect bound book, titled “Where’s My Birthday Cake”. The photo book was created by professional photographer, Jason Lee, featuring his daughters, Kristin & Kayla.

Peerless, maker of generic print controllers, provided its last quarter’s financials:
- Revenue of $2.1 million, down from $3.3 million last year
- Gross margin of 65.2% compared to 50.4% last year
- Net income of $2 million

eCopy won both the “Spring 2009 Pick Award” & “5 Star Award” from Buyers Labs, Inc. (BLI), and was the only document imaging software vendor to receive a “Pick” in this round of awards.

Brother introduced a new series of desktop A4 color inkjet AIO’s (starting at $129) and advertised them as offering a speed of 28ppm for color, but this speed is based on a page with only 5% coverage per color.

Toshiba division general manager, Kuniaki Kumamuru, stated that the company plans on significantly increasing investment in its LED lightbulb division in an interview with Reuters:
- is considering acquisitions to grow the division
- company produced Japan’s first incandescent light bulb in 1890
- goal is to have $3.8 million in LED lightbulb sales by 2015
- current selling price is $40 to $50 for a 100 watt LED lightbulb
- will open sales offices in France, US, Britain and Germany by end of year

Keyscan introduced a new keyboard that customer could buy for their PC’s that incorporates a single sheet color scanner into the back. Pricing unannounced.

IPEX, a production print group in Europe, announced that its “Champions in Print” award will be to the founders of Adobe and inventors of PostScript, Dr. John Warnock and Dr. Chuck Geschke.

IBML, a dealer in Wyoming, won a document management bid from Wyoming Medical Center. Details:
- 5 year contract worth $200,000
- As a result of new software and scanners, hospital reduced its scanning/indexing staff by 33%
- Bid included ImageTrac software and scanners
- Hospital believes it will save $450,000 total over life of contract
- Hospital has 205 beds in Casper, WY
- Campus covers 719,000 square feet
- 150 physicians
- Will scan 52,000 pages per day

Online Print Solutions, maker of web-to-print and VDP software, announced it now offers Multi-Touch Campaign software, which generates personalized URLs (PURL) for end users to respond to direct mail offerings.

XMPie, maker of variable data software, announced a new option called “Email Service”, which will send out and track email marketing messages to end users to supplement VDP direct mail offerings.

Recent findings published by The CMO Council on chief marketing officers in the U.S.:
- average tenure of a CMO is 23.2 months
- 50% CMOs are hired to fix broken marketing departments
- 56% of marketers perceive themselves as being customer centric,
but only 12% of customers surveyed agree
- 83% of CMOs face change resistant corporate cultures
- 76% of companies are not realizing the full revenue potential of their customers
- On average, 31% of marketing budget is spent on print jobs
- Only 25% of CMOs know what TransPromo is

GE Capital’s Leasing Director, Jim Kelly, gave out info in a recent interview:
- Has been in copier leasing for 20 years (started with acquisition of leasing
business from Chase Manhattan)
- Serves 8,000 dealers
- Has leases with 500,000 end users
- Is investing $3 million in “Touchless Initiative”
- “We’re trying to get that instant feel you have with a credit card”
- “Our vision is one minute turn time. That’s one minute from application through funding. That’s a lofty, loft goal, but that’s the vision we have for this.”

Have customers that want to make business cards with their color MFP? Michael Business Machines (MBM) introduced the BC12. This desktop device takes thick stock from your color MFP, and slices it up into 12 business cards in a single pass, at a speed of 60 cards per minute (13 sheets per minute top speed)

Details from the recent Sharp Align 09 national sales meeting for its dealers:
- Was at the Gaylord Resort in Washington, DC
- Plans on launching a managed print services program based on partnerships
with LMI, PrintAudit and Compass in October
- Has more than 400 authorized dealers in the US
- Has 10 factory direct branches
- Has stopped buying copier dealers (due to poor economy)
- Showed future products:
- Un-named 62ppm & 75ppm A3 b/w MFPs
- 150 sheet document feeder that scans both sides of original at same time
- Scans in color
- Color LCD display
- Pullout keyboards
- Will ship in June, 2010
- MX-M283N, a 28ppm A3 MFP
- MX-M503N, a 50ppm A3 MFP
- Optional air purifier for $500 with copier status lights
- 40ppm color A4 printer
- 40ppm b/w A4 printer
- ScanPro desktop scanners
- One model is b/w only, other is color
- Scan both sides of original at same time
- Can scan business cards and medical info cards

-=Good Selling=-