MFP Weekend Notes from 8/30/09

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

Toshiba’s copier division in the U.S., called Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) announced it has hired Jive Software of Portland, Oregon to develop a social business network to connect its sales, service, admin and corp. professionals. Cost not announced. Will be called Toshiba eXCHANGE and include:
- Detailed profiles of members allowing users to connect directly with Toshiba employees
- Blogs that will keep members aware of ongoing product and program updates
- Video clips that will provide product info
- Content ratings
- RSS feeds that mark key interest areas
- Intelligent searches

Printable Technologies announced that its variable data software, FusionPro, will now support the AFP print file format from IBM. It also is now compatible with DirectSmile personalization software.

Hewlett Packard won a bid from the City of Langford, Canada for an undisclosed number of HP LaserJet MFPs. This was to change a situation of; “a printer next to a copier next to a fax machine”. The new contract will supposedly save the city $375,000 per year, and included Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server and Notable Solutions Inc.’s AutoStore software.

Xerox won a bid from Fayetteville-Perry Elementary School district in Ohio. Revenue and total units not announced, but it is a 5 year cost per copy lease.

More details on the bid that Xerox won from Methodist Healthcare in San Antonio, Texas:
- facilities management contract
- covers 23 different facilities
- claims it will save the healthcare facilities “millions per year”.
- decision maker was Geoff Crabtree, Senior VP
- reduced forms used from 1,200 to 300
- 25,000,000 impressions total per year
- 2 million b/w forms used monthly
- 1 million color brochures printed annually
- Includes an iGen4 production color system, Nuvera 120MX production b/w system and
Nuvera 120EA DPS production b/w system with booklet maker

Xerox announced it has sold three of its new 700 Digital Color Press production color system to three different printshops in South Africa. The buyers were Copy Wizards, Hot Ink and Top Copy.

Amcom Office Systems announced it won a 5 year contract to supply MFPs to the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County in Pennsylvania. Details:
- The contract will supposedly save county tax payers $2.3 million.
- County will take delivery of 406 units
- Is a 5 year cost per copy lease
- Based on minimum volume of 3.2 million copies per month
- Total value of contract of $2.6 million, or 47% less than prior contract
- County will remove many, but not all, of its desktop printers
- The City will take delivery of 105 units, and supposedly will save $38,000 per year
- The Allegheny County Airport Authority will take delivery of 18 units


Sappi Fine Papers North America announced it is closing its paper mill in Muskegon, Michigan due to declining sales.

Sharp announced that it will offer DocuLex software, made in Winter Haven, FL, as an optional embedded application for its MFPs.

Sharp will hold its annual dealer meeting in Washington DC from 8/31 to 9/2/09.

Sharp dealer, Advanced Business Systems of Molina, Iowa, is growing. Its new 11,000 square foot facility will be at 4631 44th Street. Owner Jim Soucinek started the company in 1970, and now has 23 employees, and also sells and services Lexmark & HP products.

Gartner Research reports that shipments of MFPs are down 25% in 2009, versus 2008. “In the worst case scenario could hit 30%” stated senior analyst Todd Prabhakar.

Apple releases its new operating system, Snow Leopard, and went on sale on 8/28/09 as a $29 upgrade. The new system uses far less memory than its predecessors, but must be run on an Intel based Macintosh computer.

Epson Corp. pleaded guilty to price fixing when it sold LCDs to Motorola for its Razr cell phone, and will pay a fine of $26 million

Hewlett Packard has been hit with a patent infringement suit by Acacia Research Corp., over videoconferencing technology.

Toshiba & Hitachi are supposedly planning on jointly making hard disk drives, using new nanotechnology to boost recording density. The Japanese government supposedly will invest $48 million in the new venture, which will ship new products in 2012.

The Equipment Leasing & Finance Association’s (ELFA) Monthly Leasing and Finance Index reported that new business volume of declined by 35.1% as compared to same period in 2008. Other data:
- receivable over 30 days increased by 18.2%
- charge-offs increased by 56.1%
- credit approvals now at 65.5% as compared with 73.3% last year
- 47% of leasing companies reported decrease in transactions

Global Graphics & Conexant announced that they will jointly develop print controllers for printer and MFP makers.:
- Global Graphics purchased Harlequin PostScript technology in 1999
- Harlequin acquired JAWS PDF technology in 2000
- Conexant purchased Freescale print controller technology for just $16.1 million in 2008
- Freescale acquired this technology from SigmaTel in 2008 for $110 million
- SigmaTel acquired this technology in 2007 for $57 million.

-=Good Selling=-