Toshiba financial woes update
– The Kyodo News Agency stated that the company may post a $6.1 billion loss due to accounting issues.
– Hiroshige Seko, Japan’s Minister of Economy, stated that a government rescue plan is not under consideration.
– According to the Nikkei Financial Daily newspaper in Japan, the troubled company is working to sell a 20% interest in its semiconductor division for $1.77 billion to $2.66 billion. o Interested buyers include Canon and Western Digital.
– The news caused the price of its stock to drop another 15% lower o Total market capitalization is now only $11 billion
3D printer vendor dumps its CEO
– MakerBot announced that Jonathan Jaglom, has left position of CEO
– Current company president, Nadav Goshen, will take over. o "I am excited to continue working towards our vision of putting a desktop 3D printer in every classroom and on the desk of every designer and engineer"
MPS revenue growth projected
– Research published by Transparency Market Research
– Global market for managed print services predicted to grow at 14.8% CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate)
– Will rise from $26.18 billion in 2015 to $94.97 billion by 2024
Intec launches new production color system
– Intec Printing Solutions Limited launched the ColorSplash CS3000
– Desktop or floor-standing color LED system
– Engine manufactured by Okidata
– Top speed of 50ppm
– Able to print on wide range of substrates including: o Polyester
o digital PE
o 55gsm NCR type media
o up to 500gsm heavy card stocks (does not offer service contract covering fuser)
o magnetic and metallic foil media
o sheet sizes from 63 x 89mm right up to 330mm by 1,321mm long for banner printing
Canon shipping new A3 b/w laser MFPs
– launched the imageRUNNER ADVANCE 4525i, 4535i, 4545i & 4551i
– 25, 35, 45 & 51ppm top speeds respectively
– Base MSRPs of $8000, $10,000, $13,500 & $15,000 respectively
– White plastic exterior with dark grey accent in middle
– 1200x1200dpi
– Can replace toner on the fly
– Comes standard with 100 sheet stack bypass and 2 paper drawers o Can add two 500 sheet universal paper trays
o Can add 2,450 sheet paper deck
o Can add 2700 sheet side mount paper deck
o Handles up to 140lb. index
– Optional 600dpi fax board
– Choice of two document feeders o Reversing document holds up to 100 originals top scan speed of 35opm
o Document feeder scans both sides of original at same time Holds up to 150 originals
Scans up to 80opm or 160ipm
– Finishing options include: o Booklet making
o Stapling
o Staple free stapling
o Hole punching
– Built-in print controller: o PCL and PS print drivers standard
o Processor speed unknown (Canon refuses to publish)
o 10/100/1000BaseT & USB ports
o 3GB RAM
o 250GB hard drive (can expand to 1 terabyte)
o Advertised as offering data security features standard, but customer must buy optional data security kit in order to be certified
Xerox wins production print contract
– award from MAR Graphics of Valmeyer, IL
– installed a Xerox Nuvera 314 production b/w system
– will be used to produce a wide variety of mail, trans-promo and other print projects
– "This additional device is a good complement to our already existing fleet of B/W and color print engines" stated Scott Roever, V.P. Digital Print Operations and part-owner
Xerox sues former customer
– Lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for Central District of California
– Filed against Video Reporter Inc. of Los Angeles, CA
– Claims that customer defaulted on agreement in April, 2016
– Seeking payment of $488,855.52 plus interest, legal fees and other relief
Kodak may take another big loss
– Has been trying to sell off its Prosper production color inkjet system division
– Announced that it would incur between $12 million and $17 million in costs related to selling the division
– As much as $7 million of that will be for employee separation benefits
– $6 million for inventory write-downs
– $3 million for asset write-offs
– $1 million in cash charges
– $3 million to $5 million for cash expenditures related to special termination benefits from company’s pension plans
Printer/MFP makers total revenue review
– Presented by Actionable Intelligence magazine
– Brother = first half revenue down 9.7% o Full fiscal year revenue forecast down 10.5%
– Canon = 9 month revenue down 16.2% o Full fiscal year revenue forecast down 14.9%
– Epson = first half revenue down 10.7% o Full fiscal year revenue forecast down 9%
– Fuji (maker of most Xerox products) = first half revenue down 9.5% o Full fiscal year revenue forecast down 3.7%
– HP = 4th quarter revenue down 8.2% o Full fiscal year revenue forecast down 14%
– Lexmark = 9 month revenue down 7%
– Okidata = first half revenue down 8.1% o Full fiscal year revenue forecast down 7.7%
– Ricoh = first half revenue down 12.5% o Full fiscal year revenue forecast down 10.3%
– Xerox = third quarter revenue down 8.5%
Flexprint has first meeting with acquisitions
– Flexprint, headquartered in Mesa, Arizona, held its annual FlexPrint FUSE Conference held on Thursday, January 12th at the Tempe Center of the Arts Center Theater
– This was first meeting that brought together Flexprint, and two recent acquisitions, Laser Options and ProCopy, both of which are in Phoenix metro.
– Meeting explained to employees the company’s vision and strategy "to exponentially grow the business across the country and become the largest document technology partner in the nation"
– "When I think about the great people we have within our growing organization, who consistently go above and beyond in taking care of our customers, and who create our amazing culture that everyone wants to be a part of, I personally get real excited about the opportunities that will open up for them with our strategy," states Frank Gaspari, CEO of FlexPrint LLC
– Promotions announced were: o Diane Waltemath as Vice President of Administration
o Tim Stevenson (founder of ProCopy) as Chief Operation Officer
Ricoh wins production print contract
– Award from Illinois Wesleyan University of Bloomington, IL
– Installed a Pro C7110 production color system
– Commentary from Susan Sombeck, decision maker in InPlant magazine: o "I wish I would have known how slow printing and marrying different weights of paper is without an insertion tray when we print and stitch in-line."
o "Because of the G7 Color Certification we can push a press job to the C7110 if we do not have time to print offset"
o "The white ink has not taken off yet. Advertising would help but we do not see a big need for white ink"
o "The booklet maker (install) was longer than I expected and we were missing a cord"
o "I had hoped to save about 3 feet in length of the machine and I didn’t"
o "When you choose equipment with new advances there are bound to be quirks"
o "Our new copiers were stuck out to sea during the dock strike which caused a few weeks’ delay"
o "There are always electrical issues; outlets had to be moved and a few last-minute adjustments made."
o "Allow at least a week for production equipment to get up and running"
o "The clear tone can go fast if you use it at 100%"
o "We had one early job eat up an entire bad of clear toner"
o "If you plan on printing low volume of envelopes, negotiate an extra transfer belt that you can switch out when you print"
o "The envelopes will leave a mark when you switch to larger paper, unless you have one dedicated to envelopes, similar to an oil mark on older machines when switching from 8.5"x11" to 11"x17""
Ricoh makes PPS-related acquisition
– Announced it acquired Avanti Software of Toronto, Canada
– Maker of the "Slingshot" JDF-certified Print MIS solutions
– Solution automates printshops from web-to-print through to production and billing
Ricoh to make its own 3D printers
– Reported in 3DPrint magazine during interview with Colin Weaver, a Ricoh executive in England
– Discussed "potential alterations or changes to company’s business model"
– "leading various research initiatives on discovering unique business models using Ricoh’s existing resources and technologies"
– "looking for alternatives….outside the realm of electrophotographic printing"
– Secured a contract with a private company in Spain that is using 3D printing technology to produce custom-built prosthetic limbs
– Planning to introduce a "3D printing hydrogel" used to print out replica organs for practice operations at hospitals or educational institutions
United Nations reports on eWaste increase
– According to a study, there is a 63% increase of electronic waste being disposed of in Asia
– The waste is coming from discarded smartphones, computers, laptops, printers, MFPs, and other appliances
– Contributed to 12.3 million tons of waste between 2010 and 2015
– These tech products contain toxic chemicals including lead and mercury
Samsung’s president avoids arrest by police
– Prosecutor’s called for the arrest of Samsung President Lee Jae-yong for alleged bribery of South Korean government officials
– A judge, however, refused to issue the arrest warrant, claiming lack of evidence
– South Korea has a long history of pardoning the leaders or its largest family-run companies
– "We will take necessary steps and persist in our investigation without wavering."; stated Lee Kyu-chul, a spokesperson for the special prosecutor.
Sharp sued by Samsung
– Result of Sharp’s new owner, Terry Gou (aka CEO of Hon Hai Precision, aka Foxconn, the new owner of Sharp) deciding to no longer supply Samsung with Sharp-made LCD panels for use in Samsung HDTVs
– Samsung has filed request with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to demand that Sharp resume supply of LCD panels or compensate the company for the loss o Previous to stoppage, Sharp was selling 4-5 million panels per year to Samsung
o Terry Gou has stated he would prefer to sell the panels with Sharp name and compete with Samsung
o
PrinterLogic announces new solution
– The software company, headquartered in St. George, Utah, is a provider of enterprise print management (follow you type solution)
– Announced launch of PrinterCloud, a cloud-based solution for SMB
– Provides printer driver deployment, self-service printer installation and pull printing
– Supports elimination of print servers
– Pricing starts at $1200 per year for 10 printer pack
What colors mean in direct mail
– From Business2Community magazine
– The psychology of color: o Red = excitement
o Blue = trust
o Yellow = optimism
o Green = peace
o Violet = creativity
– Overall image colors convey o Red = trendy and unique
o Blue = honest and wholesome
o Yellow = rugged and outdoorsy
o Green = hard working and secure
o Violet = charming and sophisticated
Hewlett Packard Enterprise makes buy
– Announced it spent $650 million to acquire SimpliVity Software, a hyperconverged infrastructure vendor
– "This transaction expands HPE’s software-defined capability and fits squarely within our strategy to make Hybrid IT simple for customers."; stated Meg Whitman, CEO.
Woman tries to make cash with color copier
– Brandi Lowery Harden was arrested by police in Lake City, Florida
– She attempted to use fake $20 bills to make a purchase at a local Walmart, and local Applebees restaurant.
– When arrested, she was in possession of numerous counterfeit bills as well as a color MFP.
One solution vendor buys another
– PSIGEN Software Inc. of Madison, Alabama, announced it has acquired Cabinet Document Management Solutions of Alabama
– PSIGEN is maker of popular document capture/scanning solutions
– Acquisition will now allow them to sell a complete solution by bundling Cabinet’s SAFE document management solution
– Purchase price not announced
Microsoft files patent for inkless print
– Filed patent for e-Ink displays, which can be endlessly recycled and re-used
– Past attempts at e-Ink displays were a poor substitute for paper, offering neither the low cost or flexibility
– Microsoft’s idea is to divorce the bi-stable e-Ink display from its electronics, batteries, communication and other elements, creating a re-usable e-Ink "paper" and a new type of printer, which instead of using expensive ink would simply use electric fields to "write" information on the e-ink displays.
– Because the e-ink display would have no electronics it would be both cheap and bendable, and therefore be a good stand-in for paper
– To change the information on the page users would simply feed the sheet back into the printer again.
– Microsoft’s patent imagines an innovation to the display which would expose both sides of the electrodes (the front and the back) to the front of the device, which would allow the printers to print by only addressing one side of the page, and which would simplify the construction of the e-Ink printers.
HEALTHCARE VERTICAL NEWS
GPOs share content
– HPS, a GPO, announced it signed agreement so that its members have access to products and services from the ROi GPO o HPS is headquartered in Middleville, Michigan and is a member-owned group purchasing organization
– ROI (aka Resource Optimization & Innovation) is headquartered in St. Louis, MO o Was created by the Sisters of Mercy Health System IDN
o 1,400 members, 22 acute care hospitals
o Texas Purchasing Coalition (TPC) also a member
Healthcare CIO survey about IT 2017 budget
– Survey published by Harvey Nash/KPMG
– Healthcare IT budget growth is "outpacing other sectors"
– 52% of healthcare CIOs see increases in IT budgets for 2017
– 35% see budget unchanged
– 80% see growing strategic role in their organization
– 33% say their organization has enterprise-wide digital business strategy and vision
Healthcare CIO survey on 2017 investments
– Survey published by Healthcare IT News magazine
– Answer to question about top solutions CIO plan on introducing or investigating in 2017 o 45% = analytics
o 45% = workflow improvements
o 44% = telehealth
o 41% = population health
o 41% = smart devices
o 34% = remote patient monitoring
o 21% = precision medicine
– Answer to question about what they plan on upgrading in 2017 o 52% = PHI security
o 51% = analytics
o 44% = patient engagement
o 44% = population health
o 31% = EHR
o 24% = remote patient monitoring
o 22% = revenue cycle management
Auxilio makes another acquisition
– Auxilio is a managed print services company in Mission Viejo, CA that markets MPS programs to hospitals across the U.S.
– Announced it spent $34.3 million to acquire CynergisTek, a healthcare IT security services firm in Austin, Texas. o Company had $15 million in revenue in 2016
MEDITECH wins EHR contract
– Award from Phelps Memorial Health Center of Nebraska
– Implementation contract given to Parallon Technology Solutions
Epic wins EHR contract
– Award from BJC HelathCare of Missouri
– Included MModal solution for speech recognition and clinical documentation
MGMA Survey on use of Telemedicine
– MGMA is Medical Group Management Association
– Answer to question as to whether or not a practice will offer some form of telehealth services in 2017
– 36.23% = No
– 21.21% = planning to
– 20.53% = unsure
– 16.83% = currently do
– 5.21% = don’t know
HIPAA/Data Security updates:
– Vanderbilt University of Nashville, TN announced that a hacker took control of some printers and MFPs on campus and forced them to print out Anti-Semitic flyers, much to the dismay of the local Jewish community and students. (unknown what makes and models were affected, however, dealer Robert J. Young Company has contract to support Canon and HP products on campus) This is similar to other attacks last year that hit: o University of California – Santa Clara
o Brown University
o Princeton University
– The federal Office for Civil Rights issued an update for HIPAA regarding requirements of Audit Controls: o Must be able to produce audit logs, defined as records of events based on applications, users and systems
o Audit trails are defined as maintaining a record of system activity by application processes and by user activity within systems and applications
o Must implement hardware, software and/or procedural mechanisms that record and examine activity that use or contain PHI
– Protenus Research report on healthcare breaches in 2016: o 450 breaches disclosed to media
o 27 million affected patients
o 43% of breaches were result of insiders
o Most of PHI exposed was result of hacking
o Took an average of 233 days for healthcare facility to discover breach
o If breach was caused by insider, took an average of 607 days
o $6.2 billiono is total cost of breaches in healthcare in 2016
o 90% of hospitals have reported a breach in past 2 years
o $610,000 is average forensics cost to a hospital for a breach $560,000 is average notification cost
$880,000 is average legal cost
$440,000 is average cleanup cost
o $3.7 million is average lost revenue for a hospital after a breach
– Quocirca report on print security: o 61% have experienced at least one printing related data breach
o 47% = unclaimed print jobs in output tray
o 44% = documents scanned from MFP to outside world
o 48% = MFP hard drive theft or unauthorized data retrieval
o 50% = print jobs intercepted at the print queue on network
o 18% = MFP hacked into while on network
– Modern Healthcare magazine survey of provider executives revealed that: o 35% feel uninformed about use of advanced tech like artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analysis in cyber security protection
o 27% was to implement these new tools
– Ponemon Institute published results of research: o $402 is average cost per compromised PHI record (to notify and offer credit monitoring service for each exposed patient)
o 87% of healthcare lawyers who believe their clients are at greater risk
o $1367 average spent by hackers to specialized toolkits
o $14,711 average revenue gained by hackers from successful PHI breaches
o 8 attacks per year on average per hacker
– The Surgery Center in Joliet, Illinois notified 836 patients that their PHI was exposed after paper operating room schedules went missing.
– Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles notified 3600 patients that their PHI was exposed after a laptop computer was stolen.
– The federal Food and Drug Administration confirmed that medical devices made by St. Jude Medical could be hacked into, putting patients at risk.
– Atmore Community Hospital of Alabama notified 1,000 patients that their PHI was illegally accessed by a former employee.
– Sentara Healthcare of Virginia notified 5,454 patients that their PHI was exposed during a breach at one of its vendors.
– Little Red Door Cancer Services of East Central Indiana in Muncie announced that it was hit with ransomware from The Dark Overlord who demanded $43,000, but the facility was able to restore without paying ransom.
– Anderson Mill Health and Rehabilitation Center of Austell, GA notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed when it was illegally accessed by a former employee.
– Jocelyn Samuels, in her last act as President Obama’s OCR director (HIPAA enforcer), announced that MAPERE Life Insurance of Puerto Rico will pay a $2.2 million fine for breach affecting 2,000 patients after a USB thumb drive was stolen. (the company had apparently never conducted a HIPAA risk assessment)
– CoPilot Provider Support Services of Long Island, NY notified 220,000 patients that their PHI may have been exposed after a hacking attempt.
