Toshiba financial issues update
– Toshiba’s auditor, Pricewaterhouse Coopers Aarata (PwCA) announced it will issue a “qualified opinion”
o finally signed off Toshiba’s FY2016 financial statement and Q1/17 numbers but with a “disputed qualification”
o Toshiba should avoid Tokyo Stock Exchange delisting on that account.
o Net sales in FY16 were $44.6 billion
§ Net loss of $8.8 billion
o Q1 of 2017 saw sales of $10.4 billion
§ net income of $455 million
o dispute over the timing of Toshiba’s recognition of its losses from its nuclear division, which is now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
– Toshiba had been threatened with delisting if the accounts were not filed
o still at risk, under-capitalized and shareholder equity is negative $4.6 billion
o Its corrective action is to raise cash by selling its memory business but Toshiba is in a convoluted legal dispute with Western Digital Corporation (WDC) over its right to do this.
o needs to raise the cash needed by March 31, 2018, the end of its fiscal year.
– Talks to sell its NAND memory chip manufacturing division to a preferred bidding consortium, led by Japanese state-backed funds, and with participation from Bain Capital in the USA and Korea’s SK Hynix, had stalled because of the WDC legal case and WDC’s objection to competitor SK Hynix’s inclusion.
o But Toshiba is now talking again to Foxconn (aka Hon Hai Precision Industries) and WDC about the sale.
Samsung’s leader appears in court
– Reuters News Service reports that Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee of Samsung “fought back tears and denied wrongdoing” during his first court appearance
o “I deeply regret that I have given such disappointment and apologize”
– Prosecutors are seeking a 12 year jail term on charges of bribery and corruption
o Also looking to imprison two other Samsung officials
– Lee has been incarcerated since February, 2017
– Court will rule on case on 8/25/17
– “The arrest of Lee Jae-yong itself was significant in South Korea society as it sent a message that the justice system will no longer tolerate corruption in corporations the same way it used to. It is now time for South Korean companies to evolve and break away from the traditional illegal deals.”; stated Kim Woochan, professor at Korea University
Ricoh wins university CRD contract
– Award from Syracuse University of New York
– For the university’s copy center
– center will offer copy, printing and shipping services
– includes production print systems as well as wide format color inkjet printer
– As part of the contract, Ricoh will also:
o participate in two career fairs
o provide access to internship and career opportunities
o present professional development workshops for students two times per year
o offer scholarship support to students from underrepresented populations including students of color and first-generation students.
Ricoh gives more details on Streamline NX
– launched the 3rd version of the scan/print/device management platform
– first launched in 2013 as way to combine GlobalScan and Device Manager NX
– interface is now entirely HTML 5
– advertised as only needing 15 minutes to install
– base level includes Device Manager
o for Device Manager plus scanning solution for a single unit = $660
o adding print management raises price = $1150 per device
– incorporates all capabilities of GlobalScan
– comes standard with connectors to Microsoft OneDrive, MS Sharepoint 365, Documentum, IBM FileNet, OpenText Content Manager and RightFax
– comes standard with mobile print
– Optional Scan & Capture module provides bar code and zonal OCR = $6000 for unlimited devices
o Optional Mobile Capture module for $2000 for unlimited devices
– Includes failover and load balancing in print management module
– Core server can support up to 100,000 devices
– Comes standard with 90 different reports, tracking scanning, printing, copying and energy usage
– Includes choice of 35 different dashboards
– Available as an on premise or cloud based deployment
Sharp dealers wins university contract
– Award from University of Houston in Texas, with 43,700 students
– Won by Skelton Business Equipment, a Sharp dealer in Houston, TX
– RFP submission submitted by Skelton’s president, Jim Beyer, sales rep Collin Grimes, and Matt Euston from Sharp
– Includes 300 MFPs
Canon claims success in production print
– announced that it has installed more than 500 units of the imagePRESS C10000VP series of production color laser systems in EMEA region (Europe, Middle East & Africa)
– was originally launched in September of 2015
– includes both 80ppm and 100ppm versions
– Recent install was at Societe’ Moderne d’Impression, a commercial printer in Clermont, France
Canon ships new version of uniFLOW
– Launched uniFLOW 2018 LTS, an output/scan management solution (competes with Papercut, Equitrac, etc.)
– Now support USB connected imageFORMULA desktop scanners
– Automatic device failovers
– Redundant spool file storage
– Intelligent print job distribution
– Analyze print, copy, fax and scan usage
– Uses SQL database
– Pricing not announced
Xerox MFPs to integrate with Alexa
– Xerox announced that Xerox ConnectKey copier/MFPs now provide voice recognition (VR) technology, so that users can don’t have to use their copier’s control panel – but can now give their Xerox copier/MFP voice commands.
– partnership with Vision-e Voice and the Amazon Voice Recognition system, Alexa
– works with Xerox’s new ConnectKey i-Series, and the VersaLink and AltaLink models.
– Xerox will not be selling the Amazon Echo device, so customer will have to acquire on their own
– use for tasks such as making copies and scanning (Alexa will request the email address of Dropbox folder)
– also gathers info on MFP including toner-supply levels, meter reads, submission of a service request
– Alexa repeats the user’s command before performing the task
– Pricing for optional solution not announced
Former Xerox MSP division to cut costs
– According to CRN magazine, Conduent has slashed 9% of its sales, general and administrative costs and is considering leaving from $250 million to $500 million worth of non-core business behind.
– Based in Florham Park, N.J., is on track to achieve $700 million of cost savings by the end of 2018, according to CEO Ashok Vemuri.
o “Conduent inherited a sprawling, fragmented and costly operational structure that restrained our execution and competitiveness”
o “Aligning our cost structure and operational model with industry benchmarks is foundational to our turnaround plan.”
– Conduent will divest some of the items that are non-core, which today account for between $250 million and $500 million of the company’s revenue, according to Vemuri.
o “When we separated from Xerox six months ago, Conduent was an assortment of entities with an unfocused portfolio, redundant systems, inconsistent processes, and unreliable management information”
o “Evolving to become a singular, highly-focused company is fundamental to our improvement.”
– has already exited nearly 100 leases and closed more than 80 office locations around the world and plans to exit many more facilities throughout the rest of the year.
– Xerox bought ACS for $6.4 billion in February 2010, and the company largely makes up what is Conduent today
– Sales for the quarter ended June 30 dipped to $1.5 billion, down 7.3%
o net loss improved to $4 million from $10 million
o net income down 42.9% to $36 million
Xerox technicians accused of fraud
– City of Yonkers (New York) Inspector General Brendan McGrath believes Xerox tech employees were using the city and its printing shop for their own personal gain.
– A probe into the fraud allegations began after the manager of the printing shop on Fullerton Avenue noticed that expensive printer parts were being delivered, but not being installed.
– “They ordered parts…they knew wouldn’t send off a signal, but they could still use in their own private businesses,” says McGrath.
Xerox wins production print contract
– Award from Smart Print Services, a commercial printer in Kent, England
– Installed a Xerox Versant 180 production color laser system (actually made by Fujifilm)
Duplo to conduct roadshow
– Duplo has revealed the initial line-up for its Northern Lights Tour
– On display will be the following:
o PFi DI-CUT300 short run die cutting system
o 600i Booklet System high-end collating and bookletmaking solution
o DC-746 slitter/cutter/creaser
o DuSense Sensory Coater for cost-effective embellishment of short-run digital print with highly creative and intricate special effects
§ Equipped with high definition 600dpi heads, it can handle both heavy solids and fine detail in the same pass
§ can produce up to 1080 B3 sheets per hour
§ Camera registration operates to a 0.2mm accuracy
§ automatic adjustment for every sheet.
Heidelberg wins award for digital system
– Heidelberg of Germany, best known for analog offset presses, won an InterTech Award for its new Gallus Labelfire
– Labelfire is new production color inkjet system for label printing
– Award given for “outstanding engineering achievement by introducing industrialized digital print production into the label market, one of the industry’s biggest growth segments”
– cost-effective production of short, medium, versioned and variable data label runs
– combines state-of-the-art inkjet printing heads with the benefits of conventional printing and various inline processing
– enables label printers to varnish, embellish and further process labels inline – from the roll to the finished die-cut label in a single production operation
Fujifilm wins production print contract
– award from Graficas Ochoa, a commercial printers in Spain
– installed a Jet Press 720S production color inkjet system
– reasons for choosing included use of water-based VIVIDIA inks
– will be used to produce catalogs, flyers, stickers, books, stationery and magazines
Fujifilm financial issues update
– Stuff News reports on accusations of fraud in the country of New Zealand by Fujifilm’s office equipment division there, where MFPs are marketed under the Fuji Xerox name
– Winston Peters of the NZ First “accused the New Zealand government of a culture of concealment noting that between 2012 and 2016 it spent $55.2 million with Fuji Xerox and that as recently as 2016, the Serious Fraud Office looked at the company but gave the all clear”
– Fujifilm later report that its loss “had blown out to $472 million”
– The scandal resulted in departure of chairman Tadahito Yamamoto, deputy president Haruhito Yoshida, EVP Katshiko Yanagawa, corp auditor Keiji Somata and SCP Masashi Honda
– Peters now calling for full investigation
Epson to launch new production print
– at the upcoming LabelExpo show in Europe, will introduce the Epson SurePress L-4533
– a high speed production color inkjet label printing system
– replaces the L-4033 model
– new features include:
o CMYK plus green, orange & white inks
o 3 picoliter ink droplet size
o 2 pass printing
o Improved image quality for 4 and 6 pass
o Edge smoothing function for text and line quality
o Faster variable data processing
o Internal LED lighting for easier maintenance
EFI announced delay in earnings report
– EFI Inc. (formerly known as Electronics for Imaging) announced it is postponing its 2nd quarter results, causing its stock price to drop 45%
– Announced that it is undergoing an audit of its accounting practices
Brother reports its quarterly earnings
– Total revenue up 5% to 167,728 million yen
– Profits down 39.2% to 9,322 million yen
– Printer/MFP/Communications division revenue up 3% to 98,800 million yen
o Printer/MFP sales up 3% to 988 million yen
o Profit down from 17,908 million yen to 9,144 million yen
Kyocera buys maker of nails and staples
– Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Corporation of Japan) announced it has acquired Senco Brands of Cincinnati, Ohio
– Senco was founded in 1984 to manufacture power fastening tools (nails, staples, etc.) and systems for construction, woodworking and industrial applications
– Senco employs 600 worldwide across 16 locations, with annual revenue of $166.5 million
Kyocera opens new branch in Alabama
– Kyocera Document Solutions had a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on Aug. 3 in Pell City, Alabama.
– Entered the Alabama market when it purchased Garring Business Machines in 2008
– Pell City office, located at 1706 Cogswell Ave., Pell City, is the fourth location in Alabama. Other offices are located in Birmingham, Dothan, and Montgomery.
Hyland wins ECM contract
– Award from Southern Adventist University of Collegedale, Tennessee
– Installed its OnBase enterprise content management system
– Replacing Lexmark Nolij system
Merger of two telcom equipment makers
– Mitel announced it has acquired ShoreTel for $430 million
– Mitel, headquartered in Canada, previously had acquired
– Mitel had attempted to buy ShoreTel in 2014, but was rejected, even though the offer was higher
– “This is a very natural combination that enables us to continue to consolidate the industry and take advantage of cost synergy opportunities while adding new technologies and significant cloud growth to our business.”; stated Mitel CEO, Rich McBee
– The two telecommunication systems vendors claim to have a combined 3200 dealers
Microsoft gets bad reviews on Surface
– Consumer Reports is no longer recommending Microsoft Surface laptops and tablets.
– removed its “recommended” rating for Microsoft’s Surface Laptop and the Surface Book.
– recently conducted a survey of people who bought new laptops and tablets
o estimated that about 25% of Microsoft Surface devices will have problems by the end of the second year of owning the product
o “poor predicted reliability” compared to other brands.
o reported problems with their Microsoft devices during the start-up phase
o touch screen was not responsive enough
o devices froze or shut off unexpectedly
Nuance reports earnings & breach update
– revenue up to $486.2 million from $477.9 million for past quarter
– reported a net loss of $27.8 million
The company estimates that, had the malware incident not occurred, third-quarter GAAP revenues would have been $501.6 million.
– On June 27, 2017, Nuance was hit by the NotPetya malware
o affected certain Nuance systems, including systems used by its healthcare customers, primarily for transcription services, as well as systems used by Nuance’s Imaging division to receive and process orders.
o “Despite the malware incident, Nuance delivered its fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement in net new bookings, recurring revenue, cash flow from operations, and hosting and cloud revenues,” commented Nuance
Ninestar to layoff more Lexmark employees
– Ninestar of China, owner of Lexmark, is running a worldwide restructuring of Lexmark that will result in 700 employees being laid off over the next year
– exec Jerry Grasso said the action will work “to align company talent with our strategy to ensure future success.”
– A lawsuit filed in United States District Court in New York on July 20 alleged that Lexmark “made false and misleading statements” about demand, inventory and growth prospects for its supplies business in 2014-15 that cost shareholders more than half a billion dollars.
o The suit was filed by the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System. Defendants in the suit include Lexmark; Rooke; Reeder; Gary Stromquist, who had been an interim chief financial officer; and Martin Canning, former executive vice president and president, imaging solutions and services at Lexmark.
Lexmark launches new MPS solution
Copier dealer opens 3D print shop
– David Hopson is owner of DocuSystems located in Danville, Virginia
– In addition, he has opened two other separate businesses:
o River District Printing, a commercial printing company
o 3-D Solutions, dealing in 3-D technology and innovations
MPSA names new exec committee
– Managed Print Services Association announced that new president is Doug Bies of Complete Document Solutions
– VP = Tawnya Stone of GreatAmerica Leasing
– Treasurer = Brian Stevenson of footprint Managed Services
– Secretary = Ann Priede of Canon
InfoTrends study on managed print
– forecasts the overall North America Office Equipment market to remain relatively flat
(-0.6%) through 2021
– Gains by one segment whether it be technology shift from monochrome to color or SF to MF are not enough to grow the entire market
– Pages continue to remain flat as business workflow automation and shifts in office processes impact the total market
– 65% of total cost for an MPS program is associated with consumables and supplies
o can be as high as 75% when considering the A4 conversion going on
– adding advanced behavior modification software can drive down costs of printing by 20% or more
Managed Print Services growth continues
– Transparency Market Research published report entitled “Managed Print Services Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 – 2024”
– Predicts that the MPS market will reach $ 94.97 billion in revenue by 2024
– Was $26.18 billion market in 2015
– will expand at a CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate) of 14.8%
– drivers of growth cited are:
o reducing total operational costs of printing
o streamlining of the printing workflow
o monitoring and control of printer usage by employees
o environmental benefits such as a reduction in paper wastage and efficient use of energy
o SMB market is projected to grow faster than large enterprises
o Edu/Gov market is likely to hold its top position in terms of revenue
Kodak reports its earnings for Q2
– net earnings of $4 million, down from $8 million
– Revenues of $381 million down 10%
– Annuities revenue for PROSPER production inkjet systems grew by 14%
– Print Systems Division (PSD) had revenues of $236 million down 9%
– Enterprise Inkjet Systems Division (EISD) had revenues of $35 million down 20%
– Software and Solutions Division (SSD) had revenues of $22 million, up $1 million
Document capture solution market growing
– Research published by Harvey Spencer Associates
– Document capture (OCR) solution sales up 9%
– Total amount spent of $3.5 billion in 2016
– (includes products like Nuance AutoStore, eCopy, Prism ScanPath, OmTool AccuRoute, Kofax, etc.)
– “The growth rates for the past few years have been 5-8%, but it is possible that when our numbers are finalized we could reach 10% for 2016”; stated Mike Spang, VP
————————————————————————————————————————–
HEALTHCARE VERTICAL NEWS
Healthcare vertical continues to grow
– A total of 39400 net new jobs were created in the healthcare industry in July of 2017
o 30,000 of the jobs were in ambulatory market (i.e. clinics)
o 7,300 were in acute care (i.e. hospitals)
– In 2016, an average of 32,000 jobs per month were created in healthcare
– Higher growth than any other vertical
ObamaCare in the news
– Kaiser Family Foundation published report stating that the cost of ObamaCare health plans could climb as much as 50% in 2018.
– The St. Louis Post Dispatch newspaper of Missouri is reporting that Putnam County Memorial Hospital, a 15-bed hospital in Unionville, Mo., received $90 million
in insurance payments in less than a year for lab services that were performed at other facilities across the country
o Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway published report that the hospital contracted with Hospital Laboratory Partners in September 2016 to operate a clinical laboratory on behalf of the hospital.
o “Immediately upon signing the management contract with the hospital, the CEO and his associates began billing significant amounts of out-of-state lab activity through the hospital,” according to the auditor’s report.
o Putnam County Hospital allegedly acted as a shell company by submitting claims for other labs and funneling the insurance payments through the hospital.
o “Based on our review of hospital accounts, the vast majority of laboratory billings are for out-of-state lab activity for individuals who are not patients of hospital physicians,” states the auditor’s report.
o Ms. Galloway has turned her findings over to the Missouri attorney general, the FBI and the Putnam County prosecuting attorney, according to KCUR.
– Associated Press is reporting that a 60-year-old Dallas-area doctor has been sentenced to
35 years in prison for helping defraud Medicare and Medicaid out of almost $375 million.
o A federal judge also ordered Dr. Jacques Roy on Wednesday to pay more than $268 million in restitution. A jury in April 2016 convicted the Rockwall physician of nine of 10 counts of defrauding a healthcare benefit program.
o Roy owned Medistat Group Associates in the Dallas suburb of DeSoto.
o Authorities say Roy and six co-defendants certified 11,000 Medicare beneficiaries through more than 500 home health providers between January 2006 and November 2011.
o Those numbers would have made Roy’s Medicare practice the busiest in the country.
Auxilio reports its quarterly earnings
– Auxilio, Inc., headquartered in Mission Viejo, CA, sells managed print services to hospital systems across the U.S., and also markets HIPAA services
– Total revenue for the second quarter was $16.8 million, an increase of 10%
o Growth primarily from acquisition of CynergisTek
– Gross margin for the second quarter was 26%, up from 20%
– GAAP income from operations for the second quarter was $0.5 million, a decrease from $0.7 million
– Announced that its new Strategic Remediation Services Division, just won its first multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with a national health system
– Operating expenses of $3.8 million, an increase from $2.4 million
– Sales and marketing expenses increased by 88% to $1.4 million
– General and administrative expenses increased 50% to $2.5 million
Epic wins EHR contract
– Award from University of California – San Diego Health
o Implemented its cloud-based version, where PHI was be hosted by Epic
o “The cloud approach allows us to better provide innovative technology to support outstanding clinical care, research and teaching”; stated Adam Gold, CTO
o Includes support of 10,000 computer workstations
o Will also include University of California – Irvine Health in November, 2017
– Award from Atlantic Health System of New Jersey
o project featured multiple waves with 100+ resources across multiple facilities
CPSI wins EHR contract
– Award from High Plains Retirement Village of Lakin, Kansas
– CPSI (Computer Programming Systems Inc) installed its American HealthTech EHR
MEDITECH wins EHR contract
– Award from the Fresno Surgical Hospital of California
– Also included a FormFast electronic forms solution
Frustration with EHRs
– Medscape magazine published results of survey of physicians with opinions on EHRs:
o Slow their workflow down
o EHRs are linked with physician burnout
o EHRs have infringed on quality of patient interactions
– The Illinois Pain Institute announced that they have thrown out the EHR and have reverted back to paper. Interview with Dr. John Prunskis on the decision:
o With EHRs, “the face to face interaction was lost”
o “We felt patients did not like it, because physicians were typing instead of looking at them”
EHR adoption by state report
– Published by the Center for Data Innovation
– Top 5 states for EHR adoption are:
o Massachusetts
o Wyoming
o Washington
o Minnesota
o Indiana
– The 5 states with the least adoption of EHRs are:
o New Jersey
o Rhode Island
o Louisiana
o Hawaii
o Vermont
One EHR vendor buys competitor
– MatrixCare has bought SigmaCare, reflecting further consolidation in the post-acute electronic health records market
– MatrixCare serves 13,000 care settings, while SigmaCare had carved out a niche stemming from its base in Manhattan.
– expect to retain most of SigmaCare’s existing employees
– will maintain and support existing SigmaCare products for the next five years
HIPAA & Data Security Update
Kaspersky Labs
report that malicious hackers are increasing using steganography, which is technology that allows hackers to hide messages inside images and photos.
o “So far, the security industry has not found a way to reliably detect the data exfiltration conducted in this way.”; stated report.
Protenus Research published study of PHI breaches so far in 2017:
o 233 breaches reported to feds
o Total of 3,159,236 patients impacted
o 41% caused by insiders
o 32% = hackers
o 18% = loss/theft
o 9% = unknown
o Meantime to discover breach = 325.6 days
WannaCry” hero
is arrested:
o Marcus Hutchins was a relatively unknown British cybersecurity researcher until he helped stop the “WannaCry” ransomware attack that plagued countless companies, hospitals, and governments around the world on 5/12/2017
o The malware locked a computer until the user paid the perpetrators a ransom of roughly three hundred dollars.
o Hutchins discovered that the virus could be stopped by controlling a specific website and then purchased the site for a little over ten dollars. While he initially hoped to simply track the spread of the virus, purchasing the site triggered a kill-switch that put an end to the global attack.
o Hutchins has since been arrested outside the Las Vegas airport and indicted on six counts of computer fraud for creating his own malware earlier, and selling it for thousands of dollars.
– In article in
The Wall Street Journal,
Bill Burr, the man who first came up with the notion of using passwords with new words, obscure characters, capital letters, and numbers – admits that the advice he gave was largely incorrect
o “Much of what I did I now regret,” said Burr of his past work. “In the end, it was probably too complicated for a lot of folks to understand very well, and the truth is, it was barking up the wrong tree.”
§ recommendation of changing passwords every 90 days is impractical
§ consumers only make one or two small changes that are easy to guess
§ having a password contain a letter, number, uppercase letter, and special character was largely unnecessary
o his new recommendations are:
§ long, easy-to-remember passwords are the safest bet for consumers
§ passwords should only be changed if there is any sign that they have been compromised.
–
Kaleida Health
of Buffalo, NY, notified 2,789 patients that their PHI was exposed after a phishing attack.
University of Cincinnati (UC) Health
of Ohio notified 4,271 patients that their PHI was viewed illegally by a former employee.
Northwest Rheumatology of Tucson, Arizona notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after a ransomware attack.
–
Women’s Health Care Group of Pennsylvania notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after a ransomware attack.
Peachtree Neurological Clinic of Georgia notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed due to a ransomware attack.
City of Hope Cancer Centers, headquartered in Duarte, CA, notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after a phishing incident in which four staff member email accounts were temporarily accessed.
– The federal government is investigating a case where PHI from an un-named healthcare facility was found in used file cabinets acquired by Sublimation 101, a commercial printer in Branchburg, New Jersey
Nationwide Insurance, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, settled several lawsuits by paying a total of $5.5 million to several states that had patients who were affected by a past breach. 1.27 million people were impacted.
eWeek magazine published research on breaches:
o on average, hackers make $40.75 per hour, or $85,000 per year stealing and reselling personal info
o since 2010, hackers have stolen more than $107 billion worth on info
o in 2016 alone, $16 billion worth of data was stolen
o 70% of ransomware victims pay to unlock their system
o Stolen email addresses and passwords are worth between $0.70 and $2.30 each
o Stolen driver’s license is worth $20 on the dark web
o Stolen Netflix, Spotify and Hulu accounts are worth $3.00
o PHI (which Russian mafia calls “medical fullz”) is worth from $100 to $1000 each
