US Government approves Lexmark sale

October 21, 2016

– The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, approved the deal
– This will allow Apex, a Chinese group to proceed with the takeover of Lexmark

Xeikon wins production print contract

– Award from Colorfx of Des Moines, Iowa
– Installed a Xeikon 9800 production color toner system

Ricoh wins production print contracts

– Award from HG Media of Norway o Installed Europe’s 300th Ricoh Pro C9100 production color toner system

– Award from AM&M of Burgess, England o Installed two C9100 production color toner systems
o Will produce direct mail for faith-based, charities, councils and financial organizations
o Reasons given for choosing the C9100s:
o “We moved to Ricoh for our color work because for us there was no comparison really. We like to stay ahead of the game and we felt the Ricoh’s were unbeatable for what we wanted. We can now print on paper up to 400gsm and up to 700mm in length, compared to 450mm. We’ve really improved our offering for our clients,”

Canon wins production print contracts

– Award from Tulsa Community College (OK) including managed print services
– Award from Lasting Image Recognition of Sinking Spring, PA for an imagePRESS C10000VP and C800 production color systems
– Award from The Mailworks of Albany, NY o a full service direct mail marketing firm
o installed Oce’ VarioPrint i300 production color inkjet systems
o Reasons given for choosing the i300 were: § media and application flexibility of sheet-fed production
§ produce dynamic jobs with variable color while keeping costs low and quality high
§ ability to print up to 294 letter images per minute or more than 8,500 duplex letter sheets per hour

Canon adds new solution partner

– GlobalSoft Solutions, Inc., a Gold certified SAP Services partner and value added re-seller partner of SAP’s Cloud solutions today announced that it has become a Solutions Partner of Canon
– The collaboration will focus on providing solutions that automate document-intensive back-end processes for users of SAP, leveraging Canon’s Enterprise Imaging Platform (EIP).

Best Buy in trouble for selling Canon recalls

– Best Buy Co. will pay a $3.8 million civil penalty to settle charges that it sold recalled products including cameras, computers and washing machines, according to statement from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
– said the retailer sold about 400 already-recalled Canon cameras that the agency said posed a risk of skin irritation, and other products with possible fire risks.

HP new inkjet MFPs yield commentary

– Ed Crowley, Photizo Group CEO presented a 2020 Industry Outlook webinar that described some significant technology trends.
– “One of the trends had to do with HP’s positioning of its A4, and now A3, PageWide devices versus the competition.”
– “Today HP has positioned its A4 PageWide devices versus color lasers as 50 percent faster and 50 percent lower operating costs.”
– “Since HP announced its A3 PageWide devices last month, it appears it may position its A3 PageWide devices similarly to other A3 color laser devices as 50 percent faster and 50 percent lower operating costs.”
– “Looking toward 2020, it appears that HP will be positioning its A4 and A3 PageWide devices against monochrome laser printers as “color for free.””

HP launches new b/w lasers

– HP LaserJet Pro M12 and HP LaserJet Pro MFP M26 series printers are reportedly the smallest and most affordable  HP has ever released in their respective classes
– For users printing from 100 to 1,000 pages per month
– print speed of up to 18 pages of text per minute (ppm)
– The HP LaserJet Pro M12 is expected to be available Oct. 3, 2016 initially from select office retailers as an online product only, starting at $99.
– The HP LaserJet Pro MFP M26 series is expected to be available exclusively at Walmart, also as of Oct. 3, 2016.
– HP LaserJet Pro M100 and HP LaserJet Pro M200 series printers are designed for small work teams of up to five users printing from 150 to 2,500 pages per month
– print speed of 23 ppm (M100) up to 30ppm (M200).
– The HP LaserJet Pro M102w is expected to be available at major retailers, online and HP commercial partners after Oct. 1, 2016 with a starting price of $159.
– The HP LaserJet Pro MFP M130 series is also expected to be available  at major retailers, online and HP commercial partners after Oct. 1, 2016 with a starting price of $209.
– The HP LaserJet Pro M203dw is expected to be available at major retailers, online and HP commercial partners after Dec. 1, 2016 with a starting price of $199.
– The HP LaserJet Pro MFP M227fdw is expected to be available at major retailers, online and HP commercial partners after Dec. 1, 2016 with a starting price of $329.

HP launches new desktop scanners

– HP ScanJet Enterprise Flow 5000 s4and HP ScanJet Enterprise Flow 7000 s3 o both of which are Wi-Fi direct enabled with a Wi-Fi accessory to enable mobile workflow and can scan folded A3 sheets without a carrier sheet
o also offer HP EveryPage technology that reportedly provides reliable scanning of almost any document type, even mixed stacks of different paper sizes and weights

– HP ScanJet Enterprise Flow 5000 s4 can scan up to 50 pages/100 images per minute o recommended for 6000 pages per day

– HP ScanJet Enterprise Flow 7000 s3 up to 75 pages/150 images per minute o recommended for 7500 pages per day

– HP ScanJet Pro 3000 can scan up to 35 pages/70 images per minute o Wi-Fi enabled and includes USB 3 capability
o also leverages HP EveryPage technology suite.

– HP ScanJet Pro 2000 with a price of $329 o scan speeds of up to 24 pages/48 images per minute
o offers one-pass duplex scanning
o recommended for customers scanning up to 2000 pages per day.

HP wins production print contract

– award from Label Art of California, a family-owned, award-winning converter providing custom labels and tags for the wine, food and beverage markets
– installed an Indigo WS6800 Digital Color Press
Reasons given for choosing the WS6800 from Dan Masri, general manager: o “The new HP Indigo WS6800 Digital Press will allow us to continue that growth trajectory globally, offering our customers new high-quality variable data-driven application possibilities with HP Indigo ElectroInk Premium White as well as other specialty inks and new substrates.”

Russia to launch first MFP

– Russia has demonstrated the first inkjet multifunction printer manufactured in Russia
– Service Systems (in partnership with four other companies including XaaR) showed the “Katyusha.”
– device is an inkjet MFP (or All-in-One) that has the typical print/copy/scan and fax functions
– stationary pagewide print head
– 50-75PPM
– 2,400 x 2,400 dpi
– ink cartridges that have a 50,000 page yield
– large color LCD touchscreen control panel
– launch in early 2018
– selling price not published
– unknown if company will attempt to market in the U.S.

Consolidation in tech distributors

– Avnet agreed to sell its Technology Solutions Unit to Tech Data for $2.6 billion
– comprised of $2.1B in debt, $300M in cash, and $200M in stock
– deal is expected to close in the first or second quarter of 2017
– Tech Data said it was not interested in acquiring all of Avnet
– With Avnet Technology Solutions getting absorbed, there is one less tech distributor. The remaining players are Arrow, Tech Data, Ingram Micro (eventually HNA), and Synnex.
– It appears that Avnet is selling their VAR business so they can focus more on data and analytics, areas they see as growth

Sharp’s new owner closes another division

– Sharp’s new owner, Hon Hai Precision of Taiwan (aka Foxconn) continues its cost cutting
– Announced that it dissolved its subsidiary IOT Holdings PLC on Oct. 3

One Sharp copier dealer acquires another

– Doing Better Business (DBB) of Altoona, PA announced it has acquired Total Service, Inc. (TSI) of Latrobe, PA
– DBB is regional provider of office technology, document management, imaging and managed IT services
– The company will operate as DBB Technology Solutions formerly TSI, and current President, Gene McElhaney, will continue to lead the operations at this location and report to Debra Dellaposta, CEO of Doing Better Business, Inc.

Xerox wins production print contract

– Award from Datagraphic of Rugby, Warwickshire, England
– installed a second Xerox Rialto 900 production color inkjet system
– reasons given to choose the 900 were: o reel to sheet output
o top speed of 320 A4ppm
o able to handle up to 5 million prints per month

Survey of reliance on paper

– New research from M-Files Corporation, maker of document management solutions
– 81% of employees still print at least one document at work every day
– three out of 10 people (29%) have read something that was confidential and not intended for them because it was printed and left unsecured in their office
– Nearly four out of 10 people (38%) reported that paper documents are lost or misplaced at least a few times each month
– 62% were unsure about how many times this occurred
– 58% of all paper documents received are left in paper form on desks or in file cabinets
– 55% are still using manual paper-based processes for capturing signatures for documents that require approval.

Intec launches new PPS finisher

– Intec of England launched finishing equipment that is designed to add premium decorative effects to of production print toner engines
– the ColorFlare 1000L, a floor-standing device, uses a range of lamination films, spot gloss films and special effect ‘flaring’ foils
– Uses pneumatic pressure to deliver up to 35.5 newtons/ mm  which enables bonding
– can foil flare directly onto printed toner and also onto lamination films
– Digital print can be ‘flared’ with lamination films and a wide range of colored, metallized and holographic foils from Intec’s consumables offering
– A selection of different widths and lengths of the lamination films can be chosen to add depth and value to printed items
– lamination films can be overprinted to add foil ‘flaring’ to packaging, sheet labels and print
– opportunities for the production of vouchers, security print, packaging and labels
– pricing not announced

Hyland Software wins ECM contract

– award from Cuyahoga Community College of Ohio
– integrated with existing Banner by Ellucian, Ellucian Degree Works, Blackboard Transact and Blackboard Learn software solutions

IDC report on mobile printing

– 75% of respondents note the value of smartphone/tablet printing as similar to PC printing
– 15% suggest value is greater than PC printing

Kyocera launches new color A4 MFPs

– Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company) now shipping the ECOSYS M5526CDW and ECOSYS M5521cdw color MFPs, as well as P5026cdw and P5021cdw printers
– Top speed of 27ppm
– 1200x1200dpi (does not offer true 8 bits per pixel)
– Support for Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print and WiFi comes standard
– Base MSRPs of $1090, $1365, $959 & $598 respectively
– Document holds 50 originals and scans both sides of originals at same time
– 4.3” color LCD touchscreen display
– 300 sheet standard paper supply (can expand to 600)
– 800 MHZ processor
– PCL, PS & XPS print drivers standard
– 512MB RAM (can upgrade to 1GB)

Fujitsu to exit PC business?

– Company said it is in talks to sell its PC division to Lenovo of China
– Fujitsu’s PC sales have been declining, and only has 1.1% marketshare according to IDC

Print cartridge thieves on the loose

– Chesapeake, VA police are on the lookout for two men who stuffed a bunch of print cartridges into a bag and ran out of a Sam’s Club store.

Apple wins latest battle with Samsung

– Full Federal Circuit court reinstated a $120 million jury verdict that Apple won against Samsung for smartphone patent infringement
– Ruled that appeals court ruled wrongly previously

Photizo Group survey of MPS providers

– Using data from select managed print services providers
– $4750 average monthly revenue per MPS customer
– 66K pages per month per average per customer
– $141/mo average device revenue
– 2909/mo pages per device
– 955K/mo pages per technician assigned
– 250 average devices per tech
– 73 average days for SMB sales cycle
– 170 average days in enterprise customer sales cycle

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