Copier Industry News & Notes

Sharp could sell LCD manufacturing plants:

• According to Kyodo News agency, the company is considering selling its LCD plant in Mexico to raise cash
• May also cease LCD TV production for the North American market

Ricoh announces reorg in Africa:

• Creates new division called Ricoh Emerging Markets
• Will be headquartered in South Africa, led by David Hallas
• Ricoh South Africa no longer reports to Ricoh Europe
• Division will include; Russia, Turkey, Middle East
• “We recognize that 2/3’s of global growth will stem from these markets; “; stated Jacques van Wyk, COO of Ricoh South Africa

Ricoh wins managed IT contract from law firm:

• Won contract from Won Fleming P.C., headquartered in Edison, NJ
• Has 20 locations across the U.S.
• Included equipment refresh
• Value of length of contract not announced

Ricoh to expand solutions:

• Announced it will relabel software from Pexip, and call it the Ricoh Unified Communication System P3500.
• Provides scalable, distributed video conferencing solution
• Pexixp Inc headquartered in Oslo, Norway
• Pricing and ship date not announced

Ricoh to offer solution for legal vertical:

• Will resell a cloud based eDiscovery solution from iCONECT Development LLC
• The solution, iCONECT-XERA, provides capture, transformation and management of info
• Pricing not announced

 

Ricoh wins production print contract:

• Sold a Pro C5100S production color system to Express Printing Press and Arts of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates
• Reasons given for choosing the C5100S were 4800dpi, PxP toner, and ability to print on 300gsm

Hewlett Packard announces reorg:

• The blade server and converged infrastructure division, both part of the new HP Enterprise Group, will merge into one division
• “To deliver on the promise of converged infrastructure, cloud and softrware defined data center, we are streamlining our operating model….Converged Systems are essential to our future success and this alignment will enable us to get to market faster with several critical products in the pipeline for this year.”; stated Antonio Neri, Senior VP and GM
• New division led by Ric Lews, and Alain Andreoli will head Business Server Business Unit
• Storage division will be led by Bill Philbin, who replaces David Scott

Hewlett Packard launched new nozzle tech:

• Launched new inkjet printhead nozzle technology
• For use in its “T” series of inkjet web presses
• The new High Definition Nozzle Architecture” provides 21,120 nozzles, up from 10,560 nozzles
• Allows 2400 nozzles per inch
• Supports dual drop weight per color
• Top speed of 400 feet per minute

Hewlett Packard will have online only meeting:

• Shareholders were surprised when HP announced it will become the largest company to hold an online only shareholder meeting in March 18, 2015
• Activists voiced their concern that this will keep CEO, Meg Whitman, “off the hot seat”
• HP stated; “Will allow for increased stockholder attendance and participation”

Hewlett Packard makes acquisition:

• Company has purchased Voltage Security
• Maker of enterprise encryption, tokenization, and encryption key management software
• Purchase price not disclosed

3D Systems completes acquisition:

• Announced it has acquired Cimatron Ltd. for $97 million
• Company make software to drive 3D printers

 

 

Allied Market Research report on 3D printing:

• Global 3D printing market will reach $8.6 billion by 2020
• CAGR of 20.6% from 2014 to 2020
• Electron beam melting will have CAGR of 26.7%
• Metal and alloy will grow at CAGR of 40.5%
• North America has 43.9% marketshare

Growth of the DMS market:

• “Voluminous growth in data, compliance and regulatory issues, the need for a faster decision-making process and requirement to a contingency plan for any disaster and security issues are the factors driving the adoption of Document Management Systems.”; stated Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner. Inc.
• Market expected to grow 13.2% to $75 million
• Global market growing at a CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate) of 20% according to Seclore Technology

Quark Software ranked as leader:

• InfoTrends published 2015 Digital Publication Platform Market Overview, and ranked Quark as leader in this category
• Over 90% of enterprises are moving towards electronic documentation
• Market will grow 25% CAGR over next 5 years

Canon forms new user group:

• Created the new group for its production print inkjet customers called “thINK”
• Will hold its first conference  9/8-10/2015 in New York, at its annual Canon Expo
• Will be led by Eric Hawkinson, Canon Director of Marketing, Production Print Solutions
• Conference expected to attract more than 300 leading inkjet commercial printers

Canon makes large acquisition:

• Acquired Axis AB of Sweden
• Spent $2.8 billion
• Company specializes in network video solutions

Canon names new wide format leader:

• Named Robert Reddy to position of Senior VP of Large Format Solutions Operations
• Report to Mal Baboyian, VP of Large Format and PPS

Canon renames its FM division:

• The Business Services division (which it inherited when it acquired Oce’), is now Canon Enterprise Managed Services Division
• “specializes in designing, implementing and managing services that support essential business functions of enterprise organizations”
• Will expand its reach through vertical markets
• Led by VP, Valerie Belli

Canon to launch self-serve MFPs:

• Canon imageRUNNER and imageRUNNER ADVANCE MFPs to connect to the EFI M500
• The EFI self serve copy and print station provides output from USB drive, mobile phone, tablet, laptop, email, & cloud based services
• Compliant with Payment Application Data Security Standard PA-DSS

Canon ships data security solution:

• Launched Canon imageWARE Secure Audit Manager Express
• Option for uniFLOW solution for MFPs
• Captures job attribute information such as time, date, user, destination and text data from MFPs
• Audit data is stored, and can be searched
• Provides audit trail
• Comes with OCR engine
• Info stored on uniFLOW server
• Includes all copy/print/scan/fax jobs
• Pricing not announced

Toshiba develops new chip for MFPs:

• Company announced launch of TMPM036FWFG microcontroller
• Is an ARM Cortex M0-basd TX00 series integrated circuit
• Communicates with main control unit, and onboard peripherals units
• Time function that can output pulses to control stepping motors and DC motors
• Pricing not announced as it intends to sell to all MFP makers

Toshiba renews sponsorship:

• For a third time, will be official sponsor of the Rugby World Cup
• Branding to appear on pitch perimeter boards during tournament

Largest trade show for production print update:

• drupa announced it will move to a 3 year cycle after 2016
• in 2015 it will run from 5/31 to 6/10
• “The entire print process chain has changed radically because of the Internet and digital technologies. New applications and solutions are developing and opening up new fields of business. “; stated Claus Bolza-Schunemann, chairman of drupa
• Show held in Germany
• “There is more focus on innovative technologies, such as 3D printing…”

 

Samsung to launch new A3 MFP:

• Code-named “MX7” series
• 4 tandem OPC drum design
• Polymerized toner
• 300K/mo max duty cycle
• Designed for 30K/mo or 45K/mo in b/w volume
• 1200x1200dpi
• Document feeder scans both sides of original at same time
• Top speed of 120opm
• Color LCD touchscreen runs Google Android operating system
• Can rotate image on display to get true document views
• Downloadable apps, including Workbook Composer, which allows scan to be cropped and saved
• Finishing options to include:
• Stapling finisher (max of 60 sheets)
• Booklet maker (max of 20 sheets)
• Built-in controller:
• 1.5GHz quad core processor
• NFC wireless printing

Samsung’s new TVs under scrutiny:

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation has stated that new Samsung Smart TVs are apparently capable of listening to conversations
• The Voice Command feature apparently can record conversations and send them to Samsung

 

Apple’s value increases:

• Announced it is the first company in the world to achieve a market capitalization of $700 billion
• Shares closed above $122 each, up 23,639% from Apple’s first trading day
• Posted a quarterly profit of $18 billion
• Microsoft is valued at $347 billion
• HP is valued at $69 billion

Apple opens new secret lab:

• The company hired former president and CEO of the Research & Development Department of Mercedes Benz, Johann Jungwirth, to be in charge of new automotive research lab
• “experienced managers from iPhone unit are researching automotive projects”

Apple Pay accepted by feds:

• The White House announced that federal payment cards will support Apple Pay
• This will include debit cards where veteran benefits and Social Security payments are issued

Sharp launches contest for education vertical:

• called “Tech-It-Up Classroom Challenge”
• for K-12 accredited schools
• winner gets grand prize of $100,000 worth of Sharp products, including AQUOS Board interactive LCD screen

Two packaging providers to merge:

• MeadWestvaco agreed to merge with RockTenn
• Have not announced name of successor company
• RockTenn’s expertise is kraft paper, corrugated cartons and retail displays
• MeadWestvaco’s expertise is paperboard and folding cartons
• Combined = $15 billion in annual revenue

Microsoft makes acquisition:

• Announced it is acquiring N-Trig of Israel
• Company makes digital pens and chips for touch screen
• Company valued at $75 million and sold for $200 million

TechNavio reports on Managed Print Services:

• Published results of research
• Forecasts a global CAGR of 10.1% from 2015 to 2019

InfoTrends reports on LANDA print quality:

• Gilad Tzori, VP of Product Strategy for Landa, showed latest samples from beta test model
• “quality is not yet sellable”
• “improvement is significant over what was previously seen”
• “there are some registration issues, streaks, and other artifacts remaining”
• Device uses heated blanket transfer method to resolve the drying issues associated with other aqueous inket technologies

Okidata ships new envelope press:

• The Okidata C941e digital envelope press aimed at the commercial print industry
• 5 tandem OPC drum design
• Uses 5 toners (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) with option of either clear or white toner
• Multi-level LED printheads
• 1200x1200dpi
• Up to 80 envelopes per minute or 50ppm for A4
• Handles up to 18pt or 360gsm
• 14mil plastic or polyester
• 18mil cardboard
• Magnetic media
• Up to 13”x52”
• Optional EFI Fiery XF print server

Funai Electric signs agreement with Kodak:

• The company has already purchased the inkjet printer business from Lexmark
• Now has entered into a licensing agreement with Kodak to sell Kodak-branded printers and AIOs worldwide.

 

 

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Premier, one of the largest GPOs, provides earnings update:

• Q2 revenue up 19% year over year to $249.4 million
• Net income of $65.8 million, up 28%
• Acquired TheraDoc, MEMdata, SYMMEDRx and Aperek during last year
• CEO, Susan DeVore, stated company will be making more acquisitions in 2015 in supply chain analytics, alternate ste, ambulatory data and population health
• Has hired David Hargraves as its new VP of Strategic Sourcing

Meditech win EHR contract:

• According to some industry observers, Ohio Valley Medical Center of Wheeling, WV awarded to Meditech to version 6.1
• Competing against Epic

Epic wins EHR contracts:

• WakeMed of North Carolina awards contract
• Lehigh Valley Health Network of Pennsylvania for $200 million, replacing system from GE
• St. Luke’s University Health Network of Pennsylvania, replacing systems from McKesson and AllScripts
• Saint Francis Medical Center of Missouri

AllScripts wins EHR contract:

• Award from International Hospital Management Corp of Dallas Texas
• Will use AllScripts Sunrise Acute Care EHR for its Hospital CIMA San Jose’ location in Costa Rica

CoCentrix wins EHR contract:

• Won a Coordinated Care Platform EHR contract from Frontier Behavioral Health of Washington
• Also included a care management tool

 

Quintiles wins contract:

• The National Football League awards contract to track player injuries using league’s EHR data
• 5 year contract

Patientco wins contract:

• Cone Health of North Carolina awards PatientWallet contract
• Provides easy to read bills for patients

Healthcare technology acquisition:

• Hitachi Data Systems announced it has acquired Pentaho of Orlando, FL
• Company specializes in business analytics tools for healthcare customers
• Selling price between $500-$600 million

Bionyfiken of Sweden launches implants:

• Device implanted in palm is new way to authenticate on to a network
• Uses RFID (radio frequency identification) in a device the size of a grain of rice
• Allows access to locked doors, MFPs, other devices, and wireless pay
• Pricing not announced
• Being beta tested in building in Sweden

Cerner reports on its earnings:

• Bookings for quarter of $1.16 billion
• 28% of revenue coming from outside its Millennium EHR customer base
• Will continue to sell Soarian Financials as standalone product (from its acquisition of healthcare IT division of Siemens)

Frost & Sullivan report on Health IT:

• US HIS market valued at $11.1 billion in 2013
• Expected to grow at CAGR of 5.7% from 2014 to 2020
• Total market revenue reaching $17.6 billion by 2020, up 58.9%
• Admin info systems to grow CAGR of 10.4%
• Financial info systems CAGR of 9.7%
• Clinical info system CAGR of 0.6%

Impact of removing printers is studied:

• The National Health Service of England announced it will release a report on implications of when management decides to remove local printers from office
• The study will determine if the human rights of the staff is jeopardized

HIPAA/Data Security update:

• The recent data breach at Anthem healthcare is expected to cost the company $100 million in damage control.
• Boston Baskin Cancer Foundation of Tennessee notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after an external hard drive was stolen from an employee’s home.
• Aspire Indiana notified 45,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after several laptop computers were stolen from their location.