The copier industry is constantly evolving, and staying up-to-date with the latest news and information can be crucial for businesses and professionals who rely on these machines for their daily operations. Here are the latest headlines from the Copier Industry:
Xerox launches new A4 b/w laser MFP
- Now shipping the VersaLink B625, a b/w A4 laser MFP
- First product in a new family of printers and MFPs
- Made by Fujifilm
- White plastic exterior with black accents
- Top speed of 65ppm
- Max duty cycle of 300K/month
- 1200x1200dpi
- 4.6 second first copy out time
- 600dpi fax board standard
- 7” color touchscreen LCD control panel
- Comes standard with 100 sheet stack bypass
- 550 sheet paper drawer
- Can add second 550 sheet drawer and 2100 sheet deck
- Max of 176gsm paper weight
- Uses machine learning to recognize common tasks over time and suggests more efficient ways to accomplish those, eliminating programming steps and saving valuable time
- Document feeder scans both side of original at same time
- Holds up to 200 originals
- Scan to USB/Email/Network SFTP, SMB, HTTP, HTTPS, FTP
- Optional scan to cloud storage accounts
- Top scan speed of 150ipm or 75opm
- Built-in print controller:
- 1.4GHz processor
- 4GB RAM
- 32GB eMMC
- Optional 500GB hard disk drive
- 10/100/1000BaseT & USB ports standard
- Optional WiFi
- PCL & PS print drivers
- supports Microsoft Universal Print
- security features standard include:
- SIEM integration
- TLS 1.3
- Cisco ISE
- TPM 2.0
- FIPS 140.3
- Common Criteria
Xerox offers software update for AltaLink MFPs
- For the AltaLink 8100 series of high end laser A3 MFPs
- Adds a new security dashboard that provides an overview of all security settings in one place
- Allows administrators to access, configure and monitor compliance with policies
- (Konica Minolta offers optional Shield Guard solution to do this and more)
Xerox reports on last quarter’s earnings
- Total revenue up 0.4% to $1.75 billion
- Total sales of $696 million
- Hardware sales of $420 million
- A4 sales of $63 million
- Color A4 units down 43%
- b/w A4 units down 5%
- A3 sales of $270 million
- Color A3 units up 21%
- b/w A3 units up 16%
- PPS sales of $82 million
- Color PPS units up 8%
- b/w PPS units down 8%
- Post sales revenue of $1.334 billion
- GAAP loss of -$0.41 per share
- Operating margin of 6.1%
- Gross margin of 34%
- Research & development expense of 3.2%
- Pre-tax loss of $89
- Total liabilities of $6.953 billion
- Short term debt of $891 million
- Long term debt of $2.225 billion
Fujifilm to demo new PPS at large trade show
- (Fujifilm makes almost all Xerox-branded hardware, and now also provides PPS for Sharp)
- Will have large 240 square meter booth at the upcoming “The Print Show” at NEC Birmingham, England
- Includes new Revoria PC1120, which holds up to 6 colors of toner at same time
Sharp management gets another visit
- Nikkei News is reporting that Foxconn chairman, Young Liu, made a second visit to Sharp’s headquarters in Japan last week
- Foxconn (aka Hon Hai Precision of Taiwan), owns controlling interest in Sharp, and recently had 3 day meeting with Sharp’s management to discuss revisions to avoid another large loss
- Sharp ended its last fiscal year with 260.8 billion yen loss
- Meeting included over 100 senior and mid-level management employees
- Addressed relationship between two companies and future of Sharp and requested an “improvement plan”
- “If it still does not improve, we will ask them to adjust their management team to make operational improvements”; stated CFO David Huang
Sharp’s owner makes acquisition
- Foxconn announced it has acquired 50% of ZF Chassis Modules
- ZF, headquartered in Germany, is maker of parts for electric vehicles
- Purchase price of $1.1 billion
Sharp to launch new consumer products
- Announced it will launch:
- “CookWonder” line of microwave ovens
- Dehumidifiers with air purifier technology
- QD-OLED and WOLED high end TVs, up to 65”
Canon launches new A4 b/w laser MFPs
- imageCLASS MF465dw for $499 MSRP offers:
- print/copy/scan/fax at 42ppm
- imageCLASS MF462dw for $369 MSRP offers:
- print/copy/scan/fax at 37ppm
- both offer:
- document feeder holds up to 50 originals with scan speed of 80ipm
- 250 sheet paper drawer
- 100 sheet stack bypass
- Can upgrade to 900 sheet paper supply
- 5” color LCD touchscreen control panel
Canon wins production print contracts
- Award from Burdiss Printing of Lenexa, Kansas
- Installed new Canon varioPRINT iX production color inkjet system
- Used to produce average of 200,000 pieces per day
- Award from Pegasus Media and Logistics of Blacktown, Australia
- Installed new varioPRINT iX3200 production color inkjet system
- Will be used to produce textbooks for education vertical
- Award from Entourage Yearbooks of Princeton, New Jersey
- Installed new varioPRINT iX production color inkjet system
- Award from Copy General of Philadelphia, PA
- Installed new varioPRINT iX3200 production color inkjet system
- Used to produce books
Canon reports its last quarter’s earnings
- Total revenue up 2.2 to 1020.9 billion yen ($7.2 billion)
- Gross profit up 4.5% to 484.8 billion yen
- Operating expenses of 392.5 billion yen
- Operating profit down 6.3% to 92.3 billion yen
- Net income up 10.8% to 65.4 billion yen
- Office Printing division revenue up 14.2% to 245.2 billion yen ($1.7 billion
- Office MFP unit sales up 17%
- Production print & wide format revenue up 9.9% to 96.8 billion yen
- Production print & wide format hardware sales up 3.3%
Cloud fax solution market growth
- Report published by HTF Market Intelligence
- Will increase $486.2 million by 2028
- CAGR of $6.4% (cumulative annual growth rate)
- In 2023, market is $1.082 billion
- Growth being driven by removal of FCC rules, allowing POTS lines to increase in cost, and decrease in line quality, creating demand for fax via cloud
- (Konica Minolta offers Upland Interfax and OpenText RightFax cloud-based fax solutions)
Signs of recession?
- The Federal Reserve Bank announced it will raise rates to between 5.25% and 5.5%
- Credit card debt is most vulnerable, as rates now an average of 20.44%
- Mortgage rates may hit 7% according to Moody’s:
- In 2021, the average mortgage payment on a 30 year mortgage for a $400K home was $1582/month
- ATTOM reports that 186,000 foreclosures have been filed in first 6 months of 2023
- Car loans at 7.2%
- 26.7% of motorist are behind on their car loan payments by 60 days or more according to Cox Automotive
- Yellow Freight announced it will lay off huge swath of workers
- 99 year-old trucking firm teeters on brink of bankruptcy
- Company faces cash crunch and could filed for bankruptcy as soon as Monday
- The trucking giant on Friday told employees that it is ‘shutting down regular operations’ and laying off non-union employees ‘at all of its locations’ according to a memo seen by DailyMail.com.
- The layoffs could immediately impact up to 8,000 members of the company’s sales force, business operations and technology departments — and if the company fails, another 22,000 unionized drivers and freight handlers could face unemployment.
- Yellow is saddled with some $1.5 billion in debt as of late March
- including $729.2 million owed to the federal government for a controversial pandemic-era loan the Treasury Department extended on national security grounds in 2020
- Earlier this week, Yellow, which had $5.2 billion in revenue last year, narrowly avoided a driver strike by Teamster union members after failing to make a $50 million payment for employee benefits.
Devastating UPS strike averted?
- NBS News is reporting that UPS and the Teamsters union reached a tentative agreement for a new 5 year contract covering 340,000 workers
- 6 days before a threatened strike that risked snarling deliveries across the country.
- handshake agreement must still be approved by rank-and-file union members at UPS to take effect.
- “UPS has put $30 billion in new money on the table as a direct result of these negotiations,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said UPS truck makes deliveries in Northbrook, Ill., on May 10.Nam Y. Huh / AP file
- Pay for existing and starting part-time workers would be raised to at least $21 per hour immediately, advancing to $23 per hour.
- A recent forecast by the Anderson Economic Group estimated that a 10-day walkout would cost the U.S. economy $7 billion, with workers racking up $1.1 billion in lost wages and UPS losing $816 million.
New solution for MPS contract
- Directprint.io, headquartered in Cardiff, England, added new features to its printer/MFP device monitoring solution
- Is a server-less software-as-a-solution (SaaS) print management platform
- Uses SNMP (simple network management protocol) to monitor printer status, device health, paper levels, click volumes, toner levels and more
- Set up alerts to inform of low supplies or device errors
- View performance data in real-time via administrator console
- Export via CSV file
- Overview of fleet performance, device status, supply levels and counters
- Pricing is per seat
Toshiba announced investment
- Announced it will spend $50 million build new factory in Kyushu, Japan
- Will make silicon nitride balls for automobile motor bearings
Toshiba’s acquisition delayed
- Now expects its $15 billion buyout to begin in August, 2023
- Delay caused by waiting for regulatory approval
- New owner will be Japan Industrial Partners, Inc.
Ricoh wins production print contract
- Award from Safire Industries of Tamil Nadu, India
- Installed new Pro 8310s production b/w laser system to produce books
Ricoh launching new color A3 laser MFPs
- Will ship new IM C2510, C3010, C3510, C4510 & C6010
- Top print speeds of 25ppm, 30ppm, 35ppm, 45ppm and 60ppm respectively
- Base MSRPs range from $11,189 to $26,339
- 4 tandem OPC drum design
- Max duty cycles range from 10K/mo to 50K/mo
- 1200x1200dpi
- Comes standard with 1200 sheet paper supply
- Can upgrade to 4700 sheets
- New Color PxP EQ Advanced polymerized toner
- Melts at 25 degrees Farenheit lower temperature than previous models
- Claims that 70% of the energy used by average MFP is used by fuser
- 24 second warm up time
- Color QSU Technology in fusing unit for quick start up
- Uses fusing belt instead of fuser rollers
- Halogen heating
- 50% of mainframes made of post-consumer recycled plastics
- 54% reduction of single use plastic in packaging
- Claims new models have lowest TEC values in industry
- 10.1” color touchscreen LCD display
- Optional fax boards
- Document feeder scans both sides of original at same time
- Handles up to 220gsm originals
- Handles originals as small as 3”x5”
- Top scan speed of 300ipm or 150opm
- Built-in print controller:
- 4GB RAM (bizhub i-Series offer 8GB RAM standard)
- 256GB SSD
- 10/100/1000BaseT & USB ports standard
- Security features include:
- Error logging
- WPA 3
- TPM 2.0
- SMB v3.1.1
- Finishing options include:
- Stapling up to 65 sheets
- Stapleless stapling up to 5 sheets
- Multi-fold unit
- Booklet making
Ricoh to launch new color production system
- Is preparing to launch new Pro C9500 production color laser system
- Will replace existing C9200 & C9210 systems, which run at 115ppm
- 4 tandem OPC drum design
- Top speed of 115ppm
- Will offer a “H” version as well
- No other details yet revealed
BTA to have meeting about Ninestar issues
- The Business Technology Association, is the copier dealer industry group in the U.S.
- On 7/25/23 issued an official statement notifying copier dealers in the U.S. about the ban
- “any product produced through forced labor should be foreclosed from use within the industry”
- Stated that it is involved with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to “determine the breadth of these restrictions and the products banned”
- Will hold meeting in Boston, Massachusetts and announced it will discuss the recent fed ban on importing product made by slave labor in Zhuhai, China by Ninestar, which owns Lexmark
State of Georgia to ban Lexmark?
- Governor Kemp of Georgia signed new SB 346 into law
- Designed to protect “Georgia residents from China intrusion”
- Prohibits companies owned or operated by China from bidding on Georgia state contracts
- “all vendors must certify that they are not owned/operated by People’s Republic of China”
- CTT Research recently reported that Georgia state agencies spend $47,259,946 on Lexmark and Lenovo products
- Other states set to follow suit:
Epson reports last quarter’s earnings
- Total revenue up 5.7% to $2.24 billion
- Business profit down 31.1% to $110.5 million
- Profit down 24.3% to $143.56 million
- Printing Solutions division had revenue up 8.8% to $1.53 billion
- Profit up 6% to $158.7 million
- Office & Home Printing revenue up 4.7% to $1.06 billion
- Profit down 23.3% to $89.77 million
- Commercial & Industrial revenue up 19% to $465.27 million
- Profit up 110.4% to $69.11 million
Mega dealer gets financial support
- Visual Edge IT, headquartered in North Canton, Ohio, owns 90 locations across the U.S.
- Announced that it “received new capital commitments” from Encina Private Credit and Ares Management totaling $40 million
- “We look forward to our continued success and support of our approach to the Total Office Technology markets”; stated Austin Vanchieri, CEO
Commercial print shipments increase
- The US Department of Commerce announced that May, 2023 commercial printing shipments are up to $7.26 billion
- Was $7.01 billion in April
CYBERSECURITY & HEALTHCARE VERTICAL NEWS
Ransomware attacks on the rise
- Report published by NCC Group
- Attacks up 221% in month of June, 2023, YoY
- Most driven by hacking groups in Russia
- Clop ransomware alone may have reaped $100 million in ransom payments
- Median ransom payment = $190,424
Breaches take financial toll on healthcare
- IBM issued new report on average cost of a PHI breach in healthcare vertical
- Average total cost of $11 million per breach
- Costs have increased 53.3% since 2020
- “Cybercriminals have started making stolen data more accessible to downstream victims”
- “With medical records (PHI) as leverage, threat actors amplify pressure on breached organizations to pay a ransom”
eClinicalWorks wins EHR contracts
- Award from UniVida Medical Centers
- Physician group with locations in Florida
- Award from HealthTexas Medical Group
- 18 locations in metro San Antonio, TX area
- Award from Primary Care Joliet of Illinois
- Award from Encore Health Group and Affiliates of Tennessee
EHR makers are acquired
- Nextech announced it has been acquired by TPG asset management firm
- Purchase price of $1.4 billion
- Nextech’s EHRs are found in dermatology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, plastic surgery and med spa clinics
- Complia Health announced it was acquired by Axxess Home Healthcare Technology
- Complia claims to have more than 1,000 customers in the home health, hospice and palliative care segment
Hospital gets taxpayer dollars for new EHR
- Labette County Medical Center announced it is receiving $759,600 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help pay for new EHR
- Located in Parson, Kansas
Large healthcare IT trade show sold
- Informa, headquartered in London, England, announced it has acquired the HIMSS Global Health Exhibition/Conferences
- Last event had 35,000 visitors and 1200+ exhibitors
- Next show to take place in March of 2024
HIPAA/cybersecurity breaches in the news
- 1st Source Bank, headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, notified 20 million customers that their account info may have been exposed after ransomware attack from Clop hackers from Russia
- American Airlines, headquartered in Dallas, TX, notified an unknown number of flyers that their info may have been exposed after ransomware attack.
- Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union of Pennsylvania notified 141,000 customers that their info may have been exposed after ransomware attack.
- Athene Annuity and Life Company of Iowa notified 70,412 customers that their info was exposed after ransomware attack.
- Massachusetts Mutual Life Co. notified 242 customers that their info was exposed after ransomware attack.
- AMD announced it has released patches for its Zen 2 computer processor to fix vulnerability that could allow a hacker to access sensitive data from computers using the processor.
- CardioComm Solutions, maker of heart monitoring technology, notified an unknown number of customers that their info may have been exposed after cyber attack.
- Rush Health of Chicago, IL, was sued by patients affected by alleged illegal sharing of PHI with Google.
- Norton Healthcare of Kentucky was sued by patients over alleged negligence related to PHI exposure after cyber attack.
- UT Southwestern Medical Center of Dallas, TX notified 98,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after ransomware attack.
- Family Vision of Anderson, South Carolina notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after ransomware attack.
- LifeWorks Wellness Center of Clearwater, FL notified 17,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after ransomware attack.
- UC Davis Health of Sacramento, CA notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after email phishing attack.
- Paramedic Billing Services of Elmhurst, IL notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may been exposed after cyber attack.
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