September 17, 2016
Samsung throws in the towel on MFPs
– Samsung has sold the MFP/Printer division to HP’s Inc.
– Purchase price of $1.05 Billion
– Samsung is apparently looking for cash to cover huge future expenses regarding its recent battery fire problems and massive recall of its new Galaxy smartphones
– HP would potentially no longer need to buy LaserJets printer/MFPs and print cartridges from Canon, as it could make these products on its own using facilities acquired from Samsung
– Samsung has struggled to gain market share in the MFP space, even after investing heavily in new laser engine platforms
– Under Samsung Vice-Chairman, Jay Y. Lee, the company has exited several non-core businesses, including chemicals and defense
– For more information see link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-12/hp-inc-buying-samsung-s-printer-business-for-1-05-billion
HP sets date to launch new copiers
– From article in Bloomberg news
– HP Inc. is doubling down on the copier market, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the company looks for new sources of revenue
– HP has made attempts in past that failed, including “the mopier” and “Edgeline”
– At a partner conference in Boston Monday, HP plans to show off several new copiers for corporate customers in an bid to boost growth and expand into what it has said is a $55 billion business, the people said.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Huge Selloff
– Announced it will spin off a big chunk of business software lineup in a $8.8 billion deal with Micro Focus International of Newbury, England
– Will get a $2.5 billion cash payment and its shareholders will hold a 50.1% stake in the new combined company
– The units spun off include application delivery management, big data and enterprise security
– HPE will instead focus on selling data center hardware and other commercial gear
Samsung to resell 3D printers
– Company announced it signed partnership agreement with MakerBot, manufacturer of various 3D printers
– Samsung will apparently market to education vertical in Germany, Italy, Spain, England and Sweden
Canon to resell W2P solution
– Announced it is now reseller for Aleyant Software
– Aleyant is maker of Pressero, a cloud-based web-to-print solution for driving production print systems (competes with EFI DigitalStoreFront, PageDNA, RSA, etc.)
– Includes eDocBuilder, a variable data publishing personalization solution
HP launches JetAdvantage On Demand
– Claims to streamline deployment and management of security certified printing apps
– Designed for HP dealers and customers to purchase, deploy and manage apps through cloud
– Marketplace for HP and 3rd party-made SaaS (software as a service) applications
– Solutions include: o Secure printing (i.e. follow me)
o Document capture (OCR in cloud)
o Encryption
o Scan to cloud services
o 3rd party vendors include Hyland Software, OpenText, PaperCut, Troy, etc.
Canon ships new A4 b/w laser MFPs
– Launched the imageCLASS MF249dw, MF247dw, MF244dw, MF236n and MF232W
– Touch screen LCD display
– Base MSRPs of $299, $249, $199, $199 and $189 respectively
– Built-in print controller
– Wireless direct connection
– Allows user to connect up to 5 compatible portable computing devices, including tablets, smartphones and laptops, without need for router
– Send function to scan to email, network folder
Canon to resell cloud solutions from Box
– Canon will demonstrate how customers can manage documents captured with Canon MFPs and stored in Box cloud infrastructure
– Canon participated in annual BoxWorks convention, held this past week in San Francisco, CA, with demos aimed at following verticals: o Healthcare, allowing users to view images in DICOM (digital imaging and communications in medicine) viewer
o Financial Services/Insurance
Canon launches new solution for law firms
– Announced new partnership with nQueue Software of Tempe, Arizona
– Launched the new nQ360 solution, which integrates the nQueue cost recovery (follow you solution that competes with Nuance Equitrac, PaperCut, etc.) with Therefore Software’s document capture/management solution
– Solutions covers tracking print, copy, scan, phone, fax, travel, court fees, research, courier costs, credit card charges and more
– Users can access the solution from properly equipped imageRUNNER MFP LCD control panels
Canon launches new connector for Okidata
– Canon is looking to expand its marketshare of its uniFLOW cost recovery (i.e. follow you) solution
– Launched new applet that can be embedded in select Okidata MFPs
– Also claims to offer applets for select MFPs made by Samsung, Xerox and Konica Minolta
Canon wins production print contract
– Award from Lasting Image, a commercial printer of Pennsylvania
– Installed a imagePRESS C10000VP and imagePRESS C800 production color systems
Canon announces sponsorship
– Announced it is the official Printer and Camera provider for the Little League Baseball and Softball International
– A renewal of an existing 3 year contract
Canon & Toshiba to start selling drones?
– Toshiba announced it will partner with Alpine Electronics (best known for car stereos) to launch a drone system in March of 2018, that will be marketed to companies who wish to remote check on infrastructure of power cables and steel towers
– Canon announced it has invested in Prodrone Corp., which plans on launching a drone with Canon camera technology for marketing to agriculture vertical and surveillance companies
Ricoh wins university printshop contracts
– From press release, awards from:
– Mercer University of Macon, Georgia
– Wesleyan University of Middletown, CT
– University of South Florida in Tampa, FL
Ricoh wins production print contract
– Award from Tri-Win, a commercial printer in Dallas, Texas
– Installed the Pro VC60000 continuous feed color inkjet system
– Will be used to produce variable data direct mail pieces
Ricoh wins 3D printer contract
– Award from CRP Group, a manufacturer in Italy
– Installed a Ricoh AM S5500P 3D printer, which is a relabeled product from Aspect Inc.
Ricoh consolidates its Australian centers
– After several acquisitions, had its infrastructure spread across 5 different data centers
– Consolidated this into 2 data centers in the country
– Utilized technology from Nimble Storage, NetApp and Cisco
– “Its purpose is also to control and provide customers with choice around whether they are buying a private Cloud service or a public Cloud service.”; stated Matt Bixon, Ricoh’s IT Service Manager
– “Over last few years, we have made investments in the NetApp and Cisco Flexpod platforms and this made it very simple to integrate and carry on expanding the foundation of the platforms for our Cloud by going for the Nimble solution”
– “We are currently growing at 50% year on year and that is part of the Ricoh global strategy of diversifying into IT services”
– “We will end up building small presences in different states once we grow out those parts of business”
Ricoh and Duplo hold joint PPS open house
– Held in ballroom at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Lisle, Illinois on 8/25/16
– Included a lunch seminar entitled; “Maximizing Resources Utilizing Template Based Automation”
– Included live demos of various Ricoh production b/w and color systems, as well as Duplo systems offering slitting, cutting, creasing, bookletmaking, diecutting, perfect binding and UV coating
Printer linked to arson
– New Zealand police claim that Chris Robinson of England burned down his own mansion in Bay of Islands
– Allegedly rigged one of his laser printers in the mansion to remotely ignite matches to burn home down
– He is now fighting insurance investigators over a 1.6 million British pound payout
Intel makes acquisition
– Intel announced it has acquired Movidius Corp.
– The company makes computer vision processing computer chips used in drones and virtual reality devices
– Is an 8 year old company with 180 employees
GE to enter 3D printer market
– Announced it has agreed to buy two makers of 3D metal printing machines for combined $1.4 billion
– Companies are Arcam AB of Sweden and SLM Solutions Group of Germany
– Hopes to make parts for aircraft manufacturers among others
Sharp wins solar contract
– Award from Roadrunner Food Bank of Albuquerque, New Mexico
– Through its solar dealer, Affordable Solar Solutions
– Installed two 30 kilowatt solar roof arrays
– Claims it will save $30,000 per year in electricity bills
Clover opens new facility in Mexico
– Used to refurbish print cartridges
– Facility is in 560,000 square foot building in Mexicali
– Employs 3500 people
– Capacity of 1 million print cartridges per month
ECM vendor launches cloud solution
– MaxxVault LLC is headquartered in Bohemia, New York and provider of enterprise content management solutions (competes with OnBase, Perceptive, Laserfiche, etc.)
– Now offering MaxxSafe, a new secure cloud based content sharing subscription service
– Example pricing is 100GB, with 15 user accounts for $250/month
Xerox top executive to retire
– Sophie Vandebroek announced she will retire at end of year after company breaks into two firms
– Ms. Vandebroek is famous in her position as Xerox Chief Technology Officer leading the company’s research and development efforts
– “I am looking to exploring new challenges…..”
Fuji reports division loss
– FujiFilm of Japan is maker of most Xerox printers and MFPs
– In the country of New Zealand, it markets the products under the name “Fuji Xerox”
– The New Zealand division reported a loss of $8.7 million
– Claims one major reason is decline in production print market of 5%
Xante’ reports on envelope printing
– Xante’, headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, relabels color laser/LED engines from Ricoh and Okidata to offer envelope printing solutions
– Claims that its installed based produced a total of 107 million envelopes in the month of August, 2016
Chinese already trying to sell Lexmark?
– According to article in Bloomberg News, with info from un-named sources
– Even though the sale of Lexmark to a Chinese consortium named “Apex Holdings” for $3.6 billion is not complete, the new owners are apparently already exploring a sale of the company’s software division, named Perceptive (headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas)
– Reportedly are not using an external adviser to sell the software unit, which could fetch as much as $1 billion
Kyocera building new facility in VA
– Will invest $9.5 million to build precision tool manufacturing facility in Danville, VA
– Will be a 30,000 square foot facility
– Will employee 35 people with average salary of $65K/yr
IDC reports downturn in MFP sales
– Reported worldwide hardcopy peripheral shipments for Q2 of 2016
– Total units shipped down 3.8% to 23.1 million
– Includes laser and inkjet printers and MFPs
– Color laser engines (21ppm+) up 18%
– b/w laser (21-30ppm) up 8.9%
Kyocera ships new b/w A3 laser MFPs
– Now shipping the TASKalfa 6002i, 5002i and 4002i
– 60, 50 & 40ppm respectively
– Base MSRPs of $11,228, $9454 and $8292 respectively
– All dark grey plastic exterior
– 1200x1200dpi
– Use Kyocera’s a-Si drum technology (aka ceramic amorphous silicon coating on drum)(note the Kyocera recently chose to use organic photoconductors in its new color MFPs due to image quality requirements)
– 9” color LCD touchscreen control panel
– Optional fax boards
– Finishing options include hole punch, stapling and booklet making
– Supports up to 12”x18” sheet size o Up to 7000 sheet paper supply
o Up to 300gsm § Auto duplex supports up to 256gsm
– Built-in print controller o WiFi Direct
o NFC
o 4GB RAM standard (can upgrade to 8GB)
o 320GB hard drive
o Freescale 1.2 GHz processor
o PCL, PS and XPS print drivers standard
o USB & 10/100/1000BaseT ports
