Ink World open new store in Londonderry
May 17, 2012
Fifth store opened in province, with further four planned by 2013.
Office supplies retailer Ink World 
has opened a new store in Londonderry, to accompany stores currently open in Belfast, Cookstown, Glengormley and Newtownards in Northern Ireland, reports Londonderry Sentinel.
Graham Rankin will own and operate the store, who stated that his background in banking has given him “sound” business grounding: “I am absolutely delighted to launch the Ink World store in Londonderry. I have been researching the franchise for many months before identifying the right location in the City.
“The business model that the franchise offers was very appealing to me, and the existing stores provided me with impressive figures which I will be striving to emulate in Derry.”
Harry Taylor, owner of the master license for the Ink World franchise in Northern Ireland and owner of the East Belfast store, remarked: “This is the firsts tore to launch as part of our four year expansion plan, and to date it is trading fantastically well.
“Graham has invested a lot of time into researching the northwest market and now stocks a massive range of printer cartridges, and wide selection of stationery as well as offering printing, binding, and laminating facilities – a service we have found a growing demand for.”
Ink World also has six additional stores throughout the rest of the UK.
Categories : Rank 5
FarraTech expands Gwinnett headquarters
May 17, 2012
Toner cartridge manufacturer and Partnership Gwinnett’s 2012 Small Manufacturer of the Year announces headquarters expansion.
FarraTech, based in Norcross, Gwinnett, has announced the expansion of its headquarters in the small US town, reports Gwinnett Business Journal.
FarraTech CEO Maria Mendillo and staff, image attributed to GBJ
The toner cartridge manufacturer is keen to support local industry, with FarraTech CEO Maria Mendillo commenting: “Gwinnett provides us with ready and immediate access to our clients – locally, nationally, and internationally. What consistently separates us from our competition is our remarkable customer service. Our location in Gwinnett and [metropolitan] Atlanta enables us to provide that quality service.”
Kellie Brownlow, Director of Economic Development at Gwinnett Chamber Economics Development, also commented: “FarraTech’s commitment to excellence has won them local and national recognition – such notoriety and success will undoubtedly continue as the company further expands their business worldwide.”
Gwinnett County Chairman Charlotte Nash added: “We are proud to support the growth and expansion of this homegrown manufacturing, sales and service company.”
Categories : Rank 5
Tags : Business North America Toner
Kodak releases new AIOs in UK
May 17, 2012
The ESP 1.2 and 3.2 inkjet AIOs are designed to offer a “no-compromise” choice to home printer consumers.
ITNewsOnline reports that the two printers are aimed to offer “advanced features, quality and affordability” to users as additions to the OEM’s inkjet range.
The ESP 1.2 and 3.2 are aimed at “photo-centric” customers including families, and are designed for ease of use and quality, with an easy Wi-Fi setup as well as a 3.8 cm and 6.1 cm touchscreen respectively. The OEM states that both devices have a “walk up and print” experience in that they offer simplicity and speed, and feature smart sensor technology that “predicts supplies and time needed to complete a job” as well as automatic adjustment of settings “based on paper size and type”.
Kodak also claims that its inkjet technology means that the printers feature the “lowest total ink replacement cost and lowest average cost per page in the industry”, with the printers also featuring synchronicity with Kodak’s Email Print Service as well as Google’s Cloud Print technology. The OEM has introduced an ink subscription service to aid consumers in ordering new consumables, with free shipping designed to encourage take up of original supplies.
Bob Ohlweiler, Vice President and General Manager of Kodak’s Consumer Business, stated: “Our newest printers and mobile app speaks to Kodak’s commitment to deliver a print experience that meets the needs of today’s consumers, whether they are at home or away from home.
“The new ESP 1.2 and 3.2 printers offer the value and ease you would expect from KODAK, with no trade-off on quality and performance.”
The devices are available from June, with the ESP 1.2 retailing at £69 ($109/€86) and the ESP 3.2 at £79 ($125/€98).
Categories : Rank 5
Tags : Kodak Products & Technology UK
Swap Ink outlines benefits of compatible toner refills
May 16, 2012
Only 10 percent of cartridges purchased annually refilled, states aftermarket ink retailer.
Ink retailer Swap Ink has distributed a list 
detailing the benefits of using refill toner cartridges over new OEM products in a bid to raise awareness of the “side effects of throwing away non-biodegradable products than just the fact that they increase landfill waste”.
Noting that only 10 percent of 200 million toner cartridges purchased annually are recycled, Swap Ink are keen to espouse the position of OEMs, stating that they “are eating up resources and clogging up landfills […] they are made with virgin non-biodegradable resources!”
Refilled and remanufactured cartridges are, however, “made with entirely different motives in mind” and, as opposed to OEM products, are make with recycled parts and urge businesses, schools, home offices and students to use compatibles, resulting in “the more of a positive impact there is that can be made on the environment.
“By purchasing recycled products and then recycling them again after use, printing tasks can be far less threatening to the environment”.
Categories : Rank 5
Tags : Remanufacturing
Lexmark awarded highest score in MPS evaluation
May 16, 2012
Research firm Forrester Wave awards OEM with the highest possible score in an invited evaluation.
Lexmark has been cited as a leader 
in MPS by research firm Forrester Wave following achieving the highest possible score during an invited evaluation.
The evaluation was determined on market experience, technology and solution ownership, integration with business processes, mobile printing and global delivery.
Forrester Wave stated that Lexmark was able to “combine strong global support with strong, balanced capabilities”, and celebrated the OEM’s recent acquisitions including Perceptive, Brainware and Pallas Athena.
Forrester Vice President Craig Le Clair commented: “Their focus is streaming business processes and providing workflow solutions to print less… even before acquiring Perceptive and Pallas, Lexmark has more than 100 applications that run on MFPs to provide document management functions.
“While many MPS initiatives focus on device consolidation models, Lexmark Global Services starts with print policies driven by print ‘use cases’ that define how users print.”
Lexmark Executive Vice President Marty Canning added: “We believe Forrester’s recognition confirms Lexmark’s leadership and proven track record of providing MPS to many large companies all over the world with best-in-class services, solutions and technology to optimise their output infrastructure, transform key business processes and free up more time to spend on core business activities.”
Categories : Rank 5
Canon to expand wide-format offerings in Saudi Arabia
May 15, 2012
The OEM’s Middle Eastern subsidiary is aiming for “vertical growth” in the region’s wide-format market.
According to AMEInfo, Canon Middle East hosted an event in Saudi Arabia catering to end-users and channel partners, with a range of new models and solutions released in the country to suit its CAD (Computer Aided Design), photographic and production markets.
Resellers invited to the event were able to meet 50 new channel partners, and all attendees were able to “gain insight into new channel strategies” as well as enjoy “interactive presentations of the new models” available.
The OEM’s imagePROGRAF wide-format device range was shown alongside its third party solutions, made by providers DevStudio and FastBind, allowing for more customisation and added features for wide-format printing. The event was organised with main distributor El Ajou.
Naoshi Yamada, Deputy Managing Director of Canon Middle East, stated: “Building on a heritage and expertise in digital colour, Canon is committed to the LFP market. There is a huge opportunity in the Kingdom’s LFP market, especially in still untapped industries such as education, design and production where large format printing has become an essential tool in doing business.
“Through the reseller event, we were able to leverage our expertise and acknowledged leadership in imaging and business solutions to take advantage of this growth opportunity and create a viable business proposition for our strong network of channel partners.”
El Ajou’s General Manager Daoud Al-Dissi added: “Canon Middle East is an expert and trusted partner to its customers, helping them drive business performance and remain on the Path to Profit.
“The recent reseller event allowed Canon to present their products and solutions in great detail and in a way that our channel partners experience the tangible benefits and features of the product offerings.”
Categories : Rank 5
Tags : Canon Saudi Arabia Wide-format
Océ supplies new Canon printers
May 15, 2012
Océ North America Document Printing Systems now sell Canon’s imageRUNNERLBP5280 and imageRUNNER LBP3480 laser printers.
The printers are described as being “compact and affordable” and are able to act as stand alone devices or as part of a fleet of imageRUNNER ADVANCE MFPs.
Featuring Canon’s Multifunctional Embedded Application Platform (MEAP), users can run programs directly on their printers and easily communicate with Canon image RUNNERADVANCE MFPs, which the company says will help to bring “MFP workflows to the desktop printer”.
Greater device tracking and management can be achieved through the new models when they are combined with Canon’s imageWARE software, allowing administrators to remotely monitor a printer fleet’s status, thus strengthening Océ’s MPS and Managed Document Services for its customers. The printers can also be easily integrated with NT-WareuniFLOW software in order to help manage output activities such as statistical data gathering and secure printing.
The colour imageRUNNER LBP5280 model is able to produce 21ppm, while the LBP3480 model produces up to 35ppm, with both models featuring automatic duplex printing and a low energy consumption of 1 Watt in Deep Sleep mode to reduce environmental impacts and save on printing costs.
John Reilly, President of Océ North America Document Printing Systems, commented: “These products deliver a blend of productivity, security and convenience to offices looking to bring greater reliability to their offices or support their existing imageRUNNER mulitifunctional systems”.
Commenting further, Sam Yoshida, Vice President and General Manager of Marketing at Business Imaging Solutions Group for Canon USA, added that the newest additions to the company’s product range “offer users a small-format, low-cost device with advanced features that fit into practically every printing workflow”.
For more information on the products, visit www.oceusa.com.
Categories : Rank 5
Tags : North America Océ Technology
Kodak’s Kettering site important for company’s recovery
May 14, 2012
Operations at the Ohio site to help the struggling OEM to recover from recent bankruptcy.
The Dayton Daily News reports that, 
according to newspaper Rochester Chronicle and Democrat, Kodak’s future could lie in the success of its commercial inkjet printing operations based at the Miami Valley Research Park in Kettering, Ohio.
With Kodak purportedly aiming to “emerge from bankruptcy and thrive as a smaller, more focused company” after announcing its bankruptcy earlier this year, the company is looking to focus its business on printing technology and has recently signed an agreement with Japanese printer manufacturer Ryobi Ltd to collaborate in the creation of a sheetfed printing press using Kodak’s S5 Imprinting Systems technology.
According to the article, Kodak creates its own digital inkjet web press “which prints on a giant roll of paper, as well as digital printheads that can be attached to traditional web presses”.
The printing press will be the first to use Kodak’s digital inkjet technology and will, according to Kodak’s website, “enable customers to print high-quality sheetfed jobs that include variable or versioned information in a single step […] eliminating both [firstly] the costly use of laser printers to add variable information and [secondly] the one to two days of job set time prior to laser printing.”
Despite the company’s Kettering site being the focus of its inkjet operations and potentially the key to its financial recovery, Kodak announced in February that it had laid-off 68 of its 570 employees, with the intention of making 80 employees in the company’s commercial inkjet operations arm redundant in the aftermath of its financial difficulties.
Categories : Rank 5
Tags : Business Kodak North America
NHS pays 328 percent mark-up on printer parts
May 14, 2012
UK health service sector reportedly pays the third-highest for computer products and services.
UK newspaper The Telegraph has stated 
that the National Health Service (NHS) is paying £6 ($9.64/€7.48) on parts for a laser printer that cost a mere £1.40 ($2.25/€1.74) wholesale, representing a 328 percent mark-up.
Other purchases include 4GB USB memory sticks purchased for £10.50 ($16.87/€13.11) but available at wholesale for £5.28 ($8.48/€6.59), and a three-metre Ethernet cable costing the hospital £1.73 ($2.78/€2.16) against a 72p ($1.15/€0.89) wholesale price.
Procurement tracking firm Mercato has announced that the NHS typically purchases computer equipment and services at 28 percent more than its wholesale price, compared with the “best average in the private sector” of three precent.
Mercato announced that the NHS pays the third-highest prices of any sector for computer products and services. Only housing associations and retailers rank higher. The Telegraph states that banks, utilities and telecoms firms pay on average less than 20 percent margin.
Al Nagar of Mercato commented: “The NHS could get more and better IT for the same money […] overspending on its IT as a result of the fast moving market and this is hitting bottom lines at a time when it is fighting to become more efficient.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health responded: “The NHS should not be paying over the odds for any products and services. It is important that every penny spent on the NHS provides value for the taxpayer and we will shortly be publishing guidance to help the NHS get the very best deal it can for equipment it buys.”
Categories : Rank 5
Tags : Business United Kingdom
Ricoh India releases new laser printers
May 14, 2012
The OEM subsidiary plans to expand its partnerships in the country with the three new laser models.
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According to The Hindu, the SP 100, SP 100SU and SP 100SF feature print speeds of 13 ppm, with a duty cycle of 10,000 pages per month. The devices come as part of a deal with the OEM to refill cartridges with toner when empty, which it says brings the total cost of ownership for each down by 70 percent.
Tetsuya Takano, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Ricoh India, stated: “With the introduction of our new range of printers and genuine refill programme, Indians can now get consistent printer performance and low cost of ownership.
“Our market research revealed that customers were using non standard consumables to achieve lower cost of ownership. This was adversely impacting the printer performance. In some specific models in mid and high-end printers from our existing models, Ricoh is offering guaranteed print cost, a unique maintenance option by which the customer pays a fixed charge for each print/copy, irrespective of the coverage area.”
Takano added of the company’s future plans: “In addition to our existing partners, we now plan to expand our channel presence by appointing over 800 printer partners and system integrators in the current fiscal.”
The printers will be available for between Rs 6,500 ($120/€93) and Rs 12,800 ($237/€184).
Categories : Rank 5
Tags : India Ricoh Technology
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