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According to a new report from Gartner, Inc., Xerox Corporation ranked as the worldwide market share leader in Managed Print Services (MPS) based on revenue. Xerox believes this data further validates its approach to provide services and solutions that deliver business value.

Xerox/Fuji Xerox captured 53 percent of MPS revenues worldwide in 2007; and in North America alone, Xerox accounts for 56 percent of the MPS market.

“This is another positive evaluation Xerox has received from Gartner, the first being our placement in the “Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services Worldwide and most recently our position in the Leaders Quadrant in the “Magic Quadrant for MFPs and Printers,” said Stephen Cronin, president, Xerox Global Services. “We believe the Gartner reports, along with the significant cost savings and productivity gains we’re achieving for our customers, speak to our leadership position on both the product side and in the MPS space.”

Ownership for document output is usually fragmented across organizations and departments. With Xerox Office Services’ comprehensive Lean Six Sigma-based approach, customers are able to determine the actual costs associated with printing, copying and faxing across all offices. The assessment also tracks how often and when multi-vendor copiers, printers and other hardware devices are being used. Armed with this information, Xerox designs an output strategy that not only meets workplace requirements, but also increases efficiency while reducing waste.

In addition to maintaining its own equipment, Xerox currently manages more than a million competitive devices in customers’ offices worldwide; which includes help desk, break-fix, supplies, service level agreements and procurement.

More information about Gartner, and access to the report, is available at http://www.gartner.com. A cost may be associated with accessing the full report.

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Equitrac Professional 5, the most advanced version of Equitrac Corporation’s market-leading print management and cost recovery solution for professional services firms, has received the Buyers Laboratory Inc.’s (BLI’s), Fall 2008 “Pick” award in the “Outstanding Print Management/Cost Recovery Solution” category. BLI’s awards are given to the hardware and software offerings that measure up as the best in the comprehensive evaluations, which assess a wide range of the most important performance factors for buyers.

“In a challenging economic climate, businesses need every opportunity to recoup costs quickly and accurately, as well as trim expenses wherever possible,” said BLI Managing Editor Daria Hoffman. “Equitrac Professional delivers on both fronts.”

Earlier this year, Equitrac Professional 5 was awarded BLI’s Five Star rating. The Five Star rating is awarded to companies that demonstrate superior product and service in its market category. “Based on our review, BLI has no hesitation recommending Equitrac Professional 5 to organizations that are seeking a scalable, robust, cost-effective print management cost accounting application,” said Hoffman. BLI cited Equitrac Professional’s compatibility with virtually all MFP brands, as well as a wide range of back-end legal document management and accounting/billing applications as key considerations in awarding Equitrac Professional 5 the Five Star rating.

Equitrac Professional 5

Equitrac Professional 5 is a print-management and cost-recovery solution designed for professional services firms (e.g. law, accounting, architectural and public relations and advertising organizations) to recover and reduce document costs while promoting environmental sustainability. With Equitrac Professional 5, professional firms easily track printing, copying, scanning, faxing and even phoning and other miscellaneous expenses for proper accounting and bill-back.

In addition to cutting down on the time it takes a company to bill clients for such activities, Equitrac Professional 5 can be used to manage workflow more efficiently and cost effectively by routing documents to specific devices based on administrator-defined rules related to the nature of the job.

Equitrac Professional 5 is noted for its ease of use, its compatibility with the vast majority of MFPs and printers on the market and its interoperability with a wide range of back-end accounting/billing and legal document management applications.

“We are delighted that this year BLI has recognized Equitrac Professional 5 with both its Five Star rating and Pick award,” said Michael Rich, CEO of Equitrac Corporation. “With continued pressure on business consumers to more closely manage costs and to push environmental sustainability initiatives, Equitrac remains committed to delivering best-in-class intelligent print management and cost recovery solutions to professional services organizations, academic institutions and corporate enterprises around the world.”

Visit www.equitrac.com for more information or to read the BLI “Pick” report, visit www.buyerslab.com.

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ProStor InfiniVault-DICOM is an intelligent long-term storage solution that addresses the need for expanded storage capacity in organizations that are creating an increasing number of images and retaining them for longer periods of time. The system is also ideal for replacing obsolete deep archive technologies including tape and optical storage. In addition to DICOM images, ProStor InfiniVault-DICOM stores and properly retains electronic medical records and business files. The scalable and affordable system manages DICOM objects over the network for modalities, RIS, HIS and PACS systems. Patients, doctors, technicians and healthcare administrators alike benefit from this cost-effective system that easily drops into existing environments with DICOM 3.0 conformance and HIPAA compliance.

Unlike other disk-based storage systems, ProStor InfiniVault-DICOM integrates industry leading RDX(R) removable disk cartridges to provide the performance of online storage with the economics of offline storage. The system simplifies the management of data by enabling secure local and remote access to images, automatically making multiple copies of data for offsite archival and disaster recovery. ProStor InfiniVault-DICOM also automates data retention with HIPAA compliance, including the disposition of images and data.

The ProStor InfiniVault-DICOM Model 100 System is capable of managing more than 1 billion studies in DICOM format. Each 500 GB removable disk cartridge employed by ProStor InfiniVault can store 500 multi-slice CT scans, 2,500 MRIs or 10,000 X-rays at a time. With up to 100 RDX cartridges online and an infinite number offline, ProStor InfiniVault-DICOM can manage all DICOM image and file needs of an organization.

“We’re pleased to partner with ProStor to provide to the healthcare community the best archive storage for CT scans, MRIs, digitized X-rays and EMR files,” said Joe Rorke, vice president of marketing and business development of Rorke Data. “We chose ProStor InfiniVault-DICOM because it is a scalable, secure and affordable solution for PACS DICOM image archiving and can also be used for the storage of HIS, RIS, patient records and business data.”

Buzz Walker, vice president of marketing for ProStor Systems, agreed, “Imaging labs, regional clinics and hospitals looking for a DICOM-compliant system to address their growing capacity needs will find that ProStor InfiniVault-DICOM is a superior cost-effective alternative to traditional disk, tape or optical archive solutions and provides protection from technology obsolescence and migration.”

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Direct Group, a fully integrated direct marketing solutions provider, announced today that it will install a second Oce JetStream(TM) 2200 system at its facility in Swedesboro, N.J. this month. The JetStream 2200 is a high-speed, fully variable, color inkjet, continuous press that provides some of the most advanced digital printing capabilities available in the world. The company installed the first such system in the U.S. at the same facility in May of this year. The new system will feature magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) capabilities, a highly precise check-printing tool that has become increasingly important to direct marketers.

Direct Group also announced that it is installing five intelligent insert systems at the Swedesboro facility this month that will afford clients new statement processing and transpromotional (”transpromo”) marketing opportunities. These systems will help Direct Group clients maximize marketing opportunities and increase ROI by including cost-effective and relevant cross-selling marketing messages in monthly statements and transaction documents.

Despite a challenging economy, high-speed digital printing and transpromo are two areas in the direct marketing arena that are poised for significant growth. According to InfoTrends, the leading worldwide market research and strategic consulting firm for the digital imaging and document solutions industry, the use of digital print in direct mail will grow more than 50 percent by 2010. In addition, the transpromo market is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 91 percent, increasing from 1.62 billion images in 2006 to 21.72 billion images by 2010.

“These moves represent Direct Group’s continued efforts to offer clients leading technologies that help them both acquire and retain customers,” said Don McKenzie, Direct Group President and CEO. “By expanding our capabilities in areas of significant growth potential, and applying the most advanced technological solutions available, we help our clients continue to focus on the most important metric of all - driving higher returns on their marketing spend.”

In 2008, Direct Group has significantly increased volume year-over-year, due in part to the Oce JetStream 2200 installed in the spring. This system has helped Direct Group clients take advantage of an industry-wide shift to more personalized and trigger-based mailings - those timed with major life events such as a move or retirement. These mailings produce significantly higher response rates than traditional direct marketing techniques. Tests have shown that highly personalized trigger mailings using fully variable color formats can produce upwards of 5 to 15 percent response rates, compared to the traditional direct mail channel, where 1 to 3 percent is considered a good return.

The Oce JetStream 2200 also helps significantly lower total campaign costs for customer acquisition programs, including raw material and postal expenses. The latter is an important element of Direct Group’s comprehensive package of postal-cost-saving solutions, known as Postal Optimizer(R).

According to McKenzie, the first Oce JetStream 2200 system is already at full capacity after only six months of operation for major clients in the financial services and education sectors. However, clients in the telecommunications, retail, automotive, insurance and nonprofit segments are now eager to begin utilizing the second system.

“We are proud that the Oce JetStream is playing such an important role for Direct Group and its customers as they tap into the changing direction of personalized marketing,” said Mal Baboyian, President, Oce North America, Production Printing Systems. “The sophisticated personalization platform Oce JetStream enables maximizes the exciting new marketing opportunities available to businesses today, and Direct Group is at the forefront of this trend.”

Direct Group’s continuous focus on the shifting needs of clients is also evident in the company’s entry into the transpromo and statement processing market with the addition of the five intelligent insert systems. These systems can handle selective inserts into multiple-page statements while monitoring the various components of the mailing and ensuring security, accuracy and overall package integrity.

The new transpromo capabilities will enable Direct Group clients to deliver geographically and demographically relevant marketing messages and timely offers in statements or transaction documents sent to existing customers. For example, a frequent flyer statement could now include a promotional message about a hotel in a customer’s frequent destination city. The technology allows the marketer - at no incremental cost - to effectively and intelligently cross-sell to current, loyal customers who have already opted into a relationship with the company and are predisposed to receive the marketing message.

According to InfoTrends Director Barb Pellow, “TransPromo marketing messages, by their very nature, command more attention than traditional communications. While the average customer may get as many as 3,000 advertising messages per day, they receive less than 12 transaction documents monthly. Those transaction documents are from known and trusted sources, so they are more likely to draw the customer’s attention.” A multi-client study by InfoTrends showed that, on average, consumers spend two to three minutes reviewing monthly statements they receive in the mail, but a full 20 percent spend five minutes or more.

Because of these dynamics, response rates for transpromo marketing are high. According to Pellow, “Transpromo offers the benefits of significant postal and operational cost savings and the opportunity for improved response rates. It is time for marketers to leverage this incredibly valuable and cost-effective touchpoint to generate further dialogue with their customers.”

Chris Ryan, Direct Group Chief Operating Officer, said, “Transpromo marketing technology - along with increased digital printing capacity with the second Oce JetStream 2200 - are the logical next steps in the evolution of our significant investments in digital capabilities at both our fulfillment and direct mail facilities. By enabling our clients to add color and personalization to their mailings, these technologies help increase readership and response, and enhance campaign effectiveness during challenging economic times.”

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Ricoh Americas Corporation, a leading provider of digital office equipment, today announced the Aficio MP C2550 color multifunction product (MFP) was awarded the Fall 2008 “Pick of the Year” award from Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI). The Aficio MP C2550 won this award for Outstanding Segment 2 Business Color MFP category.

As part of the evaluation process, the Aficio MP C2550 performed particularly well in the reliability, image quality and ease of use categories. By delivering 25 pages-per-minute (ppm) for both full-color and black & white output, as well as offering resolution of up to 1200 dpi, the Aficio MP C2550 helps organizations gain a competitive advantage in today’s fast-paced business environment. In addition, the affordable Aficio MP C2550 allows organizations to develop fully-finished documents in-house, streamlining production costs.

“We are proud to have the Aficio MP C2550 recognized by BLI as a Fall 2008 Segment 2 Business Color MFP ‘Pick of the Year,’” said Michael Hunter, director, Product Marketing, Ricoh Americas Corporation. “This honor demonstrates our commitment to delivering the best and most reliable products that directly affect our customers’ bottom line. An award from an industry leader such as BLI goes a long way in reinforcing the quality of our work and the products we provide. “

The BLI Fall 2008 “Pick of the Year” awards are presented semi-annually to the products and software solutions that perform best in their respective categories based on in-depth lab tests conducted by BLI experts. Products are evaluated in critical performance areas including reliability, image quality, productivity, ease of use, ease of administration and security.

For more information about Ricoh products and solutions, please visit www.ricoh-usa.com.

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Presstek, Inc., a leading manufacturer and marketer of digital offset printing solutions, announces its participation at the ON DEMAND Russia Conference and Exhibition, in Moscow from 18-21 November.
Represented by its Russian distribution partner, Comline, the company will showcase its highly automated 52DI digital offset press, which is the ideal solution for high quality on-demand color printing.

“The rapidly growing Russian economy is providing printers of all sizes with tremendous growth opportunities, specifically in the print-on-demand sector,” says Mr. Alexey Ivanenko, President of Comline. “The ON DEMAND show provides the perfect platform to showcase how Presstek’s 52DI digital offset press can improve a printer’s competitive advantage by quickly delivering the best quality color printing in shorter run lengths-cost effectively. Presstek’s 52DI is the right product at the right time for printers looking to set a profitable path for the future.”

Presstek 52DI Digital Offset Press: Business Generator

Demonstrations of the Presstek 52DI press are a “must-see” at the show for companies looking for a faster and more profitable way to produce environmentally friendly, high-quality, short-run color printing. The 2008 InfoTrends, Inc. study, Presstek DI Printing Study: Bridging the Gap Between Digital Toner and Conventional Offset surveyed eighty DI press owners from around the world and found that these print providers are growing their print revenue and profit margins with their Presstek DI presses. According to the survey’s conclusion, “These print providers indicated that Presstek DI presses are well-positioned between toner and conventional technologies, satisfying customer requirements in the 500 to 20,000 run length range with increased print quality, faster turnaround time, a wider range of substrates, and a lower price per page.” (The complete study can be downloaded by visiting http://www.presstek.com.)

The Presstek 52DI landscape digital offset press operates at a print speed of up to 10,000 impressions per hour with a maximum sheet size of 520 x 375 mm (20,000 A4 pages per hour). Presstek 52DI offers waterless printing and on-press chemistry-free platemaking. This combination translates into higher quality and substantially less overall waste than conventional printing processes.
On-press imaging ensures precise registration and fast run-up. The DI’s ability to go from file to sellable color within 20 sheets provides fast turnaround with less makeready waste. Presstek DI digital offset presses offer the ability to print on a wide range of substrates from 0.06 mm to 0.5 mm thick. High quality is achieved with up to 300 lpi (120 l/cm) printing, as well as stochastic (FM) screening without incurring additional time or expense.

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Lynne Kiesling

For the past 30 years the U.S. auto industry has been like your alcoholic Uncle Bob: his self-destructive habits seem beneficial to him, despite the harm they cause him and the pain they inflict on his family and friends. You want to help him, but don’t know the best way to do so, and you know that if you confront him he will deny it and become angry and violent. You know deep down that Uncle Bob is a drunk bully, but the thought of a confrontation is so painful that you stay quiet and follow a strategy of conflict avoidance. Plus you know that the only way his health will improve is if he is the one who realizes that his habits are self-destructive and that he wants to change. At some point, the issue comes to a head, and the question becomes whether or not you have the courage to tell him what he needs to hear, for his own good and for the good of those who love him.

The issue coming to a head right now is that the U.S. auto industry has been unhealthy for decades. Chrysler’s 1979 bailout did not change that. The Big Three cannot compete with Asian and European manufacturers, particularly in the production of high-quality, reasonably-priced, fuel-efficient cars, because their labor costs eat all of the possible margins (GM and Ford manufacture such cars for sale in Europe, so it’s not a design problem). We have known this for three decades, and have followed a strategy of conflict avoidance.

In Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, David Yermack wrote a brilliant article: Just Say No to Detroit. His argument is peppered with extremely disturbing facts:

• GM and Ford are two companies that made the most money-losing investments in the 1980s; between them they “destroyed $110 billion in capital” in the decade, according to an analysis from the careful and renowned economist Michael Jensen.
• Over the most recent decade, “the capital destruction by GM has been breathtaking,” $182 billion, and Yermack estimates that the aggregate capital investment in GM and Ford since 1980 has let to a net reduction in capital of $465 billion.
• This is what I find particularly disturbing: with that $465 billion, “GM and Ford could have closed their own facilities and acquired all of the shares of Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and Volkswagen.”
• “When a company makes money-losing investments, the cost falls upon all of society.” This observation means that we have already reduced our future economic well-being by $465 billion by his calculations, due to the persistence of these firms and their poor business decisions.

Yermack makes other important observations, including one that is crucial for policymakers to remember: if any or all of the Big Three were to declare bankruptcy, that decision would not destroy the physical assets and physical capital of the industry, but would instead free it up to be purchased by others and to be redeployed in a more productive way.

But what about the human cost? I share Will Wilkinson’s and Megan McArdle’s combination of sympathy with people in changing circumstances and expectations that can create hardship, but also with the painful reality that none of us — none of us — has any guarantees in this world. That includes job guarantees. And in this case, a bailout would mean job guarantees for now, at a great cost to everyone else, because it would mean the perpetuation of the extremely flawed business practices of the U.S. auto industry as a whole.

As much as it pains me to cite politicians favorably, I think that Senators Shelby and Kyl put it well in this Wall Street Journal article from today:

Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Jon Kyl of Arizona said it would be a mistake to use any of the Wall Street rescue money to prop up the automakers. They said an auto bailout would only postpone the industry’s demise.

“Companies fail every day and others take their place. I think this is a road we should not go down,” said Sen. Shelby, the senior Republican on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

“They’re not building the right products,” he said. “They’ve got good workers but I don’t believe they’ve got good management. They don’t innovate. They’re a dinosaur in a sense.”

Added Sen. Kyl, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican: “Just giving them $25 billion doesn’t change anything. It just puts off for six months or so the day of reckoning.”

What’s the alternative? Let the firms fail. Use bailout money to provide unemployment assistance, education grants, and relocation grants to individuals who lose their jobs. In the long term, not only is that approach more compassionate, honest, and courageous, it’s also cheaper than perpetuating the uncompetitive business models in this domestic industry that has shown a colossally abysmal inability to adapt to changing market conditions. As Will said in the post linked above, “There is no justice, and great harm, in diminishing the whole array of future opportunity to save a few people now from a regrettable fate.” I hope we have the courage to take the bottle from Uncle Bob and tell him that we are doing it for his, and our, long-run health.

OKI Printing Solutions (brand name for OKI Data Corporation) today announced it has established Oki Data Americas Inc. Argentina Branch - effective November 3, 2008. The Argentinean office will be the third operation in Latin America, following the opening of Brazilian and Mexican sales offices. The move capitalizes on business growth in emerging markets.

Argentina’s business printer and MFP market is the third largest in Latin America and therefore a key focus for expansion for OKI Printing Solutions.

The market for 2007 stood at 220,000 units shipped, up 255% on the corresponding figure for 2004. In value terms, the market was worth USD 80.94 million in 2007, up 177% over the same three-year period.(*)

Monochrome page printers account for 76% of the total page printer market and this sector is expected to grow even more - by 27% over the period 2007-2010. The Business Printer and MFP market is expected to grow by 36% over the same period.(*)

OKI Printing Solutions has been conducting business in Argentina since 1995 and its products are well-known in the financial and governmental sector for their durability and reliability. The Argentinian office will focus on delivering high-quality customer service and after-sales care for its customers, developing stronger business relationships and expanding its distribution channel. OKI Printing Solutions intends to double its sales revenue from Argentina by FY2010.

Harushige Sugimoto, President and Chief Executive Officer of OKI Printing Solutions says: “OKI Printing Solutions is focused on building strong customer relationships. In the past, we have worked through dealers. While we will continue to do this, we will now have the additional help of a branch office to ensure that the service and support our customers receive is enhanced even further.”

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Lynne Kiesling

Due in part to my trying to process everything that’s going on in the economy right now, and in part to my being in denial about some of it, my morning attention is drawn to this item: listening to your favorite music is good for your heart. In my case I suspected as much, because I am, ummmm, an active listener: whenever possible I sing along and dance and air drum in a fairly cardiovascular way. But this paper suggests that it’s not just getting your heart rate up; it’s also the feeling of joy leading to expanded blood flow. Last night provided me with a good data point on this hypothesis (OK, this is really just a current news hook to tell you about a show I went to last night).

My friend Geoff Manne was in town for the Property Rights and Innovation conference at the NU Searle Center yesterday and today, and at which I presented this preliminary and incomplete paper on layered entry barriers in retail electricity markets. Geoff’s a great enabler; the intersection of our musical tastes is sufficient to lead to valuable cross-pollination (most of it in my direction), so when he said that he wanted to see Centro-Matic at the Hideout while he was here, of course I said yes. Centro-Matic is a good indie-rock band from Denton, Texas, in the same rough musical area as Okkervil River, whom we’ve enjoyed live and to whom we are listening quite a bit lately. And the Hideout is a Chicago institution, so we look for excuses to go there.*

In brief, it was a good show, solid, well-done music at the alt country-rock interface. Lots of jangly guitar. The drummer was fun to watch, and I may actually steal one of his fills. One of the guys was swapping among bass, violin, keyboard, and synth, as well as singing backing vocals; very impressive. The Centro-Matic guys also play with two other folks as South San Gabriel, where they play their quieter, more mellow compositions. We were really enjoying their layered guitar with the pedal steel guitar, and how the drummer used maracas and brushes to give solid, soft percussion. If you like bands at the alt country-rock interface, check these guys out.

But then at the end they really endeared themselves to me in the encore, by doing a fabulous cover of the English Beat’s “Save It For Later”, which is one of my favorite.songs.ever. So I got to sing and dance and air drum, leading to a full-spectrum heart-healthy musical evening.

* Seriously, if you like music and you are ever in Chicago and have a free evening, it’s well worth going to the Hideout, even if you have never heard of the band or aren’t sure if you like the band’s genre. The Hideout is a true gem.

Index Engines, the leader in enterprise discovery solutions, today announced a solution alliance with Quantum Corp., a leading global specialist in backup, recovery and archive, that combines the Index Engines indexing technology with Quantum’s tape automation products to allow fast and easy exploration of backup and archive data for legal discovery. This combined solution changes the way organizations can access, explore and use their already stored secondary data. Index Engines’ patent-pending indexing and extraction technology integrates with Quantum’s Scalar tape libraries and makes backup tapes discoverable without the need for restoration. Index Engines Tape Engine integrates with Quantum products, adding the ability to query data in backup and archive formats. This joint solution enables the intelligent use of secondary data to facilitate electronic discovery.

“This alliance with Index Engines allows Quantum to bring eDiscovery functionality to our Scalar tape automation products,” said Mark Eastman, Senior Director of Solutions Marketing at Quantum. “The integration of our products with the Tape Engine enables our customers to address multiple challenges with peace of mind that their data assets are not only protected but also can be easily searched and accessed for compliance purposes.”

“Index Engines’ and Quantum’s technologies augment each other to bring data discovery capabilities into secondary storage,” said Jim McGann, VP of Marketing at Index Engines. “By offering an integrated solution that can index both backup and file system formats, Index Engines removes the barrier between backup and archive data. This alliance creates one seamless management infrastructure for all secondary storage.”

The Tape Engine has been certified by Quantum’s technology team. The integrated solution that this alliance brings to market is the only automated tape discovery solution that allows access to data without restoration. The combination of the Tape Engine with the Scalar libraries brings unmatched speed and access to data contained on backup tapes. This solution is currently available. Contact Index Engines or Quantum today for details. Pricing is dependant on configuration.

For more information on Index Engines, please visit http://www.indexengines.com.

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