Samsung's Multifunction Color Printer for Corporate Offices

Samsung Electronics America Inc. recently announced a premier color laser multifunction (MFP) printer called the MultiXpress CLX-8540ND. Samsung is currently offering the CLX-8540ND with an MSRP of $8,249.00 and is recommended as a heavy duty solution to corporate businesses.

“The CLX-8540ND is our flagship hybrid printer designed as a printer-copier solution for workgroups in large corporate environments and for copy-intensive small-to-mid sized businesses. Along with being one of the fastest digital color printers on the market, the CLX-8540ND also bridges the gap between Letter/Legal verses Ledger printers by including advanced printer and copier features usually only found on larger machines. What we’ve done is simplify the selection process for IT managers who are looking for a truly multifunctional printer.” - Doug Albregts, Vice President of Information Technology, Samsung Electronics America Inc.

Fastest in Its Class
The CLX-8540ND is one of the fastest color multifunction printers on the market and is capable of replacing current bulky multifunction printers. The CLX-8540ND has an extremely quick startup time and can print up to 40 pages per minute (PPM). This printer even sports an 800 MHz CPU, 1 GB of RAM, and a 160 GB hard drive making it suitable for the most demanding of office environments. Difficult printing and scanning jobs become a thing of the past as the CLX-8540ND easily processes, stores, and protects these aspects of your business. The optional paper tray is expandable to 2,720 sheets allowing this printer to manage large print jobs without interruption.

Samsungs Crisp Color and Easy Management
Whats truly unique about the CLX-8540ND is its Easy Color Manager and Real-Time Calibration Technology. The Easy Color Manager allows users to adjust color balance, brightness, contrast, and saturation of any image that you want to print. This is especially useful for businesses that have specific color preferences or rigid color requirements for their prints. The Real-Time Calibration Technology ensures that all documents are printed consistent with a high color quality. However, when dealing with important documents that may require special attention, users can choose to manually define what level of color quality will be specifically used on their documents. There is even an "Auto" option that will automatically detect whether print jobs are "mono" or "color" allowing your business to save time without having to separate these different print jobs. Whats truly impressive about the MultiXpress C8540ND is that it can handle a 9,600 dpi resolution with ease and will always print clear and precise.

Easy to Manage and Personalized UI
The combination of Samsung’s exclusive 7”color LCD touchscreen and 3-dimensional User Interface creates a smooth and easy interaction between users and the machine. The touchscreen also provides trouble-shooting capabilities that effectively reduce downtime. In addition you can add valuable information to the UI such as your corporate logo, IT support phone numbers, and any other service/support details. Rest assured that this printer will conform with all of your businesses existing IT infrastructure policies and regulations through the use SyncThru™ Admin 5, an online administration application that lets you manage and control who has access to the C8540ND.

“Next to its performance, the CLX-8540ND’s advanced features, such as modular add-ons and productivity software, make this multifunction printer easy to manage for IT managers and end users. We’ve also added cost saving features like TonerSave, AnyWeb Print, and Auto Color Detection to help our customers trim expenses. Our standard accounting solution gives managers complete visibility into their printer fleets by providing them with real-time tracking of their printing costs by individual users, printer type and location.” - Ken Colby, Director of Printer Product Marketing, Samsung Electronics America, Inc.

A Few Quick Toner Tips

Here are a few quick tips about toner that can help you save money and maximize the use of your laser printers, fax machines, and copiers

• Above all, it is important to realize the difference between ink and toner. Toner is used in all laser printer and copiers and most fax machines and is actually a carbon-based powder. If you're spending too much money on ink, buying equipment that uses toner is a great way to go. Toner machines are slightly more expensive, but in the long-run, you'll save on the cost of printing and that can save you hundreds of dollars and even thousands if you are running a small or medium business.
• When your machine tells you your toner is empty, here's a hint: it's not. Because your toner is a powder, you can take the cartridge and give it a gentle shake from side to side, causing the toner to redistribute evenly. (Sometimes it gets stuck on the sides.) Get anywhere from 10 to 15% more usage from each cartridge by remembering this tip!
• Shop around for toner! Less expensive, generic brands are everywhere. Don't pay extra money for a fancy box or brand name. Do your research, shop around online and compare prices.

Xerox Celebrates the Anniversary of the 914 Copier

The Xerox 914 copier was introduced at a trade show in New York City, over 50 years ago, on September 16, 1959. The name 914 came from the fact that the machine photocopied images as large as nine by fourteen inches and the first copy took fifteen seconds, with each copy after that taking about seven seconds to complete. The old machine is currently housed on the second floor of the 30-story corporate tower called Xerox Square.

The 914 made photocopying cheap, easy and ubiquitous and its success made Xerox Corp what it is today. The Connecticut-based company is a Fortune 500 firm that employees over 54,000 employees worldwide. Last week, Xerox CEO Ursula Burns hosted a group of retired employees who were initially involved with the 914. "It's foundational to the company. It's what really transitioned Haloid from a company that made photographic paper to a company that was in the business of documents. And it really changed the face of the office," said Steve Hoover, Vice President of Xerox's Global Software and Solutions group.

The original copier was produced at a factory in Rochester, New York; each one weighed 600 pounds a piece. It was even the subject of a 2004 book, Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg. And it was definitely a breakthrough in technology. When the copier came about, copying a piece of paper was mostly done with carbon paper, a lithograph machine, and chemically based processes such as 3M Co.'s Thermo-Fax and Eastman Kodak Co.'s Verifax. The 914 and many of today's photocopiers use xerography or electro photography.

Even though the Xerox's digital iGen4 presses is pretty much the same today as it was 50 years ago, today's technology uses a laser instead of a flash of light to expose the image. Xerox also has a number of inkjet products but executives say they don't think xerography is going anywhere anytime soon.

Joe Wilson, the founder of Xerox, originally shopped the idea for the new technology to investors such as IBM but no one was interested. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands, raising money and depending on friends to put the machine together. The original machine was leased to customers due to the fact that it came from a small, unknown company, and had yet to be tested. According to Horace Becker, the now 86-year-old chief engineer of the 914, "The rest is history."

"The orders started to roll in. We started with the idea we'd build five a day at the Orchard Street plant. Then we moved to 25 a day. When we finally moved out of Orchard Street to Webster, we were building over 100 a day," Becker told the Democrat and Chronicle.

Between 1960 and the early 1970's, over 200,000 o the 914s were produced. Becker says the demand was so high, hardly any money was made and almost before the company even turned a profit, they began planning the 813.

New Universal Printer Drive From Konica Minolta

Konica Minolta is one of the leading providers of advanced imaging and networking technologies for desktops and print shops and they have just announced of their newest product, the Konica Minolta Universal Print Driver (UPD). The UPD is a single printer drive for all networked printers. The UPD offers a common interface which handles printer selection throughout and entire network, automatically detects and identifies Konica Minolta printers and MFPs as well as other company's products. The UPD also offers a full range of functionality which increases overall business efficiency.

Konica Minolta's UPD has a single user interface which offers multiple benefits for IT Administrators as well as users that work in anything from small to large workgroups. With this UPD there is no need for the installation of separate drivers for each networked device. The UPD simplifies all the complex capabilities by considering each and every integrated task into one single driver core. This device also allows operators to add new devices to current configurations easily so they can be up and running quickly with no loss of productivity. In addition to all of that, the user interface also offers complete functionality which includes finishing, layout and quality for every pre-installed devices.

According to Vice President of Marketing for Konica Minolta Kevin Kern, "By implementing our Universal Print Driver, IT professionals can significantly reduce administration time and costs while concurrently streamlining their printing operations." Kern goes on to say, "As businesses continue to look for ways to remain competitive, the ability to manage growing workloads in less time, while not compromising quality or efficiency, is a key concern and one that this solution directly aims to address. Konica Minolta's new UPD further evidences efforts to ensure that users can always count on Konica Minolta to deliver the cutting edge innovation they need.

Konica Minolta's UPD combines multiple print drivers to meet the needs of networks comprised of new and legacy devices from numerous manufacturers. Individual Child Drivers will connect to model-specific MPFs from Konica Minolta and Common Child Drivers will connect to other models from Konica Minolta as well as 3rd party devices. More recent MPFs and desktop printers from Konica Minolta will enjoy full print functionality while older ones will also have a basic range of functionality. Every device also has automatic detection and identification.

What s special about this UPD is that it is the only printer driver to feature a specific search filter which enables the user to search by feature set. Printing attributes like color, letter sized or 11" x 17" paper and duplex printing can be typed into the search field at which point the filter will display all devices that match. If you are looking for a quality UPD, then you should check this one out from Konica Minolta. No release date or price has been set.

Source: Office Product News