Tablets to Impact Print Volume?

The following appears on benzinga.com

Tablet shipments are expected to overtake notebook shipment numbers by 2016, according to NPD DisplaySearch's Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report.

Notebook shipments are expected to go from 208 million units in 2012 to 393 million by 2017, and tablets are expected to go from 121 million to 416 million along the same time period - a 243 percent increase for tablets, as compared to 89 percent in notebooks.

Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley

(NYSE: MS) broke down the winners and losers of this development in a research report. Below are some winners and losers in a tablet world.

First, a look at the winners.

Memory is a big winner in Morgan Stanley's bull case. According to the analyst firm, a bullish tablet sector could disrupt the memory-based NAND supply-demand balance, which is already tight because of the rising smartphone and tablet adoption rates. SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) is seen by Morgan Stanley as a stock that provides investors with a favorable play in this direction.

Media is another sector that is poised to have a boom in a tablet era. Morgan Stanley believes that tablets will be a “game changer for content owners.” This is likely to come through the larger audience that would boost the window of opportunity for advertisers, as well as the significant upside in content rental activity. Magazines with a foothold in the digitized format are also likely media winners.

Cable and satellite providers, such as Dish Networks (NASDAQ: DISH), Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) and Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC) are another sector of winners on the back of the tablet bandwagon. Morgan Stanley believes that this will come through the enhanced video experience and rising broadband consumption that an expanding tablet market will usher in.

Not all industries will be happy in a tablet-heavy world.

Some hardware manufacturers, such as Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) may be negatively impacted as the tablet market disrupts the PC space. Shipments are likely to take a 5 percent haircut through 2013, according to Morgan Stanley.
Printing is another industry that Morgan Stanley anticipates will take a sizable hit from tablets. The analyst firm expects this disruption to be structural, in the form of a reduction in enterprise and commercial printing. The expected haircut is a 2 percent to 5 percent reduction in printer supplies revenue through 2012 alone, said Morgan Stanley. Lexmark (NYSE: LXK) and Hewlett Packard are likely to feel some of that pain.

Gaming hardware may also see increased downside from a shift to tablets, according to Morgan Stanley. Over the next two years, the firm expects to see a 6 percent to 8 percent haircut in shipments for the sector. Potentially challenged companies, according to the analyst firm, include Nintendo and Sony (NYSE: SNE).

Tablet-related opportunities and threats go beyond the above-mentioned heat maps. Anything fitting the description of legacy platforms will be placed under the microscope in the next several years. The making or breaking of companies will come based on how quickly they adapt.

Global Imaging Systems Expands Business in Illinois with Acquisition of Martin Whalen Office Solutions

CHICAGO, Jul 23, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Global Imaging Systems (GIS), A Xerox Company /quotes/zigman/246904/quotes/nls/xrx XRX +0.00% , acquired Illinois-based Martin Whalen Office Solutions, a leading provider of office technology and software solutions for Chicago's southern and western suburbs.

Further expanding Xerox's distribution in Illinois, Martin Whalen will immediately add Xerox's full range of office and printing technology and managed print services to its portfolio. The company has distributed Canon and Kyocera copiers, printers and multifunction devices in addition to providing document management and managed print solutions.

"Martin Whalen has an outstanding reputation as a customer-focused company with strong ties to the community - an ideal fit to our growing nationwide network of locally based companies that cater to their individual markets' unique needs," said Michael Pietrunti, senior vice president, Acquisitions, Corporate Service and Marketing, GIS.

"Our family business is built on providing the most comprehensive workplace solutions for our customers," said Marty Whalen, Jr., president and CEO, Martin Whalen Office Solutions. "By aligning with GIS and Xerox, we re-affirm our commitment to better solutions, faster answers, superior technology and the most responsive service available."

Whalen will remain as president and CEO; Daniel Whalen will remain as vice president. The company has locations in Bradley, Tinley Park and Channahon, Ill.

About Global Imaging Systems

Global Imaging Systems, A Xerox Company, is made up of regional core companies in the United States that sell and service document management systems such as printers, copiers and multifunction devices; network integration services; and electronic presentation systems. As an office technology dealer, Global Imaging sells products from various suppliers including Xerox, Sharp and Konica Minolta. Xerox acquired Global Imaging Systems in 2007 and operates it as a wholly owned subsidiary within Xerox's North American operations.

About Xerox

With sales approaching $23 billion, Xerox /quotes/zigman/246904/quotes/nls/xrx XRX +0.00% is the world's leading enterprise for business process and document management. Its technology, expertise and services enable workplaces - from small businesses to large global enterprises - to simplify the way work gets done so they operate more effectively and focus more on what matters most: their real business. Headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., Xerox offers business process outsourcing and IT outsourcing services, including data processing, healthcare solutions, HR benefits management, finance support, transportation solutions, and customer relationship management services for commercial and government organizations worldwide. The company also provides extensive leading-edge document technology, services, software and genuine Xerox supplies for graphic communication and office printing environments of any size. The 140,000 people of Xerox serve clients in more than 160 countries. For more information, visit http://www.xerox.com , http://news.xerox.com or http://www.realbusiness.com . For investor information, visit http://www.xerox.com/investor .

Note: To receive RSS news feeds, visit http://news.xerox.com/pr/xerox/rss.aspx . For open commentary, industry perspectives and views visit http://twitter.com/xeroxcorp , http://realbusinessatxerox.blogs.xerox.com , http://www.facebook.com/XeroxCorp , http://www.youtube.com/XeroxCorp .

XEROX(R), XEROX and Design(R) are trademarks of Xerox in the United States and/or other countries.

Prices, features, specifications, capabilities, appearance and availability of Xerox products and services are subject to change without notice.

Printing: The energy saving blind spot for business

By Heather Wright, Tuesday, 10th July, 2012

Energy efficiency and recycling are important considerations for businesses trying to reduce their carbon footprint. As a result, many business managers will encourage their IT departments to carefully assess their processes and see where improvements can be made.

Managing a fleet of printers can involve significant electricity, high paper consumption and large quantities of consumables. It therefore makes practical sense for businesses to pay particular attention to their printing environments and assess where they could make more sustainable choices — whether those be regarding printing equipment or printing behaviour.

With the cost of electricity continuing to soar, the environment isn’t the only beneficiary of a greener approach to printing. Businesses which use more energy efficient equipment and adopt processes which encourage more conservative use of paper, toner and other consumables will realise significant benefits to their bottom line.

Although interest in green IT is growing, many SMBs are time-poor and unlikely to have any official policies in place, let alone consider the environmental impact of their printing environment. This represents an opportunity for resellers to add value to their relationships with end customers as they are well positioned to provide advice on simple ways to green up printing.

Audit checklist
SMBs are moving away from simply buying printers and are looking to invest in more efficient printing solutions. With this, and the growth of managed print services, channel partners are developing stronger, trusted relationships with their clients and stepping into a more advisory role.
In fact for end customers simply moving to a managed print services contract can help to green up their workplaces. By consolidating a printer fleet to include a smaller number of more productive machines, companies can reduce their energy consumption. Ordering only the consumables and supplies that are required will also result in reduced waste.

Partners can recommend simple practices to assist their customers in reducing their carbon footprint. One way of doing this is developing a checklist which can help customers complete an audit of their printing environments. This could include assessments of electricity consumption and paper usage, suggestions to set up a recycling programme or recommendations to consider environmentally friendly printing technologies such as solid ink printers.

This checklist does not have to be very complex — something as simple as turning off printers each night can result in significant energy savings. Here are some things that should be considered:
Paper consumption: When we think of being environmentally-friendly, reducing paper consumption is often one of the first things that comes to mind. Although many of us try to use as little paper as possible, the reality is that today’s office environments are a far cry from the paperless office that was predicted 30 years ago.

Partners should encourage their customers to be more aware of their paper consumption. They can advise on ways to assess their employee’s printing behaviour and where they can make valuable changes, for example encouraging double sided printing, if possible, or only printing important emails. A default can be set on printers so all printing is in duplex. Customers should also be encouraged to purchase recycled paper where possible.
N-up printing is another feature which can help reduce paper consumption as it enables users to print multiple pages on one sheet of paper.

Network management: For most companies, print and copy fleet needs have evolved over time. Machines have been bought as new needs have arisen. Old machines which have reached the end of their lifecycle have been replaced, or upgraded, as potential productivity gains from new technology became impossible to ignore.

Many of today’s offices have several printers on site, some with desktop printers for each individual office and several devices dotted around the office essentially doing the same thing. Multiple devices often mean more energy consumption and will also require the company to purchase more toner and consumables than actually required.

With a wide range of affordable, high performance workgroup printers and multi-function devices on the market, resellers can advise their customers on the printing solution that will best meet their needs while at the same time increasing energy efficiency and improving cost effectiveness.

Consumables: Depending on the individual device, most printers and copiers will need toner, ink cartridges, paper and perhaps laser drums. For a large business, or a company that has heavy volume printing, this can result in large amounts of waste.

To minimise the amount of colour printing, resellers can advise businesses to opt for mono printers or set a black and white default on their colour printers. Furthermore, partners can advise their customers on the various types of toner available, with some offering reduced power consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Partners can also recommend solid ink printers which can reduce a business’ landfill footprint. Solid ink is an environmentally-conscious way to print — with cartridge-free design and minimal packaging it is an almost waste-free printing process.

The wax-type blocks of colour which are used in a solid ink printer are shipped in a simple wrapper. There are no chunky cartridges full of plastic, metal moving parts or toners to dispose of or store for later recycling as a solid ink block is completely consumed. Solid ink printing has the added benefit of producing better quality colour and is quieter and faster than a colour laser.

Electricity: Printers, copiers and multi-function devices can consume varying amounts of electricity, depending on the model, how often they are used and whether they are in stand-by or print mode.
Channel partners should encourage their customers to consider the effect of having multiple printers and copiers turned on, particularly at night. They should consider the potential cost savings and benefits of consolidating their printing fleet into one or two more energy efficient, high-performance printers.

Companies should also take advantage of energy saving features that put machines to ‘sleep’ in idle periods. This can save hundreds of dollars each year on energy consumption and reduce a business’ carbon footprint.