Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, July 23, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Printing: The energy saving blind spot for business
Printing: The energy saving blind spot for business
By Heather Wright, Tuesday, 10th July, 2012
 |
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.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Document-Related Risks Infuse the Entire Organization
Document-Related Risks Infuse the Entire Organization
Posted on June 19, 2012 by Dominic Keogh
Ineffective document processes have harmed three of four organizations in the past five years, as was detailed in last week’s post written by Joseph Pucciarelli. That’s the tip of the iceberg, however, so we’ll dig a little deeper into our findings here and in our next few posts. The goal is to help you successfully address document-related challenges in your own organization.
Documents, often overlooked, are really the lifeblood of the enterprise, the study affirms. Over 40 percent of business activities rely on information captured in documents, our research found. These document-driven activities span customer-facing processes in sales and marketing; non-customer-facing processes in HR, manufacturing, and other back-office operations; and processes that manage risk around business continuity and information security. Forty percent may even be a conservative estimate: “I don’t think there’s a process out there that doesn’t have some sort of document or documents attached to it,” the VP for Global IT at a large cosmetics manufacturer told us.
Many of these document-driven processes – between 31 and 39 percent – continue to rely on paper. Although that may sound like a problem in the digital age, the medium is not necessarily the problem. Paper-based processes in this study emerged as some of the most effective activities. Many electronically based processes turned out to be the least effective.
Whether paper or electronic, document processes generally need improvement, the study found. Consider these findings:
- 45 percent of respondents reported that their document-driven processes related to risk mitigation were inefficient or ineffective;
- 39 percent reported that non-customer-facing document processes were lacking; and
- 36 percent reported that customer-facing document processes were inefficient or ineffective.
“It only takes one mishap to damage a reputation,” in the words of one study participant, a VP with responsibilities for marketing/product management at a global financial services firm. Where are your vulnerabilities? Where is that one mishap most likely to occur? How likely is it? How serious would the impact be?
Monday, June 11, 2012
Memjet Continues Down Its Long Road to Legitimacy
Over the past couple of months, Memjet has been grabbing headlines—some good, some not so good. At first, it looked like the high-speed inkjet technology provider might be heading for the rocks, but subsequent news indicated that the company should not only survive but also thrive. It appears that Memjet is in fine form, maybe its best shape ever in terms of technology and new customers.
It all started back in mid-March, when word broke that one of Memjet’s key investors had initiated a lawsuit against the firm’s founder, Kia Silverbrook, as well as others alleging fraud and deception that resulted in the theft of millions of dollars. A couple weeks later, Memjet was back in the news when its customers began demonstrating new devices based on the next generation of its desktop inkjet technology. News from Memjet reached a crescendo at drupa, one the printing industry’s most important trade fairs, which was hosted in Dusseldorf, Germany in May. When the quadrennial event opened, we learned that the company had signed up some important new clients. Then, Memjet announced that it had settled the legal fracas started in March.
After years of being more than a little skeptical about the viability of Memjet, all the news is making me rethink the firm and its technology. It may just have a bright future after all especially in certain market segments.
Memjet 101
In case you haven’t heard of Memjet, it is a unique, high-speed inkjet technology. The print heads are fabricated using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which allow nozzles, heaters, and firing chamber to be packed densely onto a metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). Each 20 mm of a Memjet head contains 6,400 nozzles, and the heads can be ganged together to make page-wide arrays. Unlike conventional inkjet printers, Memjet heads remain stationary and the paper—or other media—passes by the head while printing. By packing thousands of nozzles onto the print head and eliminating it from shuttling back and forth, the technology is capable of achieving extremely fast print speeds.
Memjet is the brainchild of the Australian inventor Kia Silverbrook, who founded Silverbrook Research “down under” in 1994. With the help of a team of engineers and scientists, Mr. Silverbrook has amassed an impressive patent portfolio with thousands of patents. Thanks to the support of a few deep-pocketed private investors, Mr. Silverbook’s eponymous named company managed to operate without generating any revenue for more than a decade and went largely unknown to the general public.
wide-format engine
I first encountered Memjet in 2007 at the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) International Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas. Mr. Silverbrook privately demonstrated a prototype of a Memjet desktop photo printer to various analysts, myself included. Delivering a snapshot every two seconds, the technology was incredible. Many analysts hailed Memjet as a disruptive force that would change the industry forever. Some predicted Memjet machines would soon dominate every product category and drive hardware and consumables costs to new lows.
Initially, it seemed that Memjet would conquer the world. Photo Me International, a European photo kiosk vendor, announced at the 2007 PMA show it would soon launch a Memjet device for processing digital snapshots. Within a couple of weeks, a representative from Memjet’s label unit told attendees at the Global Ink Jet Printing conference in Prague that industrial machines would be available shortly. Other devices seemed to be right around the corner. Silverbrook Research demonstrated a letter/A4-sized “reference model” with an estimated print speed of 60 ppm in color and black and white. It featured an 8-inch print head packed with 70,400 nozzles. The machine was expected to sell for under $200 and deliver a black-only page for 2 cents and a color page for 6 cents. The firm indicated that it was working on reference models for more machines including wide-format units and production presses.
Not So Fast
After PMA, I contacted various engineers at competing OEMs and told them about the ground breaking photo printer I had experienced. I asked them if this was the end of the world as we knew it. To a person, every OEM engineer I spoke with knew about Memjet technology and many had witnessed it in action. None seemed too worried that their respective companies would soon be consigned to the ash heap as Memjet units captured every segment of the digital imaging market.
For various reasons, OEMs declined to sign up for Memjet. One reason was Mr. Silverbrook had embraced a business model such that his firm would supply technology like the print heads, ink, and other systems and not the actual hardware. As a Memjet customer, some OEMs fretted in the future they’d be competing with machines based on virtually identical imaging technology. Another problem was the Memjet heads couldn’t fire pigmented inks and dye-based inks are not appropriate for certain applications because they can smear when exposed to moisture.
But the really big sticking point about Memjet technology was it had not been mass-produced. Many printer manufacturers expressed concerns about fabricating the print heads en masse. Many felt it would be difficult if not impossible to fabricate the heads by the millions. There was doubt that Memjet could reliably mass-produce arrays packed with thousands of nozzles. There seemed to be a consensus that there would be problems with the nozzles in Memjet heads, which may clog or misfire or just fail altogether.
labels printer engine
After hearing concerns from various sources, I began getting skeptical and adopted a “wait-and-see” attitude about the technology. And the longer I waited, the less I saw. No Photo Me International kiosk, or Memjet label machine, or any other device was released in 2007. Memjet remained the hot topic despite the absence of an actual product launch and rumors swirled that companies such as Dell and Sony would soon market devices with Memjet technology. Memjet fueled the rumor mill by promising that all sorts of machines would soon be available. The firm’s office group, for example, announced A4-sized units would be out by the end of 2008. Later, however, that launch date was pushed back to 2009 and then to 2010. But the products never came and the company began to resemble the fabled boy who cried wolf.
Memjet Stirs
But all was not quiet, either. After 2007, the corporate entity, Memjet, was formed to oversee the various groups entering different market segments. The firm attracted some with well-known senior managers. For example, Bill McGlynn, an ex-HP executive who helped develop the LaserJet MFP business, came out of retirement to head up Memjet Office, and David Clark, former director of integrated health systems for Eastman Kodak, was tapped to run Memjet Labels. In 2010, Len Lauer took the helm as the firm’s president and CEO. While Mr. Lauer was not from the imaging industry, he had an impressive resume. He was executive vice president and chief operating officer at Qualcomm prior to joining Memjet and before that served as Sprint’s president and chief operating officer before Qualcomm.
Hardware with Memjet technology also began shipping in 2010 but these were industrial printers not office machines. In 2011, the firm finally launched its first office desktop color printers. The year started with announcements that the company partnered with Lenovo to market a Memjet office device in China and struck similar deals with some smaller companies including WeP Peripherals in India and Kpowerscience in Taiwan to release machines in those respective regions. In the spring of last year, Memjet said that the UK-based compatible cartridge and specialty paper maker Lomond Trading Company would market its EvoJet Memjet-based desktop printer in Russia and Eastern European markets. In June, Memjet announced that LG Electronics had begun to market its Machjet LPP6010N in Korea.
In addition to all the desktop deals, Memjet continued expanding its footprint in the industrial printer market. Machines with Memjet technology for labeling applications was announced from such companies as Addressing and Mailing Solutions (AMS), Astro Machines, Impression Technology Europe, OWN-X Industrial, Rapid Machinery, and RENA Systems. Last September, Brookfield, WI-based Colordyne announced it would release a production unit powered by Memjet technology and a week later Xanté announced it, too, would release the technology in a new wide-format commercial printer.
Expandus Interruptous
With a growing list of OEM customers, Memjet began gaining some street cred. Despite the glacial pace of its customers’ initial product launches, the firm was poised for growth. Granted, it had not signed up any big name printer manufacturers, but the company was acquiring the much-needed legitimacy after all the missed deadlines and failed product introductions.
Then, just as Memjet appeared to be building a nice head of steam, one of the firm’s largest investors filed suit against Mr. Silverbrook and his partner Faye Lee, along with Silverbrook Research, casting a pall
over the firm’s future. The George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF), a Tulsa, OK-based philanthropic organization, accused the defendants bilking it out of “tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars” through fraud and deception.
LG Matchjet 2
According to GKFF, Mr. Silverbrook and Ms. Lee first met with the foundation in 2003 to fund the Memjet companies and commercialize the new inkjet technology. Silverbrook Research would provide Memjet with technical R&D services without profit and grant Memjet exclusive and perpetual licenses to all Memjet technology. Mr. Silverbrook and Ms. Lee would make their money later when the Memjet companies prospered. As noted, however, it took much longer than expected to get the Memjet program off the ground. Lawyers for the foundation claim that in the interim Mr. Silverbrook and Ms. Lee “drained as much value from Memjet as they could to feather their own nests” and make money for their own businesses such as Silverbrook Research.
According to the GKFF court filing, between 2004 and 2008, Mr. Silverbrook and Ms. Lee collected a total of $75 million from the foundation, which explained, at least partially, how Silverbrook Research could go so long without generating any revenue. GKFF said it invested $150 million in 2009 and became the majority shareholder, and they put up an additional $230 million in equity and debt financing. In May 2011, the attorneys say GKFF loaned the Memjet companies $25 million followed by $130 million more between June 2011 and February 2012.
GKFF accused the defendants of other chicanery such as fraudulently executing deals to reach certain milestones that would trigger additional funding. In addition, Mr. Silverbrook and Ms. Lee were accused of renting Memjet office space near Sydney, Australia at an inflated fee through a property management they co-owned. The court documents also contended that the pair failed to facilitate an audit of the company to determine “where money had previously been spent” and negotiated a secret settlement with DuPont, which required a $10 million pay-out to the chemical firm after a Memjet deal went awry.
Within days of the GKFF filing, Silverbrook Research vowed to defend itself “vigorously” against the “entirely baseless and inaccurate claims” made by the plaintiffs. The company characterized the lawsuit as a “hardball” negotiation tactic employed by GFKK to gain ownership of the Memjet printing technology. Mr. Silverbrook filed a witness statement with Britain’s High Court claiming GKFF had agreed to settle any legal disputes in the U.K. not the United States. He went on to deny the plaintiff’s allegations and disputed the amount of GKFF’s investment. Mr. Silverbrook asserted that the Memjet companies actually owed Silverbrook Research $22 million. He maintained that Memjet’s low sales and inability to commercialize the technology were due to the firm’s mismanagement, not because of Silverbrook Research’s short comings.
Printhead close-up
Growing increasingly entrenched, it appeared the litigants were destined to journey the long and costly path to trial. A glimmer of hope, however, flashed just a few days before drupa when Jeff Bean, vice president of brand and communications for Memjet, told my company Actionable Intelligence that, “Negotiations are ongoing and we are optimistic that a resolution can be reached between the parties.” He also hinted that Memjet may have big news at the drupa event, although he provided no concrete details.
Dispatches from Düsseldorf
It turns out that Mr. Bean’s optimism was well-founded. On the second day of drupa, Memjet announced that an agreement had been reached with the Silverbrook defendants. Although GFKK didn’t make a
formal announcement, on May 4 we noted an entry in the court record for the George Kaiser Family Foundation v. Silverbrook Research suit indicating the matter was settled.
Memjet printhead full shot
While full terms of the agreement were not available as of this writing, a Memjet statement released on May 4 said the company will assume direct ownership and control of the intellectual property portfolio related to Memjet technology including “some 4,000 issued and pending global patents.” It also will take direct control of all research, development, and commercialization activities of the technology. According to Memjet, Mr. Silverbrook “will continue to support Memjet as a special advisor to the Memjet Board of Directors and as an ongoing consultant.”
Word that an agreement had been reached between the warring factions followed just a day after Memjet announced some of its most important partnerships to date. On May 3, the firm said Océ plans to introduce a Memjet-based large-format color printer with print speeds of up to 500 A0 (33.1 × 46.8-inch) prints per hour. Dubbed Project Velocity, the machine was demonstrated at Canon Europe’s drupa stand. Memjet also announced that it is partnering with Toshiba TEC to develop an office MFP featuring Memjet print heads, controllers, software, and ink. A prototype of the co-developed three-function device, which delivers 60 color pages per minute, was on display in Memjet’s booth. Toshiba TEC is also evaluating Memjet technology for industrial and commercial applications.
Apparently, machines with Memjet technology were on display at various drupa stands. Delphax had its Memjet-powered elan 500 sheet-fed printing system for print-on-demand applications running in its booth. Operating in the Memjet and Xanté stands was the Xanté Excelagraphix 4200, a 42-inch-wide commercial printer for short-run and variable-data printing that is expected to ship in June. Several Memjet-powered industrial printers were also running in the Memjet booth including the Colordyne CDT-1600 PC Sprint from Colordyne Technologies and Astro Machine’s AstroJet M1 and M2 devices.
Memjet Unbound!
Coming out of drupa, Memjet has never looked so strong. If the agreement between GFKK and the Silverbrook defendants is implemented as it’s been described, Memjet now has complete control of its technology and it has managed to retain the brains behind the technology, Kia Silverbrook. The firm should be the master of its own domain.
The partnerships announced at drupa are also important. Memjet has at last struck deals with major global printer companies like Océ/Canon and Toshiba TEC. Of course, the deals are modest and involve only a few machines. Regardless, it appears that Océ/Canon and Toshiba TEC are willing to take a chance with Memjet technology. This offers Memjet a tantalizing proposition: if its newest partners are able to mass produce the new products, bring them to market, and they do well, perhaps that may mean more Memjet-based products to come from both Océ/Canon and Toshiba TEC. And, if that happens, you can bet more will follow.
Clearly, the final chapter in the Memjet story is still to be written but it looks like the tale may not end tragically—as it once did. When the lawsuit was announced in March, it seemed like the beginning of the end for Memjet. All the news out of drupa, however, changes all that and suggests Memjet is nearing the end of what has been a very long beginning. Still, there is a ways to go before Memjet can be declared a “success.”
It all started back in mid-March, when word broke that one of Memjet’s key investors had initiated a lawsuit against the firm’s founder, Kia Silverbrook, as well as others alleging fraud and deception that resulted in the theft of millions of dollars. A couple weeks later, Memjet was back in the news when its customers began demonstrating new devices based on the next generation of its desktop inkjet technology. News from Memjet reached a crescendo at drupa, one the printing industry’s most important trade fairs, which was hosted in Dusseldorf, Germany in May. When the quadrennial event opened, we learned that the company had signed up some important new clients. Then, Memjet announced that it had settled the legal fracas started in March.
After years of being more than a little skeptical about the viability of Memjet, all the news is making me rethink the firm and its technology. It may just have a bright future after all especially in certain market segments.
Memjet 101
In case you haven’t heard of Memjet, it is a unique, high-speed inkjet technology. The print heads are fabricated using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which allow nozzles, heaters, and firing chamber to be packed densely onto a metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). Each 20 mm of a Memjet head contains 6,400 nozzles, and the heads can be ganged together to make page-wide arrays. Unlike conventional inkjet printers, Memjet heads remain stationary and the paper—or other media—passes by the head while printing. By packing thousands of nozzles onto the print head and eliminating it from shuttling back and forth, the technology is capable of achieving extremely fast print speeds.
Memjet is the brainchild of the Australian inventor Kia Silverbrook, who founded Silverbrook Research “down under” in 1994. With the help of a team of engineers and scientists, Mr. Silverbrook has amassed an impressive patent portfolio with thousands of patents. Thanks to the support of a few deep-pocketed private investors, Mr. Silverbook’s eponymous named company managed to operate without generating any revenue for more than a decade and went largely unknown to the general public. wide-format engine
I first encountered Memjet in 2007 at the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) International Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas. Mr. Silverbrook privately demonstrated a prototype of a Memjet desktop photo printer to various analysts, myself included. Delivering a snapshot every two seconds, the technology was incredible. Many analysts hailed Memjet as a disruptive force that would change the industry forever. Some predicted Memjet machines would soon dominate every product category and drive hardware and consumables costs to new lows.
Initially, it seemed that Memjet would conquer the world. Photo Me International, a European photo kiosk vendor, announced at the 2007 PMA show it would soon launch a Memjet device for processing digital snapshots. Within a couple of weeks, a representative from Memjet’s label unit told attendees at the Global Ink Jet Printing conference in Prague that industrial machines would be available shortly. Other devices seemed to be right around the corner. Silverbrook Research demonstrated a letter/A4-sized “reference model” with an estimated print speed of 60 ppm in color and black and white. It featured an 8-inch print head packed with 70,400 nozzles. The machine was expected to sell for under $200 and deliver a black-only page for 2 cents and a color page for 6 cents. The firm indicated that it was working on reference models for more machines including wide-format units and production presses.
Not So Fast
After PMA, I contacted various engineers at competing OEMs and told them about the ground breaking photo printer I had experienced. I asked them if this was the end of the world as we knew it. To a person, every OEM engineer I spoke with knew about Memjet technology and many had witnessed it in action. None seemed too worried that their respective companies would soon be consigned to the ash heap as Memjet units captured every segment of the digital imaging market.
For various reasons, OEMs declined to sign up for Memjet. One reason was Mr. Silverbrook had embraced a business model such that his firm would supply technology like the print heads, ink, and other systems and not the actual hardware. As a Memjet customer, some OEMs fretted in the future they’d be competing with machines based on virtually identical imaging technology. Another problem was the Memjet heads couldn’t fire pigmented inks and dye-based inks are not appropriate for certain applications because they can smear when exposed to moisture.
But the really big sticking point about Memjet technology was it had not been mass-produced. Many printer manufacturers expressed concerns about fabricating the print heads en masse. Many felt it would be difficult if not impossible to fabricate the heads by the millions. There was doubt that Memjet could reliably mass-produce arrays packed with thousands of nozzles. There seemed to be a consensus that there would be problems with the nozzles in Memjet heads, which may clog or misfire or just fail altogether. labels printer engine
After hearing concerns from various sources, I began getting skeptical and adopted a “wait-and-see” attitude about the technology. And the longer I waited, the less I saw. No Photo Me International kiosk, or Memjet label machine, or any other device was released in 2007. Memjet remained the hot topic despite the absence of an actual product launch and rumors swirled that companies such as Dell and Sony would soon market devices with Memjet technology. Memjet fueled the rumor mill by promising that all sorts of machines would soon be available. The firm’s office group, for example, announced A4-sized units would be out by the end of 2008. Later, however, that launch date was pushed back to 2009 and then to 2010. But the products never came and the company began to resemble the fabled boy who cried wolf.
Memjet Stirs
But all was not quiet, either. After 2007, the corporate entity, Memjet, was formed to oversee the various groups entering different market segments. The firm attracted some with well-known senior managers. For example, Bill McGlynn, an ex-HP executive who helped develop the LaserJet MFP business, came out of retirement to head up Memjet Office, and David Clark, former director of integrated health systems for Eastman Kodak, was tapped to run Memjet Labels. In 2010, Len Lauer took the helm as the firm’s president and CEO. While Mr. Lauer was not from the imaging industry, he had an impressive resume. He was executive vice president and chief operating officer at Qualcomm prior to joining Memjet and before that served as Sprint’s president and chief operating officer before Qualcomm.
Hardware with Memjet technology also began shipping in 2010 but these were industrial printers not office machines. In 2011, the firm finally launched its first office desktop color printers. The year started with announcements that the company partnered with Lenovo to market a Memjet office device in China and struck similar deals with some smaller companies including WeP Peripherals in India and Kpowerscience in Taiwan to release machines in those respective regions. In the spring of last year, Memjet said that the UK-based compatible cartridge and specialty paper maker Lomond Trading Company would market its EvoJet Memjet-based desktop printer in Russia and Eastern European markets. In June, Memjet announced that LG Electronics had begun to market its Machjet LPP6010N in Korea.
In addition to all the desktop deals, Memjet continued expanding its footprint in the industrial printer market. Machines with Memjet technology for labeling applications was announced from such companies as Addressing and Mailing Solutions (AMS), Astro Machines, Impression Technology Europe, OWN-X Industrial, Rapid Machinery, and RENA Systems. Last September, Brookfield, WI-based Colordyne announced it would release a production unit powered by Memjet technology and a week later Xanté announced it, too, would release the technology in a new wide-format commercial printer.
Expandus Interruptous
With a growing list of OEM customers, Memjet began gaining some street cred. Despite the glacial pace of its customers’ initial product launches, the firm was poised for growth. Granted, it had not signed up any big name printer manufacturers, but the company was acquiring the much-needed legitimacy after all the missed deadlines and failed product introductions.
Then, just as Memjet appeared to be building a nice head of steam, one of the firm’s largest investors filed suit against Mr. Silverbrook and his partner Faye Lee, along with Silverbrook Research, casting a pall
over the firm’s future. The George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF), a Tulsa, OK-based philanthropic organization, accused the defendants bilking it out of “tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars” through fraud and deception. LG Matchjet 2
According to GKFF, Mr. Silverbrook and Ms. Lee first met with the foundation in 2003 to fund the Memjet companies and commercialize the new inkjet technology. Silverbrook Research would provide Memjet with technical R&D services without profit and grant Memjet exclusive and perpetual licenses to all Memjet technology. Mr. Silverbrook and Ms. Lee would make their money later when the Memjet companies prospered. As noted, however, it took much longer than expected to get the Memjet program off the ground. Lawyers for the foundation claim that in the interim Mr. Silverbrook and Ms. Lee “drained as much value from Memjet as they could to feather their own nests” and make money for their own businesses such as Silverbrook Research.
According to the GKFF court filing, between 2004 and 2008, Mr. Silverbrook and Ms. Lee collected a total of $75 million from the foundation, which explained, at least partially, how Silverbrook Research could go so long without generating any revenue. GKFF said it invested $150 million in 2009 and became the majority shareholder, and they put up an additional $230 million in equity and debt financing. In May 2011, the attorneys say GKFF loaned the Memjet companies $25 million followed by $130 million more between June 2011 and February 2012.
GKFF accused the defendants of other chicanery such as fraudulently executing deals to reach certain milestones that would trigger additional funding. In addition, Mr. Silverbrook and Ms. Lee were accused of renting Memjet office space near Sydney, Australia at an inflated fee through a property management they co-owned. The court documents also contended that the pair failed to facilitate an audit of the company to determine “where money had previously been spent” and negotiated a secret settlement with DuPont, which required a $10 million pay-out to the chemical firm after a Memjet deal went awry.
Within days of the GKFF filing, Silverbrook Research vowed to defend itself “vigorously” against the “entirely baseless and inaccurate claims” made by the plaintiffs. The company characterized the lawsuit as a “hardball” negotiation tactic employed by GFKK to gain ownership of the Memjet printing technology. Mr. Silverbrook filed a witness statement with Britain’s High Court claiming GKFF had agreed to settle any legal disputes in the U.K. not the United States. He went on to deny the plaintiff’s allegations and disputed the amount of GKFF’s investment. Mr. Silverbrook asserted that the Memjet companies actually owed Silverbrook Research $22 million. He maintained that Memjet’s low sales and inability to commercialize the technology were due to the firm’s mismanagement, not because of Silverbrook Research’s short comings.
Printhead close-up
Growing increasingly entrenched, it appeared the litigants were destined to journey the long and costly path to trial. A glimmer of hope, however, flashed just a few days before drupa when Jeff Bean, vice president of brand and communications for Memjet, told my company Actionable Intelligence that, “Negotiations are ongoing and we are optimistic that a resolution can be reached between the parties.” He also hinted that Memjet may have big news at the drupa event, although he provided no concrete details.
Dispatches from Düsseldorf
It turns out that Mr. Bean’s optimism was well-founded. On the second day of drupa, Memjet announced that an agreement had been reached with the Silverbrook defendants. Although GFKK didn’t make a
formal announcement, on May 4 we noted an entry in the court record for the George Kaiser Family Foundation v. Silverbrook Research suit indicating the matter was settled. Memjet printhead full shot
While full terms of the agreement were not available as of this writing, a Memjet statement released on May 4 said the company will assume direct ownership and control of the intellectual property portfolio related to Memjet technology including “some 4,000 issued and pending global patents.” It also will take direct control of all research, development, and commercialization activities of the technology. According to Memjet, Mr. Silverbrook “will continue to support Memjet as a special advisor to the Memjet Board of Directors and as an ongoing consultant.”
Word that an agreement had been reached between the warring factions followed just a day after Memjet announced some of its most important partnerships to date. On May 3, the firm said Océ plans to introduce a Memjet-based large-format color printer with print speeds of up to 500 A0 (33.1 × 46.8-inch) prints per hour. Dubbed Project Velocity, the machine was demonstrated at Canon Europe’s drupa stand. Memjet also announced that it is partnering with Toshiba TEC to develop an office MFP featuring Memjet print heads, controllers, software, and ink. A prototype of the co-developed three-function device, which delivers 60 color pages per minute, was on display in Memjet’s booth. Toshiba TEC is also evaluating Memjet technology for industrial and commercial applications.
Apparently, machines with Memjet technology were on display at various drupa stands. Delphax had its Memjet-powered elan 500 sheet-fed printing system for print-on-demand applications running in its booth. Operating in the Memjet and Xanté stands was the Xanté Excelagraphix 4200, a 42-inch-wide commercial printer for short-run and variable-data printing that is expected to ship in June. Several Memjet-powered industrial printers were also running in the Memjet booth including the Colordyne CDT-1600 PC Sprint from Colordyne Technologies and Astro Machine’s AstroJet M1 and M2 devices.
Memjet Unbound!
Coming out of drupa, Memjet has never looked so strong. If the agreement between GFKK and the Silverbrook defendants is implemented as it’s been described, Memjet now has complete control of its technology and it has managed to retain the brains behind the technology, Kia Silverbrook. The firm should be the master of its own domain.
The partnerships announced at drupa are also important. Memjet has at last struck deals with major global printer companies like Océ/Canon and Toshiba TEC. Of course, the deals are modest and involve only a few machines. Regardless, it appears that Océ/Canon and Toshiba TEC are willing to take a chance with Memjet technology. This offers Memjet a tantalizing proposition: if its newest partners are able to mass produce the new products, bring them to market, and they do well, perhaps that may mean more Memjet-based products to come from both Océ/Canon and Toshiba TEC. And, if that happens, you can bet more will follow.
Clearly, the final chapter in the Memjet story is still to be written but it looks like the tale may not end tragically—as it once did. When the lawsuit was announced in March, it seemed like the beginning of the end for Memjet. All the news out of drupa, however, changes all that and suggests Memjet is nearing the end of what has been a very long beginning. Still, there is a ways to go before Memjet can be declared a “success.”
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