Konica Minolta Offers MFP Supporting Distributed Scan

I'll be at the AIIM Show and will check this out for everyone and give you all some feed back on this!

Konica Minolta Offers MFP Supporting Distributed Scan
Monday, March 30, 2009

Tokyo -- Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc. (Konica Minolta) is pleased to announce that it will offer its cutting-edge digital color multi function peripheral (MFP), bizhub C550, to the US based Microsoft Corporation to jointly demonstrate Distributed Scan deployed in the Windows Server 2008 R2 at the coming AIIM International Exposition (AIIM Expo) – an event to showcase content and information management applications, tools and solutions – to be held in Philadelphia, USA from March 30 to April 2, 2009.

The bizhub C550 is designed to provide numerous integrated document solutions and capable of enhancing features such as supporting Distributed Scan.

Distributed Scan is a function to automate scanning workflow fixed in advance by interactively linking Active Directory, Distributed Scan Server installed in the Windows Server 2008 R2 and MFPs. When MFPs support this feature, management of multiple servers, such as Microsoft SharePoint Server and E-mail server, will become seamless and facilitate customers' workflow.

Konica Minolta' s MFPs are among the first to support the Distributed Scan. For this year' s AIIM Expo, Konica Minolta will offer the bizhub C550, installing Web Service feature to link with the Distributed Scan, to Microsoft to jointly showcase the new possibilities. Bizhub, coupled with the Distributed Scan, will be able to significantly contribute to customers' work efficiency in line with the coming era of computerized documents.

"Microsoft customers are excited about the new features available in Windows Server 2008 R2," said Ward Ralston, group product manager, Microsoft Corp. "With Konica Minolta's help, our customers will get a firsthand look at how they can increase their business efficiency with Windows Server 2008 R2."

Konica Minolta will all the more contribute to improving document quality and office productivity through aggressively supporting the advanced IT environment.

Ricoh Introduces New Color Laser Printers, MFPs for Small Office Market

The SP C231SF/SP C232SF will be the second generation of this unit. At this point I'm not sure who the OEM is, I have heard Ricoh, but I'm not entirely sure on this.

If you are going to buy this unit, I highly recommend purchasing the High Yield Supplies only. The MSRP is $162 per color cartridge (AIO) and the yield is about 6,000 pages for color and $125 per black cartridge (AIO) and the yield is about 6,500color pages, thus the cost per page on this device for full color is estimated at .1014 for color. If you use the low volume cartridges, you will see the cost per page jump to .1644. An AIO cartridge is an "All in One" cartridge, meaning it houses the toner, drum, cleaning blade and magnetic roller. The entire cartridge is replaced when the toner expires.

On to the Press Release:

Ricoh Americas Corporation has announced the addition of four new products -- the Aficio SP C231SF/SP C232SF color multifunction printers (MFPs), and the Aficio SP C311N/SP C312DN color laser printers -- designed for small and medium-size office environments.

These new products combine high-end features, fast color print speeds. and a compact footprint to provide users with efficient document solutions that lower a business' total cost of ownership.

All four products offer quick print speeds for both color and black-and-white jobs, with the Aficio SP C231SF/SP C232SF producing 21 pages-per-minute (ppm) and the Aficio SP C311N/SP C312DN printing at 26 ppm.

Along with improved output speeds, a new higher yield All-in-One print cartridge greatly reduces both per-page costs and the time spent on maintenance interruptions.

To boost overall productivity, users can print presentations and other critical business documents in crisp color, with resolutions of up to 2400 x 600 dots-per-inch (dpi). In addition, the Aficio SP C231SF/SP C232SF have a 35-sheet Automatic Document Feeder, which quickly scans a document to reduce the time spent during multi-page copying, scanning, and faxing projects.

Building on Ricoh's environmental sustainability platform, the Aficio SP C231SF/SP C232SF and the SP C311N/SP C312DN offer fast warm-up times, as well as Energy Saver mode that greatly reduces power consumption when the machine is idle.

The Aficio SP C231SF and the SP C311N both have an MSRP of $899. The Aficio SP C232SF has an MSRP of $999, and the SP C312DN carries an MSRP of $1,149.

Ricoh Launches 200,000 Page a Month Color Printer

Got this off the Internet today, typically Ricoh will release certain items in the Australian Market, before the US or European.

Ricoh has just launched its newest range of functional, fast and innovative laser printers – including the Aficio SP C821DN – the fastest colour laser printer in its class. Ideal for demanding office workgroups that need fast printing with exceptional colour coverage, the Aficio SP C821DN boasts an unprecedented 50ppm speed and can handle a whopping 200,000 prints per month. Along with three other printers, Ricoh’s new range offers a low total cost of ownership, extended functionality, superior performance and service, along with a competitive price tag. All come with Ricoh’s industry-leading 3 year on-site warranty for total peace of mind.

The new printers being launched are: • Aficio SP C821DN: A3 colour laser, 50ppm • Aficio SP C820DN: A3 colour laser, 40ppm • Aficio SP 4210N: A4 mono laser, 36ppm • Aficio SP 4100NL: A4 mono laser, 31ppm

“Our printers are extremely durable and offer exceptional performance. Combining these factors with Ricoh’s highly regarded reputation for excellent customer service makes this new printer line-up hard to beat,” said Shane Cook, National Printer Manager for Ricoh Australia.

“Customers appreciate the peace of mind of knowing they’re secure for three years, can speak to a real person in our Australian-based call centre and, if necessary, be visited by a Ricoh technician to fix their printer on-site.”

Sharp debuted new A3 color laser MFPs

Sharp debuted new A3 color laser MFPs to replace the MX-3500N, MX-3501N & MX-4501N.
new models are the MX-4100N, MX-4101N & MX-5001N offer OSA, or the ability to use optional embedded software applications (must buy two $349 modules to get this to work)

Here's some specs for ya:


- 41ppm, 41ppm and 50ppm top speeds respectively
- Base MSRPs of $15,995, $16,495 & $19,095
- Use Sharp micro-fine pulverized toner
- Black toner yield of 36,000 pages
- Color toner yields of only 15,000 pages
- Black developer yield of 150,000 pages
- Color developers yield of 100,000 pages
- Black drum yield of 150,000 pages
- Color drums yield 100,000 pages
- 150K/month maximum duty cycle
- 120 second warmup time
- Have textured plastic outside body with chrome accents (like the Sharp Frontier series)
- 8.5” color LCD display
- Retractable keyboard for data entry
- Optional 4,000 sheet multi-position stapling finisher for $2895 (requires $425 bridge unit)
- Optional booklet making finisher for $2895
- Optional internal stapling finisher for $1795
- $698 for hole punch unit
- Must buy a $120 exit tray to print on 12”x18”
- Handles up to 110lb. index
- Comes standard with two 500 sheet paper drawers and 100 sheet bypass
- Auto duplex standard
- $845 for another 500 sheet drawer and storage
- $1075 for two more 500 sheet drawers
- $1495 for side mount paper deck that holds up to 3500 sheet of letter size paper
- On the MX-4101N & MX-5001N, come standard with document feeder holds up to 150 originals that scans both sides of the original at the same time. Top scan speed of 70opm in single sided mode
- On the MX-4001N, document feeder holds up to 100 sheets, with top speed of 50opm scan speed
- Built-in print controller features 800MHz, 80GB hard drive and 1GB RAM
- USB port on front for printing and scanning from USB thumb drive
- PCL print driver standard.
- $745 for PostScript print driver
- $1125 for XPS print driver
- $549 for data security kit
- $1230 for compressed PDF scanning
- $1295 for optional fax board