Xerox has demonstrated to their visitors at GITEX Technology Week 2008 how they can recreate an effective ‘green’ experience in the workplace with the latest in environmentally friendly product innovations including their exclusive cartridge free solid ink technology. All printed material at the show including all media press packs & other marketing collateral was printed on recycled paper to reiterate that Xerox is serious about going green.

Green printing is one of the six dynamics of ‘Your New Workplace’, Xerox total solution (integrated hardware & software) that is customized for customers to help them in meeting their unique business challenges of our modern world. Xerox wide portfolio of product innovations includes various solutions designed to address such challenges and also help the customer to do great work without sacrificing quality.

At the show, Xerox showcased the Xerox Phaser 8560 color printer which is latest environment friendly printer to feature Xerox next-generation solid-ink technology (solid ink produces brilliant, vibrant prints on a wide range of media, is the easiest technology on the market to use, and produces 90 percent less waste than a typical color laser printer). After nearly five years in development, the new crayon-like ink sticks have been developed to last longer than ever before.

By increasing the total number of color pages the ink sticks produce, Xerox has drastically reduced the price of color printing. When comparing the cost of the device and the ink, printing on the Phaser 8560 is two times less expensive than using equivalent laser printers from other competitive manufacturers.

In addition to the solid-ink printers, Xerox demonstrated on their stand a variety of digital multifunction devices (MFDs) which by replacing single-function devices like printers, copiers and faxes with, customers can reduce energy use from their document technology by up to 50 percent.

Xerox solutions offer customers ways to become more productive without harming the environment through comprehensive document management and production printing solutions. Print-on-demand applications and digital workflows such as DocuShare and SMARTsend digital workflow help to reduce paper consumption by facilitating electronic data management, scan to email, print-on-demand and distribute-then-print workflows.

Another example is the GreenPrint’s software which comes bundled with Xerox solid ink printers to ensure pages printed and waste are reduced. GreenPrint’s software automatically highlights and removes unwanted pages prior to printing by analyzing each page sent to the printer and looking for typical waste characteristics (like that last page with just a URL, banner ad, logo, or legal jargon). It also incorporates an easy to use PDF writer (to provide an alternative to printing) and a reporting feature which keeps track of all the paper, money, trees, and CO2 that have been saved.

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We previously reported that Xerox released a set of universal drivers for all printers, Mobile Express Driver. The drivers identify your location by sensing the subnet your computer is on at any given time and offering up the appropriate printers you’ve associated with it. If it’s your first visit to that location, they will automatically discover available printers and let you choose from a list. They also let you choose a default for each office you visit.

It turned out, HP also introduced its Universal Print Driver, the counterpart of Mobile Express Driver.

Now it is discovered that the two set of universal drivers are not so universal. “Mobile Express works only with printers that use the PostScript page description language. It won’t work with any other printers, including those that use HP’s popular PCL format. Meanwhile, HP’s UPD works only with HP-branded printers.” So says Robert L. Mitchel at ComputerWorld.com.

In a working environment with a variety of different printers he got to test the two drivers and this what he found out.

Xerox Mobile Express Driver

Pros: Generic printer driver allows printing to any brand of printer, not just Xerox products. Can automatically discover and print to both networked and direct-attached printers.

Cons: Works only with PostScript printers. Supports only a few basic printing functions. Extended features for non-Xerox products not supported.

HP Universal Print Driver

Pros: Provides consistent user interface for all HP-branded printers. Can find both networked and direct-attached printers that have been set up as shared printers. Supports more features on HP printers than does Mobile Express.

Cons: Supports only HP printers. Works only with networked printers with a valid IP address. Offers basic printing only.

So, neither of them was a remedy for the printing problems Mitchel faced. However, both tools are useful and one can make them play nicely together.

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Xerox launched five new products in the laser printer and MFPs to extend its already broad line of document imaging solutions for the midsize and small businesses.

The Phaser 3100 MFP is the Xerox’s low-end new solutions with speeds of up to 21 pages-per-minute and such features as scan to e-mail, a full keyboard for the fax directory and Optical Character Recognition software to convert scanned documents into searchable files.

Individual users and small work groups may take advantage of Xerox’s Phaser 3250 laser printer. The device features double-sided printing and can print up to 30 pages-per-minute.

Next laser printer, the Phaser 3600 can print at speeds of up to 40 ppm and is provided with a standard one-year warranty that can be extended to three years. With advanced security features and Xerox CentreWare Internet Service technology, the Phaser fits workgroups best.

The Phaser 5500 is the top printer in this Xerox’s release. Designed mostly for larger workgroups, the printer has the PhaserSmart online troubleshooting tool and printing speeds of up to 50 pages-per-minute. The Phaser 5500 can bolster the ability to produce double- or single-sided tabloid-sized printouts.

Last in the release, the Phaser 2625 multifunction printer can speeds up to 35 ppm and includes security options like image overwriting, encryption and authentication tools.

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The Xerox’s research lab demonstrated reusable paper. No, no, not recyclable which is any paper, but reusable. Information printed on it disappears in 24 hours. The developers claim a sheet of such paper can be use up to 100 times without compromising quality, of print presumably.

From the outside, the paper looks like an A4 sheet. From the inside, however, it is made of thousands of UV-sensitive molecules that interact with UV radiation of printer and change their properties. A day later, the molecules exposed to the radiation change back to initial properties. So, no toner is needed.

Currently, this technology only works for black-and-white printing. The very printers are so compact that they can be mobile.

Xerox first announced the reusable papers late in 2006. At that time, the paper was said to keep printed info 16 to 24 hours and be reused up to 50 times.

A question remains whether the new paper would be durable enough, since I can’t think of how gentle one should handle a printed sheet so that it lasts 100 reuses.

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Printing is still an important part of any business, regardless the natural for business desire to slash the costs by printing less. Printing is still not a technology “green” enough for the adepts of paperless office, but it has greatly improved in recent years.

For instance, Xerox, apart from the laser and inkjet printer printers, has been actively promoting its solid ink technology as more “environmentally-friendly” with a “reduced carbon footprint.”

Actually, the mother of solid ink technology was in 1991 the Tektronix that developed it as a printing technology for office use. 9 years later, in 2000, Xerox acquired the Tektronix and added it as a brand line together with other lines of its printing products.

So, here is what you may want to know about solid inks. (more…)

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This month I envy the Brits. They can exclusively have a new Xerox Phaser 6125. It’s a full-color laser printer for as little as 119 GBP ($240 if sold in the US.)

But what Xerox actually has to offer us, err… them this time? Once again, Xerox Phaser 6125 is a color laser printer with printing speed of up to 12 ppm in color and up to 16 ppm in black and white. The first page is out in 17 seconds. Phaser 6125 comes with a 333 MHz processor, 64 MB standard memory onboard and a built-in network adapter.

The printer can bolster small dimensions 400 x 394 x 389 mm – remember, today size matters when it comes to working space. One more thing: the printer id only compatible with Windows. Sorry, MacOS and Lunix users.

There is something that made me envy even more. Xerox makes a special offers for everyone who buys Phaser 6125 in April — you can have
- Free US Robotics Wi-Fi print server,
- Extented warranty or
- Free set of color (cyan, magenta and yellow) toner cartridges.

Can’t wait for this offer to be available in the US.

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Xerox has increased the size of its portfolio of wide-format printers with the release of the Xerox 7142 color wide-format printer that delivers high-speed and cost-effective printing, and the 6050A wide-format black-and-white printer for producing construction plans and engineering renderings.

Specifically designed for the computer-aided design (CAD) and geographic information systems (GIS) markets, the Xerox 7142 color wide-format printer is a high-speed, cost-effective option for the engineering, architectural and construction sectors.

The Xerox 7142 has printing resolutions from 360 to 2880dpi and a maximum print speed of 40 sq/metres hour, making it a standout in the industry.

The device uses the latest inkjet printing-head technology that allows control over each individual droplet size, giving finer lines and contours even at lower resolutions. The variable droplet technology allows low-cost uncoated media to be used for check plots at lower resolutions and at higher resolutions with coated media it produces high-quality output for presentation and artist impression applications.

In addition, the inkjet heads are permanent, so they never need replacing and improve reliability and drive down running costs.

Printing up to nine 594mm x 841mm (A1) images per minute and equipped with the Xerox FreeFlow Accxes Print Server, the new system enables users to keep up with the growing demand for printed architectural and engineering renderings, electrical diagrams, GIS/mapping and construction plans and drawings.

The 6050A printer offers 600 x 1200dpi print resolution and is available in four configurations - a two- or four-roll printer only, or a two- or four-roll multifunction device with an optional wide-format color scan system.

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