More Green from HP

Carbon Footprint Reduction..."


In an article, "HP takes steps to reduce carbon footprint" HP's plans to help it's customers reduce their Carbon Footprint.

Excerpt, "...The company has set its sights on its printing group in an effort to give customers more choices to limit their environmental impact. Similar programs will come later this year to HP's computer and server business groups.

The environmental effort includes the introduction of an HP Eco Highlights label that will appear first on two LaserJet printers and a new inkjet printer made almost entirely from recycled material. The label will list a product's environmental attributes such as its energy savings or Energy Star rating."

HP also is starting an Eco Solutions program that it hopes will allow companies to reduce their environmental impact by 30 percent. The program includes a carbon footprint calculator and a printing assessment that measures a company's impact and costs from its printing work."

Looks like programs and labels.

And from this blog off ZDnet, a post by Heather Clancy:

"...New HP ECo Highlights labels, which simply summarize the features in a particular product that could be consider “green.” Think of this like the label you find on pretty much everything you buy at the grocery story. Right now, at least, the criteria for this labeling is pretty arbitrary and it will depend on the product category, Coughlin admits. The labels will show up first on LaserJet printers: The HP LaserJet P4051x, LaserJet P4515x and LaserJet P4515xm models. One thing that is kind of cool about these new printers is the packaging, which mimics what consumer electronics companies have been doing for years with appliances to cut down on waste.

- Through HP Auto-On/Auto-Off features that enable a printer to go into a deep sleep mode in which it uses only 1 watt of power. (Kind of like an induced coma, only the printer wakes up a whole lot quicker than you would.)

- A new HP Carbon Footprint Calculator for Printing: This provides a way for companies to compare the environmental impact of their existing printers and imaging technology against new options. It looks at paper usage, power consumption, ink and other things that might affect a product’s overall carbon profile. There’s also a specific calculator for LaserJets. The company’s Eco Printing Assessment looks at a company’s entire printing consumption footprint, not just what it’s doing with just one printer.

- Also being introduced this week is the HP Deskjet D2545, a $49 printer that HP touts as being made almost entirely from recycled content (83 percent of the system). The printer uses HP 60 cartridges that also were made from recycled plastic.

- And what eco-announcement would be complete without the requisite corporate green pledges? As it relates to printers, HP has promised to improve energy efficiency by 40 percent by 2011, relative to 2005 levels. It will triple the amount of recycled materials that go into its inkjet printers by 2010, relative to 2007. It will continue its long-time printer recycling push, aiming for 2 billion pounds of computing and printing equipment by 2010. It will also put a big emphasis on making sure that the photo paper it sells is made from materials that are harvested under certified forestry program. Here’s more on its developing paper policy ..."

Life-threatening ailment didn't derail the Danka Konica deal

Wow

It was a healthy negotiation, Frazier said. "I won't let anything like that get in the way of getting a deal done,"

Here

Speaking of Getting New Equipment and The Economic Stimulas

The Economic Stimulus Plan and Your New Edgeline in '08

Get a bunch of Edgelines this year, and write 50% more off!

Xerox - HP - EDS

With most of the focus on the IT side of this acquisition some missed the fact that one of EDS's largest clients is Xerox.

From this recent post - "...Although HP's recent announcement to acquire EDS for $13.9 billion (£7.1 billion) may have sparked talk of consolidation in the IT services industry, spare a thought for the impact of this deal on Xerox, a long-standing EDS partner. With HP aggressively looking to widen its footprint in the corporate printing space as part of its Print 2.0 strategy, the acquisition of EDS will help it make further inroads to compete with Xerox Global Services (XGS), currently a $3.4 billion (£1.7 billion) organisation and a key growth engine for Xerox..."

and

"...HP is Xerox's most notable competitor in the MPS market, offering assessment, optimisation and management of the document output environment. Although HP has been ramping up its MPS portfolio, it currently lacks the document lifecycle and workflow and document outsourcing capabilities ... Another key differentiator is multivendor support capabilities—Xerox claims to have approximately one million competitive devices under ...(outsourced) management, made possible by its multivendor trained support staff. Also, Xerox's higher penetration in the high volume production and copy centres gives it the ability to better manage and optimise environments using these devices..."

It will be interesting to see how this all ends up.

Leasing Your MFP Fleet -

I have been running into more and more opportunities with I.T. folks who do not understand leasing.

**** THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE ****

**** THE FOLLOWING REFLECTS MY OPINIONS ****

I am currently researching for an in depth analysis of the leasing process from the end users' prospective - and it isn't pretty.

Because the subject is so vast and complicated, I have decided to post portions of the final white paper.

First off, I am familiar with leasing and all the "gotcha's" that contracts carry. I have seen, all sorts of leasing agreements in business technology and the Uniform Industry and I have been very fortunate to work with some of the most honest and open agreements in each industry.

For you I.T. folks, or anyone else who may not be familiar with leasing - here is a "Primer".

Leases are used to defer payments over time. If a company wants to avoid a significant capital outlay a lease is a great option. In addition, because the technology changes quickly, copier leases often include provisions to trade up to a newer model, allowing you to upgrade without buying anew.

You are paying extra for the ability to "pay over time".

For instance, if the purchase price of a machine is $20,000 and you would like to pay a monthly payment for 60 months, the monthly payment is NOT $20,000/60 or $333.33. The monthly would be closer to $586.00/month. If you multiply this out by 60, your total "cost" for the unit, over time, is $35,160.00 - this to say that you would be paying $15,160.00 for the service of paying a known monthly figure for a determined period of time.

The Vendor or Supplier does not usually make more profit on a lease vs. purchase. Although some vendors or dealers add “points” to the lease rate. This increases your monthly and adds to their profit margin.

After a client signs a lease and after the equipment is delivered and accepted, the leasing company cuts a check directly to the Vendor for the purchase amount of the equipment. You, the Customer now have a direct relationship with the leasing company for the equipment. You are establishing a "revenue stream" for the leasing company based on the equipment payment portion of the lease; when service is bundled into the payment, you are also working directly with your service provider, usually the copier dealer.

In a nut shell - When you sign a lease, you are forging a commitment to pay at least the dollar amount on the lease for the number of months stated. There is no other way to envision this agreement - there are no easy or painless methods of terminating a lease early once you "sign on the line which is dotted" - no matter what the circumstances. No matter what the "trusted" copier sales person tells you, you can not get out of the agreement easily and without paying for the privilege.

-- More to follow ---

A Return to Edgeline

Managed Print Services is Hot, but Edgeline is Hotter. Getting back to Edgeline.

To authorize by PIN or LDAP or Exchange, that is the question.

One of my recent installs required print, copy, scan and fax rights by authorization(login).

I know authorization is nothing new when it comes to connected copiers - I have worked with hundreds.

Yet imagine the impact on the end user in terms of the degree of "hassle" involved with walk-up copying.

- Example:

Copier sales person - "...it's easy, simply log into the copier the same way you do you computer at you desk"

I.T. guy - "...sure, our end users are familar with their login, and they don't need to remember two different accounts..."

End User(usually at the Executive Level) "...you mean to tell me, I need to log in completely, with my password, every single time I want to make a copy??? Forget that..."

Well, for this client, we decided to use the four digit employee number as the PIN. And each PIN has different rights, some can copy in color, some can not. Some users can scan back to a folder, some can not, etc. And all activity on the system can be tracked by PIN. That is to say, ALL printing, copying, faxing, scanning activity.

The four digits work much better then the network login. And with Edgeline, all the PINS with rights, can be copied or set remotely.