HP Security Alert - HP Lasers and Digital Send units

At issue is the potential ability of unwanted to access print jobs through HP's Embedded Web administration tool.

HP says a firmware update is available to secure their printers.

The affected printers/MFPs: HP LaserJet 4345mfp; HP Color LaserJet 4730mfp; HP LaserJet 9040mfp; HP LaserJet 9050mfp; HP 9200C Digital Sender; and HP Color LaserJet 9500mfp- these units have firmware updates to fix the problem.

HP LaserJet 2410; HP LaserJet 2420; HP LaserJet 4250; HP LaserJet 4350; HP LaserJet 9040; and HP LaserJet 9050 all have preliminary updates.

Details regarding the firmware update, etc. can be found at HP Alert.

HP Enterprise Sales Training for the Masses - down from Mt. High, to the Channel...The Death of Socrates?

"What we are seeing is the transactional business or the run-rate business really fall off," Frank Rauch, vice president of HP's Solutions Partners Organization said.

"... People that used to buy a few servers a month, whether they needed them or not, as part of a regular routine are taking a second look at that. What we are seeing clearly accelerate is (sales for) partners focused on cost optimization projects. We are also seeing that the buying cycles are becoming a little bit longer because the customer governance processes are becoming a little tighter. What used to be a CIO decision or an IT director decision now goes to the CFO or the board. So what we are trying to do is equip our partners with training..."


"We want to get a healthier channel," Rauch said, "We want to get a more competent channel..."

HP Enterprise reps undergo training in the "Socriatic Selling" methodology - the art of asking questions. With the economic downturn as a trigger, HP is now offering this sales training to its partners.

"Appointments are getting harder to get. Projects are getting harder to justify," Rauch continues, "There are a million distractions not only in the partner organizations but in the manufacturer organizations and in the customer organizations. The ability to have that laser focus and a methodology to boil through that is going to be key."

But HP will not be doling out this wisdom to all -

"My approach is not a peanut butter approach," Rauch stressed, "My approach will be to work with partners that are dedicated to acquiring new HP customers selling the HP portfolio and providing a reasonable ROI (return on investment) on the money that we give them."

"We have a lot of competitive partners knocking on our door right now," he said. "And we are not opening that door to everyone."

Source: HP Provides Sales Punch For VARs Grappling With Downturn

By Steven Burke, ChannelWeb
3:27 PM EST Fri. Feb. 06, 2009

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Copier Crime - From Cleveland

Invoices do not match deliveries.

It started with three "missing" copiers, but records released by the Cleveland schools indicate the district paid for six machines in 2007 and 2008.

Invoices obtained show the district paid $160,200 to buy the six Ryobi offset duplicators from Toledo-based Superior Offset Supplies. The district paid $24,750 apiece for the machines and gave the company $11,700 for consulting on "copier-duplication requirements." The company charged a $150 hourly consulting fee.

"If they say they bought six, six are missing," he said. "Every school property has been physically checked. There's nothing."

The purchaser for the Cleveland Schools, his name listed on the invoices, is Dan Burns. Mr. Burns was placed on paid leave from the $184,000-a-year job, in December, after state auditors questioned the purchase of six machines investigators say apparently never arrived. Mr. Burns' assistant, Shenee McCoy-Gibbons, was put on leave at the same time.

Burns ultimately resigned from his job in January, 2009.

The invoices show that the district bought two machines at a time, in December 2007 and last April and May. Each bill totaled $49,500, which was just under the $50,000 limit for no-bid purchases.

As with most State/Local/Education organizations, bids are required when consulting fees exceed $10,000 - yet services for these devices were billed in two installments, one for $5,800 and another for $5,900. The invoices do not state when the consulting was done.

But it gets better...

Additionally, before Burns went to the Cleveland Schools he spent 30 years working with the Toledo School district - where he started as an offset duplicator operator and technician.

Burns left the Toledo Schools at the end of FY2006.

Total billing from Superior Offset Supplies from FY2001 through FY2006 amounts to $952K.

Most of this is in FY’s 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 with billings of $116K, $254K, $189K and $262K, respectively

State auditors are investigating the Cleveland case with the help of Cuyahoga County sheriff's detectives. Detectives seized two laptop computers, software and files from Cleveland school district headquarters Dec. 10.
The auditors also are reviewing purchases made in Toledo under Burns' supervision.





Johnny Carson - Copper Clappers - The best video clips are right here


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Print4Pay Hotel: What is "Print Management"

Art has a great article by Trevor Hoffer from PrintAudit offering up another definition of Managed Print Services.

Print4Pay Hotel: What is "Print Management"


Of course, this gets my wheels spinning as well.

I like to define a Managed Print Services Engagement as,

"...any program, provided to a client, by a Partner, that allows the client to easily track and reduce costs associated with printing, can be considered a Managed Print Service..."

The definition is broad. It is supposed to be broad.

Within a MPS offering are a score of different processes, tools and knowledge bases - all or partially applied to a client in order to help save them money.

That's all.

So in a broad sense, a copier, CPC service agreement (coupled with a lease agreement) can be considered a MPS - I would argue this should be considered an Entry Level MPS Engagement but an engagement non the less.

Check it.

Sharp Expected to Post Operating Loss: Another "First" in the Industry

NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp will post an annual operating loss of more than $112 million which is a milestone for the company, as it is its first ever full-year loss.

Not much of a surprise for those who attended the 2009 Lyra Symposium - Sharp did not bode well, receiving a "D" on their Vendor Report Card, for their lack-luster earning trend.

Sharp is the world's No.3 maker of LCD TVs behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and Sony Corp (6758.T).

Sharp had forecast an operating profit of 195 billion yen at the start of the financial year, which it cut to 130 billion yen in October as cellphone sales weakened. It reported an operating profit of 183.7 billion yen for the previous business year.

Panasonic to Cut 15,000 Jobs

Japanese electronics giant Panasonic is to cut 15,000 jobs worldwide and close 27 plants. The job cuts amount to 5% of its 300,000-strong global workforce.

"The company's business conditions have worsened particularly since last October, due mainly to the rapid appreciation of the yen, sluggish consumer spending worldwide and ever intensified price competition," a company statement said.

Panasonic now projecting a net loss of 380 billion yen or $4.2 billion for the year ending March 31, rather than the 30 billion yen profit it forecast on Nov. 27.

New York University to Award Vyomesh Joshi 2009 Prism Award

NEW YORK, January 28, 2009 — New York University today named Vyomesh (VJ) Joshi, Executive Vice President of the Imaging and Printing Group at HP, the winner of the 2009 Prism Award. The Prism Award is presented annually in recognition of distinguished leadership in the graphic arts and communications industry.

Sponsored by NYU’s Master of Arts in Graphic Communications Management and Technology Program, the 2009 Prism Award will be presented to Mr. Joshi during the 24th Annual Prism Award Luncheon on Wednesday, June 24th in New York City. This year’s ceremony will be held at the historical Gotham Hall located at 36th Street and Broadway.

Previous NYU Prism Award recipients include: Cathleen Black, president of Hearst Magazines; Richard M. Smith, chairman, editor-in-chief and CEO for editorial and business operations of Newsweek; Antonio M. Perez, president and CEO of Eastman Kodak Company; Anne M. Mulcahy, chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation; William L. Davis, chairman, CEO and president of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company; Henri Dyner, president and CEO of Sun Chemical Corporation; Janet L. Robinson, president and general manager of The New York Times; and Katharine Graham, chairman and CEO of The Washington Post.

Laura Reid, vice president of Hearst Publishing, and Terry A. Tevis, president of T.A. Tevis & Co. LLC., are co-chairpersons of this year’s Prism Committee. Mr. Tevis also serves as a co-chair of the NYU GCMT program’s board of directors, an advisory body comprising industry executives from leading companies in the graphic communications field.

The proceeds of the Prism Award Luncheon help fund student scholarships as well as student and program support for New York University’s internationally renowned Graphic Communications graduate program, which offers curricula to develop the next generation of industry leaders. In 2008, the program won the ESDF Award for Excellence in Education and Innovation in Higher Education.

Since its inception, the Prism Award Luncheon has raised millions of dollars for education.

The Graphic Communications graduate program is based within the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies (www.scps.nyu.edu/gcmt). As one of the University’s 15 colleges and schools, NYU SCPS has for over 70 years focused on creating applied professional programs for people who are already in the workforce. In addition to the Graphic Communications Management and Technology program, the school offers industry-focused Master’s degrees in areas such as publishing, direct marketing, public relations, fundraising, human resources management, real estate, construction management, hospitality industry studies, tourism and travel management, and sports management.

Tickets for the June 24th Prism Award Luncheon are available from $750 per person to $6,000 for a Sponsor’s Table of eight, and $10,000 for a Co-Chairmanship (which includes a dais seat as well as a table of eight). Reservations and additional information are available from the NYU SCPS’s Office of Special Events. Please contact Anna Condoulis at 212‑998‑7003, by fax at 212‑995‑4130, or by e-mail at ac5@nyu.edu.

Canon U.S.A. Announces Acquisition of Its Direct Consulting Business by CIBER, Inc.

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, announced that, effective today, CIBER, Inc. has acquired Canon Technology Solutions, Inc. (CTS), which was a subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc.

CTS has been providing advanced technology solutions and consulting to organizations since 1985.

From the CTS site -

Canon Technology Solutions, Inc., a subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., has been an innovative leader in providing advanced technology solutions and consulting to organizations since 1985. Our mission is to help leading corporations create and sustain competitive advantage, empower their employees to achieve ever increasing levels of productivity and accomplishment, and to transform their critical business operations in order to achieve superior levels of performance through the intelligent application of enabling technologies.

"The integration of CTS with CIBER ITO will further expand our capabilities and scale in our managed services and IT outsourcing delivery footprint and will add customized content management solutions to our portfolio," said Mark Perlstein, ITO President. "CIBER and CTS clients will benefit from our commitment to strengthening our existing offerings and adding complementary innovative solutions that will service their unique needs."

Based in Greenwood Village, Colo., the company’s(CIBER, Inc.) consultants now serve client businesses from 60 U.S., 25 European offices and seven offices in Asia.

Operating in 18 countries, with 8,500 employees and annual revenue of approximately $1.2 billion , CIBER’s IT specialists continuously build and upgrade our clients’ systems to “competitive advantage status.” CIBER is included in the Russell 2000 Index and the S&P Small Cap 600 Index.

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What does this mean?

Canon could be shedding costs and making room for

Nature does not like a vacuum -

TallyGenicom Opens Another Chapter - Chapter 11

TallyGenicom files for Chapter 11, assets to be acquired by Printronix, Inc.

TallyGenicom announced last week that it has filed a voluntary petition for protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The Company’s filing was instituted in order to effectuate the sale of certain U.S.-based assets of TallyGenicom.

As part of its filing, TallyGenicom will be seeking Court approval to name Printronix Inc., as the lead bidder in the auction process.

TallyGenicom CEO Dan Adragna said, “After working our advisors, investors and lenders to explore a number of alternatives, we have made the strategic decision to pursue a Chapter 11 filing in order to effectuate a sale of certain of the company’s U.S.-based assets,”

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Panasonic - Color, color MFP's Do Not Stop a 3.9 Billion Dollar Slide

Panasonic/Matsushita provided the rumor mill even more reason to suggest that Panasonic may get out of the copier market all together.

Rueters reports Panasonic Corp (6752.T) will report a consolidated net loss after tax of about 350 billion yen ($3.89 billion) in fiscal 2008/09 due to restructuring charges and weak sales of consumer electronics.

This will be Panasonic's first loss in six years, and the biggest since the firm posted a 430 billion yen net loss for the business year that ended in March 2002.

Interestingly, at last week's 2009 Lyra Symposium, Panasonic did not make the roster of copier companies analyzed.

It is not known how much the copier side of Panasonic contributed to the loss.

Printer Industry News: Managed Print Services… Staying the Course – Or Changing the Game?

Great Post from Ed.

Hardware Agnostic, Service based vs. Equipment Based...Printer Industry News: Managed Print Services… Staying the Course – Or Changing the Game?: "In reality, a services business model cannot be commoditized. If a firm is offering differentiated service with significant value add, then there is no way to become commoditized. However, if the firm is wrapping a CPC program around hardware and calling it MPS, this can absolutely become commoditized. But this is also a hardware-centric business model, not a professional services-centric model."

Consolidation - Off go the Mega Dealers...

At the 2009 Lyra Symposium, one of the more prevalent discussion, both on and off stage was consolidation - the more exciting consolidation topics were the possibilities between the manufacturers.

Of course the topic turned to the few remaining independents and the "Mega Independent" dealers.

This week, Xerox, through GIS, acquired one of those Mega dealers - ComDoc. ComDoc, according to their site, was the largest independent Ricoh dealership in the U.S.

ComDoc Chief Executive Officer Riley Lochridge said,

''An offer was made that we think was good for our employees and our shareholders, ... and it will be good for our customers,''

And in a '''rapidly consolidating marketplace,'' he said, joining forces will make the company even stronger and more competitive.

ComDoc employs 600 and had sales of $125 million last year; the employees own the company, so they will share in the proceeds of the sale. ComDoc reportedly services 14,000 customers.

Xerox spokesman Carl Langsenkamp said, ''We try to find dealers that are well-known and have a good customer base,'' he said. ''ComDoc had good, key cities ... and GIS didn't have any operations in Ohio, so this opened up that opportunity.''

This acquisition, will give GIS a presence in 29 states.

All reports are that no major changes in operations will result although a strategic plan to convert clients to Xerox is obvious.

Since the being purchased by Xerox, GIS as made 6 other acquisitions.

It appears that Xerox is utilizing GIS's expertise in dealer assimilation to grow the channel even more.

List of GIS acquisitions(partial) since Xerox purchase, May, 2007:

Imagine Technology Group
Copy Products, Inc.
Alternative Office Systems
Sierra Office Solutions
Saxon Business Systems
Blackstone Valley Office Systems
American Business Machines, Inc.
Better Quality Business Systems
Marbaugh Reprographics Supply Co.
Inland Business Machines, Inc
ComDoc