Are You Looking For a Good Managed Print Services Provider? How Would you Tell?

Congratulations, you see that you can reduce the costs associated with printing by 30-40% - now what?

Nestled out here, are some very good MPS providers.

Behind the device manufacturers' flowery marketing and dense poser-like foliage, the real MPSr's are here.

Here holding true to customer-centric values - evangelizing MPS as a process not a collection of machines.

Your search is challenging.

Should you call your current IT VAR, have purchasing get with your office supplies vendor, or, god forbid, call the copier dealer who roped you in for 60 months?

Do you really want to be negotiated into an agreement?

How about product demo's or assessments worth exactly what you pay for them?

Honestly, should Purchasing, who is probably responsible for the 30-40% waste in the first place, be in charge of an MPS project? Really?

No - REALLY?

HP's Hurd - Wall Street Journal Timelines the Fall...

In an article by Rubert A. Guth, Ben Worthen and Justin Scheck, at WSJ.COM, new details of the Fall Of Hurd are exposed.(yes, the above is a picture of Jodie, Playboy, 1980)

Even though we are at the tailend of the escapade, the WSJ story is a great summary revolving around the letter sent to Hurd on behalf of Ms. Fisher, from her lawyer, the one and only, Gloria Allred.

Some felt the HP bent Mr. Hurd over, but the seriousness of the allegations apparently made the board stand up and notice.

Ms. Fisher claimed Mr. Hurd revealed to her, HP's intention to purchase EDS prior to publicly announcing - an obvious premature release.

Additionally, Mr. Hurd claims he and Ms. Fisher watched a Minnesota/Green Bay football game, first in the hotel bar and later together in his hotel room. Scurrying off at the "two minute warning."

Well, judging from this shot, she likes Texas, and everybody in Texas is a football fan - correct?

Wow.

The Faces of MPS? "continue...please, with your mockery..."

I have had this linked here for a few weeks now. 

To be honest, I find it a bit puzzling. People seem to like this kinda stuff, this banter. 

Ken is a great guy - one of the first and best - he is greatly involved over at Photizo working on the dealer channel program and contributes to the positive advancement of Managed Print Services, as an MPSA board member. 

 As for me, I am still scratching out an existence as an MPS Practice manager and scheming ways to move DOTC from PG-13 to R. For now, "continue...please, with your mockery..." 

 

Faces of MPS Media Part 3 from Photizo Group on Vimeo.

Faces of MPS Media (Part 2) from Photizo Group on Vimeo.

  Click to email me.

Printer Bomb: An HP, Multi-function Device

A rather dry report from Reuters talks about the toner bomb without getting into too many details. 

By looking at the video, we in the business can tell a great deal. The toner cartridge was installed. The cell phone and other electronics as well as wiring, are contained within the HP LaserPrinter.

The powerful and hard-to-detect type of explosive known as PETN, the same substance used by AQAP in a failed plot to blow up a U.S.-bound passenger plane last Christmas Day, looks to be packed into the toner cartridge. (White substance) 

So basically, the explosive material was packed into the toner cartridge and wired into the timer, power source, and other detention electronics, bolted on somewhere in the printer. 

From the outside, the unit looks as tame as ever. As to how these bombs were detected, officials said the plot was discovered thanks to intelligence passed from Saudi Arabia. Without that tip, it's unclear whether anyone would have discovered the bombs before they were airborne — or on U.S. soil. Great, no high-tech solution here, just more heavy TSA petting before boarding. 

There is absolutely no doubt that HP had nothing to do with this, and is indeed a big victim here. 

DOTC, August 18, 2009, SEC Asked HP About Middle Eastern Dealings - Back in February 

DOTC, January 9, 2009, HP To Stop Selling in Iran - Power of The Press 

DOTC, December 29, 2008,  HP Printers Sold in Iran - The Unholly Alliance - 

Printer Bomb Plot from Matthew Cole on Vimeo.

Happy Halloween Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven (Narrated by Christopher Walken)

MPS, Terrorism and THIRD PARTY TONER: If by Third Party, You Mean "Manipulated"

10/2010

Somebody get Mulder and Scully out of retirement.

CNN:

"At least two U.S. airports were on high alert Friday after investigators found a suspicious package on a plane in the United Kingdom the night before, a law enforcement source with detailed knowledge of the investigation said."

The suspicious package, which contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge, tested negative for explosive material, the source said, but it led to a heightened inspection of arriving cargo flights in Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a UPS truck in New York.

Wow.

For over a year, I have been kicking around the idea of a novel - in this figment, I envision third-world Evil Doers tainting toner cartridges with a heat-activated, slow-burn, killer virus.

This contaminant, after melting on the surface, infects at the touch - talk about "the hidden cost of printing".

"White Toner"

Well, today, Stage 1 MPS has been dragged into the international spotlight.

Sorta.


News agencies are reporting a "manipulated toner cartridge" found on a UPS plane, contributed to elevating the threat level to "High" in the airline sector.

Reports are now saying no bomb was found in the US. (Of course not, but did they test for the infamous "White Toner Bug"???)

Reports say that indeed two explosive devices were found, one on a plane in London - disguised as a "toner cartridge". Here.


Police investigate iffy packages at N.J., Philly airports