Multi-function Systems

This year over 1.2 million office multifunction systems will be installed in the United States and the movement continues to grow. These systems provide printing, copying, faxing, and scanning features in one cost-effective device.

The basic logic behind these systems is obvious: it is just practical to combine these similar functions for cost savings and fewer devices to supply.

However, some of the largest reasons behind the rapid implementation of these systems extend beyond cost savings. Multifunction devices can merge with document management software to allow process automation and deliver bottom line results.

• Modernized Communication: Multifunction systems email, fax and print together. Scan to email functionality delivers paper documents securely to their recipients as email attachments. Fax routing directs incoming faxes to email addresses.
• Automated Business Processes: Multifunction systems offer a convenient on-ramp to get paper onto a digital network. New capture software provides the technology for information to be read from scanned documents where it can be routed through a pre-defined workflow.

The world is focused on recycling. One of the best places to start may be with your office laser printers and multifunction systems.

Here are three simple steps to cutting waste and saving money:

• Recycle Paper Put recycling bins next to your printers and copiers. Most municipalities have recycling services. You can also use recycled paper in your printers and copiers. Make sure to select a good quality of recycled paper that is rated for laser printers and copiers.
• Duplex Printing A great way to immediately cut paper usage is to set your printers and multifunction systems to default to duplex (two-sided) printing. This is especially helpful for long print jobs because duplex printing literally cuts your paper usage in half.

Fax Servers and Multifunction Printers offer a lot of the same capabilities and are a great tool for any office.

A Fax Server is a set of software running on a server computer that is equipped with one or more fax-capable modems attached to a telephone line or a software modem emulator that can transmit the signal over an IP network. A fax  server’s function is to receive fax calls and accept documents from users, convert them into faxes, and transmit them, store them, or pass them onto a different user. Users can communicate with the server through a local network or the Internet.

One little known fact is that a Multifunction Printer can offer a lot of the features a fax server can. A Multifunction Printer is an office machine that can incorporate multiple devices in one so a business can have a centralized document management system. A MFP combines the abilities of a printer, scanner, photocopier, fax machine, and email and is great with handling many processes at once.

Printers are now used daily and are a necessity to businesses. They are very useful for people, whether at home or office. The printer is a peripheral device for the production of paper copies of documents and data that are stored in a digital form. There are many types of printers available that are used for printing different things.

These days the preferred printer is a multi-function printer. These printers have many features, which is very convenient in everyday life. Computers are everywhere, and a computer without the printer seems to be incomplete. Multi-function printers have eased the tension of the people who have had to buy scanners, copiers and many other things to complete their office. Multi-function printers are a bit more expensive, but it is a profitable deal, because it has multiple functions in itself.

The multi-function printer can save electricity, because as a single device it will be plugged in to power serving the same purposes as three machines would. This power management feature is very useful, because the function that is required, can be used to work, while other functions are disabled. When a person uses a printer, scanner and copier can be switched off. You did not use the power over all functions into a single function. These printers also save space, whether it is kept in the office or at home. A multi-function printer reduces the number of devices in a room.

Time

1. Spend less time managing devices IT departments spend 15% of their time on printerrelated issues. Consolidation results in fewer hardcopy devices to manage and a smaller inventory of supplies and spare parts to maintain. Plus, network integration makes MFPs easier and less expensive to support than their standalone counterparts.

2. Reduce time spent walking from device to device By combining printing, copying, faxing, scanning and digital sending (scan to email, folder, etc.) in a single device, MFPs give information workers network access to all the capabilities they need to effectively and efficiently handle digital and paper documents.

3. Experience fewer network bottlenecks Where some competitive devices force you to accept performance/print-quality tradeoffs, HP LaserJet and Color LaserJet MFPs feature advanced processing and imaging technology, ensuring you of consistently high-quality output at full engine speeds and realworld performance that often surpasses competing products boasting faster engine specifications. This is because, generally, HP LaserJet and Color LaserJet MFPs and printers are designed to offer their best output quality at full engine speed. Many competing devices slow down considerably in best print quality mode due to issues like formatter bottlenecks or employing solid-ink technology.

Today’s sophisticated network copiers or multifunctional products (MFPs),integrate copier, scanner, printer and facsimile functionality into a single platform, with the added capability of network-based document capture, storage and distribution. A primary on-ramp to the government’s network, these devices can convert hardcopy documents into easily shared digital files.

As a centralized network document processing hub, MFPs can also pose a potential risk to mission-critical information and applications. Theft or redirection of data is a danger when anonymous walk-up usage is possible. With an expanding MFP installed base deploying safeguards that ensure that only authorized users gain access to the device is not only a best practices imperative, but a federal mandate.

There has been a significant shift in the way organizations think about the cost and value associated with printing and imaging. In view of the findings of leading industry analysts such as Gartner and IDC (see Fast Facts on page 4), organizations are eager to trim document output costs, which are now estimated at between one and three percent of revenue. Productivity expenditures are thought to be even greater, with IT professionals typically spending up to 15 percent of their time on printing and related issues. These experts and others suggest that savings of as much as 30 percent of overall printing costs can be obtained through active management of the document output environment.

Because it pays to get rightsizing right
A growing majority of companies are turning to rightsizing as a strategy to optimize their document output fleet. It’s a move that is beginning to have a significant impact on fleet size. Yet smaller fleets do not automatically add up to lower management and support costs. The failure lies not in rightsizing as a strategy, but rather in the mistaken way some companies approach its implementation. Lacking a sound life-cycle management plan, such companies steadfastly hang on to document output devices until they are completely inoperable rather than invest in newer technology. Today it is not uncommon to find that as much as 50 percent of the devices in an organization’s printer fleet are more than five years old. Considering that supply costs for older workgroup printers can be as much as twice those for today’s multifunction printers (MFPs), this effort to stretch initial capital investment, and thereby maximize ROI, leaves many organizations spending more, not less. Thanks to recent technological advances, many newer output devices now offer significant savings in supplies and energy costs while enhancing productivity.

Think about it
An important shift is occurring in the way organizations work with information. To understand the impact of this change we need only to look at our own work habits. When was the last time you printed a document, made a large number of copies of it to share with your colleagues and then filed the original in a filing cabinet? While these practices are not unheard of, they are becoming increasingly uncommon. These days it is far more likely that the business information we require comes to us electronically to be printed and stored as needed. Since it is generally more convenient (and just as economical) to print a smaller number of originals than it is to make copies of a single original, many of us often choose printing over copying.

There is no question that working people are changing their print, copy and fax behaviors. Yet in many organizations the hardware infrastructure that enables these workflows is not keeping pace with the change. For example, if your organization’s printers can’t support regular, small print runs, but you have a high-speed copier that no one is using, it is likely that you are spending too much on copier maintenance and overtaxing your printers.

By Tristam Wallace

I wanted to pass along a link to a great article on MFPs and security in Computer Technology Review, written by Sharp's Vince Jannelli.  It is a very succinct and well-written summary of security concerns around  MFPs and I agree with nearly everything in it.

However, I want to address the following statement that Vince made in relation to platform virus security:

"A proprietary platform is idea, since it won't be susceptible to viruses designed to attack more popular operating systems available on personal computers."

I don't dispute the statement. But, it is important to weigh the trade offs between a proprietary platform and an open platform. While the risk of viral attack is lower because it is unlikely hackers will develop malicious code aimed at proprietary MFP platforms, the costs of managing those proprietary platforms are significant -- particularly for those companies that have mixed fleets (brands) of MFPs.

By Corey Smith

Every six months or so, comes a concern via the media that the MFP, or multifunction printer, is not secure and causes security holes on your network. When considering security on your network, there are some common sense approaches to ensuring you are protected from harm.

At eWeek, Rosen Sharma wrote a very simple article on securing your MFP. The article opens with the following:

Think you’ve plugged all of the vulnerabilities in your enterprise network? How about that multifunction printer over there in the sales department? As Dr. Rosen Sharma, president and CTO of Solidcore Systems explains, these devices frequently contain operating systems that are just as vulnerable to malware as your desktop computers.