BP: Small companies in niche markets. Xeikon v Flexo.

Punch Graphix predicts second-half growth despite 8% fall in sales| @printweek.com
"'Going forward there are some great opportunities to place some more 3000 label presses. The digital label market is coming of age and we're seeing some flexo users starting to invest.'

He also added that the Xeikon range could prove attractive in 'dark economic times', thanks to its lower price than other digital presses on the market."

DP+BP: Quark: How about trying this out at BOT High Schools and Community Colleges in the States?

It's too time consuming to teach technical skills, when you get paid to teach students to think logically. Maybe you can help? You do your job. Teachers will do their jobs.

Quark gives RMIT an education in design and print -
@Print Graphic News
: "QUARK Pacific has announced the launch of its Quark Education Program which will see the company invest in Australian and New Zealand design and print student’s education.

Developed with the consultation of educational institutes and the design and print industry, the Quark education program includes the unlimited use of QuarkXPress 8 within the educational institution and a full version of QuarkXPress 8 for each student enrolled in a design or graphic technology

Quark says they will also provide training for both teachers and students in programs as well as sharing QuarkXPress 8 educational material to assist the teachers with the preparation of their teaching syllabus.

DP: Another piece of the printernet falls into place. SaaS Pricing layer that talks to enterpise MIS from Austrilasia

Estimating is a time sink. One solution is a templated website - MarketSplash. Another solution comes from a tech firm in New Zealand. I can't tell from the site, but my bet is that PalomaTech is three really passionate smart people in whatever equals a garage in New Zealand.

Tharstern NZ to preview Print IQ at Pacprint -
@Print Graphic News:
"THARSTERN New Zealand has announced it will give a preview of its Internet Quoting and MIS intelligence solution Print IQ this month at Pacprint.

Print IQ (Internet or Intranet Quoting) has been developed as a web based estimating tool which only requires Internet monthly subscription to Print IQ.
. . .
The solution also includes Job bags, Reposts, Invoices and the ability to export files into an accounts package.
. . .
Print IQ is the culmination of development collaborations between Tharstern NZ and development partner Paloma Technology. Both companies have worked on a number of projects for common customers in Australia and NZ and felt the market was ready for the release of Print IQ.

Palomatech’s Print IQ tool integrates with the TharsternSQL database, allowing customers to access online estimating tools and also have to option to scale up to a full service MIS in their local environment.

Print IQ is developed to be layered over a companies own MIS solution achieving point of sale customer traffic, franchise linking to a centralised database as well as simplification of the estimating process to a broader group of non specialised individuals.

DP: EFI opens Innovation Centre in Australia

"Don't tell me what you are going to do. Show me what you've done." - NYC High School Student.

As more and more players set up innovation centers, "educating" the customer will move from tell me to show me.

Proof of concept real world interventions, using top intelligence and unused production capacity is much cheaper and more effective than "marketing or advertising."

Perhaps some of them will morph into degree granting schools and get some of the education money floating through everyone's society.

Innovation Centre brings DES and EFI together
from Print21:

DES and EFI join forces to open Sydney-based Innovation Centre.

In July this year, the two companies will open the EFI Innovation Centre in Rhodes, which will cover e-commerce products such as Digital StoreFront, commercial and industrial printing solutions including the Jetrion full-colour digital label press, the Fiery XF and Colorproof XF range of colour management software along with large-format and superwide format UV solutions."

BP: China Print bigger than Drupa?

The snippet below quotes Alon Bar-Shany, HP Indigo VP. The blablabla is that's the big opportunity for Euro based globals. But be very careful. In Asia it's head to head competition with Fuji, Ricoh, Canon and many others.

No doubt it is an opportunity. But it is not easy to pick low hanging fruit. If HP does an Asian version of MarketSplash 3.0 before Ricoh or Fuji that might help. In any case, it's going to be a tough fight.

Europe/New World has to keep adjusting. The common wisdom is that global economic engines will be in Asia. True, but it misses the fact that economic engines will be scattered in city-regions all over the planet. Given the rise of so many cities, with so many people, in so much of Asia it looks like it's about global regions.

In fact all business, like all politics, is local.

Next China Print may be bigger than drupa, says Alon Bar-Shany -
from News Archive - Print21:
Wednesday, 13 May 2009

HP Indigo vice president predicts the shift in printing power to Asia will see the regional exhibition outpace the established European and US shows.

. . . According to Bar-Shany, the growth of HP Indigo press business in Asia more than justifies the company holding its InfoTrends event in Beijing. With 47 percent annual growth in the Asia Pacific, HP Indigo is looking to China to fuel its ongoing 25 percent annual growth. There are approximately 5,000 HP Indigo presses installed around the world, but only 200 in China.

Nice one for InfoPrint: ADF on a global scale = Printernet

ADF = Automated Document Factory = OPM = Original Product Manufacturer. A global network of standards based OPM's = the Printernet. If it lived in a school district it would be an education printernet.

InfoPrint Unveils Postal Optimization ADF Solution
from WhatTheyThink
Tuesday, May 19, 2009

BOULDER, CO -- InfoPrint Solutions Company, the joint venture between IBM and Ricoh, today announced the creation of the Postal Optimization ADF Solution to maximize postal discounts, minimize waste and enable a more productive, streamlined printing environment. This ADF workflow Intelligent Mail-compliant offering will help mailers see less returned mail, greater process control, lower postal rates and in certain cases, the reduction or elimination of expensive sorter equipment.

This bundled offering is built on the InfoPrint ProcessDirector (IPPD) backbone, the company's market-leading* ADF (Automated Document Factory) software technology."

Does the Printernet look like this?



Or does the Printernet look like this?



Images from Holistic Quantum Reality

A game changer from HP: MarketSplash catalyzes the Indigo printernet.

The new thing is that HP will set standards to be part of the Market Splash print providers network. see snippet

That gets to a standards based PSP/OPM (original product manufacturers) network. Every Indigo owner gets to compete to be part of the network. Competing on the basis of clear standards with a valuable prize is much better than "educating" the customer. It's also what works for "educating" that bottom of the pyramid high school kid.


I would now supply a path for OPMs to also be standards based VARs. In the jargon, it's called being a Market Solutions Provider.
On the ground it could mean:
1. reselling Salesforce.com and Google Apps to micro and small business
and/or . . .
2. linking good marketing/design studios to micro-small business
and/or . . .
3. linking good independents to sell MPS or MFP as appropriate
and/or . . .
4. linking to newspapers to sell sMB ads for news-on-papers or news-on-screens
and/or . . .
5. whatever else their customers might want to buy

The sooner the print nodes become VARs for their communities of interest, the sooner the whole thing shifts into organic growth. If you've ever seen a garden explode in the spring, you know how fast plants grow.

Very nice. If they would only spin off the Print piece, I would be happy to place a bet, while the Top Management and the Board figure out how pay for the $10 billion purchase of EDS and struggle to maintain margins from laptops, netbooks and computer services.

fromPrint CEO -
HP Announces Changes to MarketSplash:
"As of today advertising for MarketSplash.com on the open market will cease. Over the next 4 months HP is going to phase out the current public site. In September the MarketSplash.com site will relaunched with tools to connect content creators with print providers.

A new referral option will provide a lookup functionality to locate HP Indigo customers. HP will set qualification criteria to become part of the the MarketSplash print service provider network. HP plans to expand the number of print-to-mail vendors. HP will share more details on these changes in the next month."

Meanwhile, I think I heard on Bloomberg that HP has a "strong" relationship with Canon. Is there a way that Canon can leverage that relationship to get back at Ricoh for the Ikon hit?

The next battle is the Ricoh and Fuji/Fuji Xerox/Fuji response. The clash of the titans continues. Oce keeps on keeping on. Kodak? KM? All the while, my IRA is feeling much better.

Go Print! Go Printernet!

MPS: OOPS! dr droock is wrong again..Wow! Lexmark can print RFID with a laser printer. That's very cool.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) --
@Lexmark United States:
Lexmark introduced the first and only RFID laser printer . . . . In fact, it was recently recognized by the RFID industry as one of the best new RFID technology innovations for 2008 by RFID Switchboard and was first runner-up for Best of Show at the 2008 RFID Journal conference."

ID cards for everyone who works in a high school. Students, teachers, admins, janitors. How's that for security?.....

Added May 20, 11:49 EDT:
A sincere thank you to George Alexander of Beyond Print for helping me get this right. Lexmark is still cool, but doesn't rate a Wow. Here's what I found out:

Don't be misled by the confusing Lexmark announcement. The machine does NOT print RFID tags. It prints on paper that has an RFID tag embeded in it (not "regular paper"). Here's a description of the printer from the Lexmark site:

"The T640rn has a radio and an antenna integrated into the printer. By adding up to four additional drawers, you can print multiple sizes and types of media. It can print, program and verify RFID media as well as print your current business documents all on the same printer. With this solution, the tag that is embedded into the media is parallel to the long edge of the paper."

DP: Money keeps Prowling. 10,000 JPY = 105.59 USD

At least that what is say on the web

Takeda to buy IDM Pharma from Seeking Alpha.
Takeda Pharmaceutical agreed Monday to acquire IDM Pharmas of IDMI">IDMI), a developer of anti-cancer treatments, for $2.64/share in an all-cash tender offer followed by a merger. Shares of IDM were recently +19% premarket to $2.02.

DP: Economic Engine Keeps Drifting East. Or is it West from California? Or is it South to Brazil?

India Stocks, Rupee, Bonds Surge on Congress Win; Shares Halted -
@Bloomberg.com: "May 18 (Bloomberg) -- India’s benchmark stock index jumped a record 17 percent, bonds rose and the rupee gained the most in two decades after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Congress Party won nationwide elections."

Brazil food giants talk tie-up. Brazil meat processors Sadia (SDA) and Perdigao (PDA) said they're in discussions of a merger that would rescue struggling Sadia, and create one of the world's largest frozen and processed food companies. In a report Thursday, Citigroup speculated the Brazil government could help finance a merger with as much as $750M.