New Digital Print Alternatives

Several vendors have released products designed to tap the high-speed digital printing market, long the domain of the Xerox DocuTech.

Ever since the Xerox DocuTech made its debut in 1990, it has stood virtually alone in its class. In recent weeks, however, other vendors have unleashed products designed to cut into the digital market that Xerox created. Specifically, these new products are geared toward printers who don't have the volume to afford a DocuTech, but want the same features at a slower speed.

One unlikely entrant into the print-on-demand market is Heidelberg, a dominant force in the offset world. At Graph Expo in Chicago recently, Heidelberg announced its first foray into the digital printing arena with the launch of the 110-page-per-minute (ppm) Digimaster 9110 Network Imaging System. The 600-dpi device offers in-line finishing and can accept PostScript, PDF, PCL or TIFF files.

At the same time, several other vendors have sourced the engine from Heidelberg and unveiled products of their own.

In early November, at the Canon Digital Solutions Forum in Philadelphia, IPG got a look at the Canon U.S.A. imageRUNNER 110. At the same time, in Los Angeles, IPG was also at the Xplor conference checking out the Kodak DigiSource 9110 Network Imaging System, offered by Danka, as well as IBM's Infoprint 2000 family of printers, both of which use the Heidelberg-manufactured engine.

Then, a week later, IPG traveled to northern New Jersey where Ricoh announced the Aficio 850, an 85-ppm printer. Ricoh designed this product specifically to fill the gap between the DocuTech's 135-ppm speed and the existing 65- and 75-ppm printers currently on the market.

For Low-volume Customers

Last year, in a similar attempt to satisfy printers who could not afford its DocuTech, Xerox introduced the 65-ppm DocuTech 65 Publisher and the 96-ppm DocuTech 6100 Publisher. The latter, for example, has an average monthly print volume of 400,000 impressions, half that of the DocuTech 6135. The Canon imageRUNNER 110, by comparison, offers monthly duty cycle ratings of 200,000 to 1 million impressions.

Heidelberg's entry into this market follows it's purchase of Kodak's digital printer, copier/duplicator and roller assembly operations earlier this year. Kodak developed the new electrophotographic imaging technology used by the Digimaster 9110, which allows any image to be placed on any page, in any document, at any time—without slowing production.

The 9110 uses developer particles that are one-fourth the size of those used by conventional copiers, resulting in a more precise dot, according to Heidelberg. Self-maintenance checks and recalibration are automatic, and resident sensors detect if the wrong stock has been loaded in the trays.

Each of the companies sourcing the Heidelberg engine plans to differentiate its product with customized software, controllers and print management options. IBM, for example, will use its advanced function common controller unit to provide full, bidirectional IPDS support. Canon's offering uses its diagnostic support tool technology to link the device to field technicians via laptop computers.

Heidelberg's Digimaster 9110 has been available since October, while the Canon imageRUNNER 110 will not hit the market until the first quarter of 2000. IBM's InfoPrint 2000 is now available in limited metropolitan areas, with general availability to come in June of 2000. Danka has been marketing the device as the Kodak DigiSource 9110 for several months.

Differing from these offerings is the Ricoh Aficio 850. But though slower and without as many finishing options (no inline saddle stitching), the device offers many sophisticated features. Its server can store 250 jobs, with more storage available on a rewritable CD. It can scan up to 72 originals per minute. Its touch panel CRT controls have dual language capabilities. A feature called Connect Copy can link two Aficio 850s to double output. Paper and toner can be added while the machine is in use.

Ricoh plans to launch the Aficio 850 nationally in April, though it will ship to some markets this month. Ricoh is targeting in-plants, though it feels the device can also work as a departmental copier.

by Bob Neubauer