InfoPrint Solutions, a joint venture between Ricoh and IBM, released its first product July 13, the InfoPrint Color 1767.
The Color 1767 features print speeds of up to 45 pages per minute (ppm) in black and white and up to 40 ppm in color. The 1767 supports formats such as .jpg (Joint Photographic Experts Group), PCL (Printer Control Language), PostScript and PDF.
The new printer can also handle IPDS (Intelligent Printer Data Stream) printing, which is a computer-to-printer data stream used by IBMs architecture for AFP (Advanced Function Printing) and is able to manage printing on low-end workstations, LAN-attached printers and high-volume printers.
Rob Enderle, a printer analyst and chief of the research firm Enderle Group, said in an e-mail that although the print market is tough to compete in with big players such as Hewlett-Packard, Infoprint can take advantage of vendors that are struggling.
“They could move in against a vendor like Lexmark who is in trouble so there is a possibility that they can be a player in the printer market,” Enderle said.
InfoPrint was created following the sale of IBMs printer business to Ricoh in January. In June, the company announced that it was operating as a separate entity and that IBM would provide maintenance services for the next year.
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