Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • PC Hardware

    Lexmark CEO: Printers Moving Toward Convergence, Color

    By
    Shelley Solheim
    -
    August 30, 2004
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Printers typically dont stir up the same excitement among IT enthusiasts as other areas of technology do, but, lately, the $106-billion-a-year market has attracted more attention as Dell Inc. continues to ramp up its rebranded printer push in an effort to steal sales from rival Hewlett-Packard Co.

      In the middle of the turf battle is Lexmark International Inc., of Lexington, Ky., which supplies Dell with many of its printers but also competes with Dell and HP. In a recent interview with eWEEK staff writer Shelley Solheim, Lexmark CEO and chairman Paul Curlander discussed Lexmarks relationship with Dell and HP, how Lexmark plans to position itself for advantage as the battle heats up, and why he thinks the printing business is about much more than just hardware.

      Where is Lexmark focusing its energies right now, regarding both products and customer segments—enterprise and consumer?

      Were kind of half-focused in the enterprise space and half in the consumer space. In the enterprise space, were very focused on solutions and services. Weve more recently started an initiative into small and medium business, and were trying to reach those customers through our channel partners.

      Has your OEM agreement with Dell affected your relationship with other channel partners?

      I would say no. Certainly there were great initiatives by our competitors to try and stir that up as an issue, but its not an issue. What we find with our channel partners is that, in general, all of them are dealing with Dell in one way or another.

      /zimages/3/28571.gifLexmark officials say theyre staying cautious even as the companys earnings grow. Click here to read more.

      As the printer market becomes more crowded, what will set Lexmark apart?

      We spend a lot of time talking to our customers, and I think whats unique about us is that were exclusively focused on [printing]. We internally develop all three of the core print technologies in the industry: color ink jet, mono laser and color laser.

      Were organized by industry with large account teams, and I dont see anyone in the industry doing that. Primarily, what we see when we go in and study customers print/copy/fax environments is an excessive amount of equipment … with anywhere from, say, 30 to 50 percent of the equipment significantly underutilized.

      But we also see that the average print job 85 percent of the time is one to three pages, and 65 percent of the time its one page. So productivity is really important, as well, because that shows that people are printing really short jobs, and theyre printing really often. So people may not want to walk 50 to 100 feet to get to a device to get their output.

      [Among] the key trends [is] convergence; we see the color, we see all these investments in e-business infrastructure, and … what we tend to find is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of paper-intensive processes where they havent had the resources or ability to utilize the infrastructure theyve already invested in.

      /zimages/3/28571.gifClick here to read about a Lexmark printer line targeting small and midsized businesses.

      Regarding trends in converged devices, do you see a movement from standalone printers to multifunction printers and, if so, are you focusing on this?

      Historically, the role of the printer company has been to help people take information from the digital world to the paper world, which was really through print. Going the other direction, from paper to digital … is more difficult. What were seeing is a kind of convergence in technology between these devices—printers, copiers, fax machines and scanners—into multifunction devices.

      So, technically, thats being accomplished, but the reality is that that makes those devices even more complex than the individual pieces. We think the real issue is how people can utilize technology to really accomplish the core business processes they have and to make that easy. And its not clear how thats evolving.

      Do you think that Lexmark, not having the reach of bigger companies like IBM or HP, can really get into [larger] businesses?

      We always limit the scope of things we do to make sure we have the bandwidth to do what we undertake. We limit ourselves to a select number of industries, limit ourselves to a specific number of accounts that we call on, and were focused on how we can do these types of jobs in those accounts in those industries.

      /zimages/3/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms Desktop & Notebook Center at http://desktop.eweek.com for the latest news in desktop and notebook computing.

      Shelley Solheim

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×