Xerox is aiming to attract the interest of midsize to large enterprises with a new multifunction machine that the company said cuts the cost of printing color pages by up to 62 percent compared to traditional color lasers, without any compromise in print quality.
The new ColorQube 9200 Series employs a decades-old Xerox color-process technology based on crayon-like ink sticks. However, Xerox says it has completely redesigned the process to achieve faster speeds and higher print volumes.
“Our customers are looking for ways to achieve more with less,” said Xerox President Ursula Burns. “With ColorQube we are unlocking the benefits of color by taking the cost barrier out of the equation.”
Four Printheads
At the heart of the new ColorQube 9200 are four ganged printheads that function as an integrated unit to channel ink through more than 3,500 nozzles. Each half the width of a human hair, the nozzles deliver 150 million ink drops per second, said Xerox Vice President Don Titterington.
“There is more than three times as much ink coming through this device in a square inch, for instance, than in our legacy products, so this device is way higher-speed than any that we have ever shipped before,” Titterington said. “The base mode for this product is 15 pages per minute and it can print as high as 85 ppm.”
Analysts say the new machine, which is designed to scan, print and copy documents, should help increase the penetration of color in the office. “The new platform is probably what we would describe as groundbreaking,” said Matt Marshall, program director for European printers, multifunctional peripherals, and imaging solutions at IDC.
“It opens up a whole new opportunity for customers in terms of functionality and price points,” Marshall said. “In terms of ink quality, I think solid ink is equal to, and in…