PRINT.IT
19
PRINTERS
Brother is hoping to broaden the
appeal of its HL-S7000 high speed
mono inkjet printer – the world’s
fastest desktop mono printer – by
launching two models with slower
print speeds and smaller price tags.
The range now includes the HL-
S7000DN50, an entry-level 50 page
per minute machine with one paper
tray (£1,600); the HL-S7000DN70,
a 70ppm model with an additional
lower paper tray (£1,800); and the
HL-S7000DN, which has print speeds
of 100ppm, plus three additional
paper trays (£2,000).
Brother UK product manager
Stuart Mabe said: “We have slowed
down the engine to create a range
and reduced the price to generate
interest in the machines. It is a
high priced printer, but it is a niche
product: the lifetime costs of the
machines are their differentiator.”
And these are very low, at just
0.5p per page – perhaps even 0.3p
or 0.4p if you go down the managed
print services (MPS) route.
Growing sales
Mabe says that after a slow start –
55 units sold last year – sales of the
HL-S7000 are picking up and have
surpassed 400 units so far this year.
“Sales are improving because we
are learning all the time, which is
why we have a split range – to give
customers more options. The printer
will never be on a Top Ten list, but
sales are going in the right direction,”
he said.
Brother is looking for customers
with print volumes of 15,000 to
20,000 pages per month, as they
are likely to be most responsive to
the TCO argument, as well as existing
customers in the healthcare sector.
“We used to have an HL-7050N
high volume laser product. We
discontinued this about six years ago,
but still have healthcare customers
who had that model but never
replaced it. The HL-S7000DN looks
like the perfect replacement because
it has four trays and it prints at very
high volumes,” explained Mabe.
He adds that with four paper trays,
the HL-S7000DN can simultaneously
accommodate prescription forms,
blood sample reports, A4 paper and
letterhead, removing the need to
swap trays when switching between
printing prescriptions and headed
Slower, cheaper models to open up new markets for 100ppm mono inkjet printer
Brother broadens appeal of
record-breaking inkjet printer
paper. This, says Mabe, makes
the printer particularly suitable for
external print centres that print
repeat prescriptions and other items
for a community of surgeries.
Not that he wants the printer
to be pigeon-holed in healthcare.
“There are many other opportunities
we could sell these printers into,”
he said. “Because it’s ink, you don’t
need a fuser, so energy levels are one
fifth of a laser device. There’s a good
green message and it is a chance
to take on copiers and high-end
lasers that are high price. We should
be able to do more to target these
products going forward.”
It is a high
priced
printer, but
it is a niche
product:
the lifetime
costs of the
machines
are their
differentiator
“We are talking to different
regions in the NHS about Secure
UniPrint,” said Fung. “ Making sure
that the printer follows the healthcare
worker is a huge challenge, especially
in the virtualisation world. How
do you make sure that healthcare
workers print to the printer closest to
them? To allay privacy concerns, you
don’t want patient records to appear
on the wrong printer.”
Complete solution
Fung says that by providing a
streamlined, centralised solution
that speeds up printing and improves
security through pull printing
and encryption options, UniPrint
is consistent with key trends in
business today, including greater
emphasis on data security and the
replacement of desktop computers
with mobile devices or thin/zero
clients.
Commenting on the rise of Apple
in particular, he said: “The mobile
is here to stay. A lot of people use
Mac as their mobile device and in a
virtualised environment. Mac is very
stringent in terms of how it prints,
but now, with our additional features,
you don’t have to buy an AirPrint-
compatible printer in order for that
Mac or iPad to print natively. With our
software, you can make any printer
– including some legacy printers –
Airprint-compatible.”
Fung adds that growing concern
about data security is another reason
customers are attracted to UniPrint
Infinity. “I was talking to a CTO over
lunch in New York City and he was
saying that the US Government is
asking financial companies: Are you
sure that your entire organisation is
secure, including when you print?
Is that print job that travels over the
network encrypted? Can anyone
tap into your print stream? How do
you make sure the end device is
secure? How do you make sure the
print file you store on your computer
is encrypted? All this opens up a
whole new opportunity for companies
like ourselves who focus on secure
printing and mobile printing,” he said.
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