May is just around the corner...sorta...MPS and Orlando!

European Managed Print Services Industry Shows Its Vitality at Major Industry Conference

Record attendance indicates Europe on track to become largest MPS market

Lexington, KY – December 6, 2010 – The success of the recent European MPS Conference signals strong and growing interest in managed print services, the business model sweeping the imaging industry. The European event drew 162 attendees to Barcelona, Spain from November 10-12. Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom were among the most represented markets, with participants traveling from 18 different countries as far as South Africa and the United States. HP, Ricoh, FMAudit and DocuAudit Europe were Platinum Sponsors of the 2010 European MPS Conference.

Archived footage of the European MPS Conference Webcast can be found at http://www.mpsconference.com/wrapup/ondemand.html.

“We keep hearing from our attendees that the MPS Conferences hosted by Photizo Group are becoming a watering hole for the industry--a true source of education and networking with peers and experts. That is so important, because with organized, focused resources like these, MPS professionals and users increase their chance of success,” said Photizo founder and CEO, Ed Crowley. The highly acclaimed Barcelona keynote and presentations inspired attendees with stimulating insights and ideas:

Know Thy Self: Epson not getting into Managed Print Services anytime soon...

It is the hottest thing going on our little industry.

Secular, paradigm shifting, and a defining moment inhabited by both players and posers - there is plenty of room.

Who in the world would NOT get into this?

How could anybody rationalize not having a Managed Print Service offering with a statement like, "...I don't think we can be that bullish, I think we have to react to what the market wants..."

Who could do this?

Epson, that's who.

The Day I Had Drinks with a Hero...

April 1941, Pearl Harbor.

The newly wed couple fresh from the states live in a one bedroom house.

They share the shower, and toilet with 2 other couples. He a Naval corpsmen, his beautiful young bride the homemaker.

After being married a few months and living with family in a small, cramped California house, they journey thousands of miles and half an ocean's distance to finally live together alone.

Together in Paradise.

This is Oahu, April of 1941. Cane fields surround the lazy, sleepy town of Honolulu. Soft, tropical breezes stir through the palms drying out remnants of morning showers. The island was home to 50,000 service men but it still had jsut one traffic light.

Hawaii a US Territory, statehood nearly two decades away. The town has one road in and out; no skyscrapers, mega-resorts, or miles of lights, to wash out the stars of the night sky.

A time as foreign to us contemporaries as the surface of Mars.

On the morning of December 7th, eight months after arriving in Paradise, and a mere 30 minutes before "all hell breaks loose", a sailor gives his new bride a kiss on the cheek and heads of to another day doing whatever a corpsman does. She expects to greet her husband at day's end, with a home cooked dinner.

At work, a line of gray battleships - the might and power of the United States Navy - are tied off - "Battleship Row". They carry names of honor; Nevada, California, Tennessee, Maryland, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Utah and Arizona.

This sailor will be late for dinner.