Oce CrystalPoint

Edgeline Meets Melting Wax Meets Thermal InkJet Interesting article by Cary Sherburne.

Oce has release a "new" technology - they started developing in the 1990's. It's a bit of a hybrid between ink and toner.

For now, the print heads move across the paper, but it is interesting to see another type of "liquid" system.

Oce has always been kinda "out there" on the fringe in some ways - not sure if we will see this in office systems anytime soon.

A new look over at Managed Print Services Resource Center

MPS - Managed Print Services Resource Center

The folks who gave us the New North America MPS Tracker has a new look and some new content.

I especially like the MPS Adoption Cycle found here. In this article, The Three Stages of MPS Adoption is spot on. I see this every day. And I really like the matrix of Key Questions for MPS Vendors. I just wish there was a better word to use instead of "vendors" - don't vendors push hot dog carts?

And Ken Stewart of ChangeForge.com has a good article about I.T. working within the organization to achieve business goals. I appreciate this statement from his article,

"Innovate:

Innovation is not only coming up with good ideas yourself, but understanding good ideas flow in and throughout the people in your company everyday. Ensure you are seeking out advice from not only business unit leaders, but people on the front line as well. In seeking mind share, individuals will begin seeing that you care about their needs and aren’t just making decisions in your ‘ivory tower’."

To me, this one statement sums up the difference between a successful project and one that dies a million deaths. Everybody has great ideas - but seeing your ideas to fruition is truly innovation.

The Photizo Group site is a good one. Although I can not figure out how they came up with that name except maybe after the New Testament Greek Lexicon meaning "to shed light". Their report is very illuminating as mentioned in this post back in April.

Managed Print Services is hot. So hot, I am seeing more and more "competitors" on the street. Unfortunately, most are "posers" - either I.T. integrators "coming down" to the Printer level or copier dealers trying to "move up" to the integrator level. It's all very delicious.

Go check it out.

IKON and Steel Partners - How IKON Will Be Sold

Who is this Steel Partners? And what does it mean to IKON or to anyone in the industry?

Here is a time line of press releases:

Friday, March 4, 2005 -Aggressive fund buys into Ikon Office Solutions stock

A New York investor ... has acquired 5.4 percent of the outstanding stock of Ikon Office Solutions Inc.

Steel Partners II LP, a hedge fund run by Warren Lichtenstein, bought 7.55 million shares of Ikon for about $86.8 million between Nov. 11 and Jan. 13. Steel disclosed the purchase in a form investors must file with the Securities and Exchange Commission when they acquire 5 percent or more of a company's stock.

Steel said in the filing it thinks Ikon's stock is undervalued. It also said it intended to talk to Ikon's management and board of directors about the company's business, operations and future plans...

Matthew Espe, Ikon's chairman and CEO, said he's glad Steel invested in the Malvern, Pa., company, which is the world's largest independent distributor of copiers and printers.

"We understand their philosophy and they understand our strategy and we think it seems to be aligned," he said.

...In 1998, a shareholders group headed by Lichtenstein won control of the board of Aydin Corp., a Horsham, Pa., maker of communications and telemetry systems. Lichtenstein was installed as chairman and the next year the company was sold to L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. for $75.7 million.

In 2002, another shareholders group led by Lichtenstein was elected to the majority of seats on the board of directors of SL Industries Inc., a Mount Laurel, N.J., maker of power and data quality control equipment. The board subsequently installed Lichtenstein ...

...Steel has been investing in bigger companies of late. The Business Week article said Lichtenstein now focuses on firms worth around $2 billion.

Ikon fits into that category. And the company has been making the kind of moves Steel seems to like.

Last year, it (IKON) sold its U.S. office equipment leasing business to General Electric Co. for $1.5 billion and used the proceeds to pay down debt. It also began taking steps to improve its sales effectiveness, gain share in markets where it's under-represented and target product segments with rapid demand growth.

Espe said the recent cost cuts weren't related to the investment by Steel...Instead, he said, they were part of his strategy to clean up Ikon's balance sheet, boost its growth and cut its costs. Espe thinks that strategy, and Ikon's success in implementing it, is what attracted Steel to Ikon.

"They see the upside," he said, "and I like having investors that see the same thing I see."

-July 07-
IKON Office Solutions: Steel Partners II Recommends Recap Via $850M Self Tender Offer