Today we’re announcing the arrival of our latest color multifunction printers featuring the groundbreaking ConnectKey™ technology.

Now available for purchase in North America, the latest-generation ColorQube® 8700 and 8900 Multifunction Printers are the first letter-size devices to be introduced for workgroup productivity on the desktop, which also feature all the advantages of ConnectKey: unparalleled ease-of-use, industry-leading security, and easily integrated solutions that help mobile professionals work in sync with today’s on-the-go demands.

Plus, the ColorQube 8700 and 8900 also provide every advantage of our unique Solid Ink technology, including low-cost color printing and renowned sustainability advantages.

And there’s great news for those who already own devices from the previous generation of the ColorQube 8700/8900 family. Now you can download a free ConnectKey firmware upgrade. No additional hardware is needed.

Xerox and the ColorQube 8900 will be featured at the Photizo Transform 2013 Managed Print Services conference providing mobile printing for all conference attendees.

Visit the ColorQube 8700 and ColorQube 8900
product pages on Xerox.com to learn more about the many advantages of Solid Ink teamed with ConnectKey, and to download the ConnectKey firmware upgrade if you’re already a ColorQube 8700/8900 owner.

Today on ZDNet.com is an excellent follow-up article to my earlier post regarding telecommuting’s role in today’s workplace.

One of the aspects I mentioned as a commonly accepted benefit of working remotely is the affect it has on society’s collective carbon footprint. As the above-linked article demonstrates, the potential green benefits are impressive, especially when one crunches a few widely accepted bits of data regarding Americans’ fossil fuel consumption.

The following figures, which were taken directly from the ZDNet piece, are, as the author states, conservative estimates.

• Americans spend 36.9 billion hours a year, commuting
• Americans drive 1.9 trillion miles commuting each year
• Americans spend $255 billion just for the gasoline to commute
• Americans consume 60.5 billion gallons of gasoline (the capacity of 1,298 Exxon Valdez tankers, fully loaded) each year to commute
• Americans release 1.16 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide into the air while commuting.

Some of the comments I received in response to my earlier post touched on the environmental benefits of fewer cars driving to and from the office. I completely agree with such commentary, but I admit I didn’t fully comprehend the issue’s magnitude. And while I was a bit taken aback by the individual numbers listed above, I’m more impressed by the extent to which they collectively represent such a huge opportunity for major change.

Obviously there are many workers in lots of industries for whom telecommuting simply isn’t a viable option. But as the numbers show, even a small reduction in the percentage of those who regularly drive to and from the workplace can affect a dramatic downward shift in America’s total carbon footprint.

As always, your comments are encouraged.

Today one of my Xerox colleagues, Catherine Reeves, posted an interesting article on our Business of Work blog regarding “greenwashing” as a growing phenomenon in the world of product marketing.

In a nutshell, the term greenwashing describes a marketing practice that uses misleading and/or unsubstantiated claims about a product’s “environmental friendliness.”

In an era of heightened public awareness of, and prominent headlines about climate change and other environmental issues, it’s easy to understand how consumers could be misled by disingenuous claims, either implicitly or explicitly stated, regarding countless products’ environmental benefits.

Read Catherine’s entire post here: http://businessofwork.blogs.xerox.com/2013/01/greenwashing-let-the-buyer-beware/#.UQFxbB3AeSo

IT departments, big and small, are challenged every day on multiple fronts. They wear a number of different hats from security guard for their network to environmentalist trying to keep their companies’ carbon footprint to a minimum.  All while trying to contain or reduce costs in their department.  IT professionals are similar to the one-man-band I wrote about a few weeks back on multifunction printers.

Recently InfoTrends, a leader in worldwide market research published a whitepaper on the challenges of the IT professional.  In it they refer to information security, cost savings and sustainability as some of the top challenges. These economic times have put a lot of pressure on IT departments to reduce cost without sacrificing productivity. This whitepaper encourages companies looking to meet these demands to consider Xerox Solid Ink multifunction printers (MFPs).

Download the free executive version of the whitepaper and see how Solid Ink meets those challenges head-on with the newest ColorQube 8700 and ColorQube 8900 MFPs.

Check it out and let us know what you think and if there are other concerns that could be addressed by solid ink technology.

Have you noticed that when you make life changes to reduce your impact on the environment, it often takes more work? Whether it’s rinsing glass jars and plastic tubs before recycling, remembering your reusable shopping bags,  hang-drying your clothes, riding your bike rather than driving…it all takes more time and effort!

Thankfully, there are people willing to trade convenience for more environmental behaviors, but we could use more. Out of (perceived) necessity, convenience often rules our busy lives. Are there any ways to simplify AND be greener? When it comes to printing, the answer is YES!

Xerox Solid Ink printers and multifunction printers (MFPs) use cartridge-free ink sticks that are incredibly easy to load. Just insert the uniquely-shaped stick into the correct color slot and you’re done. And you can top off the ink at any time to ensure you don’t run out during a large print job. There are no big, bulky toner cartridges, fusers, or imaging units like you would find in a typical color laser printer. The single replaceable item is a cleaning unit that only needs to be replaced a few times throughout the life of your printer or MFP, and is simple to accomplish with no service call.

Ok, that explains how life gets easier, but what about greener? Well, Xerox Solid Ink printers and MFPs produce 90% less printing waste than comparable laser products due to their cartridge-free design. And their compact packaging means fewer delivery trucks on the road.

Additional ways that ColorQube Solid Ink products reduce environmental impact are that they’re ENERGY STAR qualified, they produce the same vibrant images on recycled paper as on high-quality paper, and the desktop printers and MFPs have a smaller carbon footprint over their entire lifecycle. In addition, all customers who are connected to a solid ink printer or MFP can download GreenPrint software for free, which avoids the printing of unwanted pages.

Back to the easy side of things, the new ColorQube 8700 and ColorQube 8900 boast a large colorful touch-screen user-interface that simplifies their many features, and even provides helpful videos. There’s a built-in “convenience stapler”, as well as a print-from/scan-to USB input right on front of the UI.

Finally, something that is easier and greener.  Oh, and did I mention that you can print color for the price of black-and-white?

Check out Solid Ink for yourself and tell us what you think in the comments below!

Did you know that you have the power at-hand right now to lower your printing impact on the environment? That’s right. There’s no need to wait for IT to install a printer or multifunction printer (MFP) that consumes less energy. No need to wait until five printers are replaced by one networked MFP. No need to wait for anything…Just reduce paper waste!  

According to the European Union ENERGY STAR website, the amount of energy to create one sheet of paper is 50 times the amount of energy it takes for a typical 50 page per minute office copier to print it. 50 times!

Obviously, paper is necessary for printing and a printed page offers many benefits. But there are numerous ways to use less paper without sacrificing those benefits.

• Cut paper use up to half through two-sided printing and copying.

• Pack more on the page: Changing the default margins from 1.25 inches to 1 inch can reduce the amount of paper you use by up to eight percent!

• Eliminate unwanted pages (i.e. with minimal or no content), with software such as GreenPrint, which is available for free to those of you connected to a solid ink printer or MFP.

• Use N-up printing, which fits up to 8 originals on one or both sides of a page (a presentation can fit on 1/16 the number of pages!).

• Click on the Earth Smart Settings button in your Xerox driver and watch the “green printing gas gauge” grow as you set your default printing to two-sided, 2-up, turn off banner pages, etc.

• Hold/release print jobs using PIN codes. You just punch in a code to get your printer or MFP to print, a process that confirms whether you really wanted that document.

• Use the scan to e-mail capabilities of your multifunction printer to reduce the need to print and mail hardcopy documents.

• Use recycled paper, which requires approximately 70 percent the energy to produce as compared to virgin paper. Solid ink printers and MFPs produce the same vibrant print quality on recycled paper as they do on high quality papers!

Hopefully you’re now convinced that reducing paper waste is beneficial to the environment, and it’s really quite easy to print smarter with the tips above. But if you’re still not convinced…then consider the cost savings!

Do you have paper saving tips you use in your office? Share them below in the comments! 

There is talk in the office printing and imaging industry that Xerox’s solid ink technology is not environmentally-friendly because it uses more electricity than comparable laser-based products. So I thought I’d shed a bit of light on the truth behind the energy usage in our solid ink printers and multifunction printers (MFPs). 

Solid ink products come with a power save mode similar to a laser products sleep mode or the hibernate mode built into your computer. Solid ink printers and MFPs typically drop into this mode after your work day. The mode also allows the printers and MFPs to wake up quickly once the day starts in your office and you’re ready to print. Yes, the power save mode does use more energy. But the amount of energy used is more like that of a 40W light bulb; that’s all. This is similar to leaving the porch light or hallway light on at night. It reminds me of the Motel 6 commercial a few years ago when Tom Bodett said, “We’ll leave the light on for you”.   

What some people may not tell you is solid ink printers and multifunction printers use less energy than laser products when they are printing documents. Xerox also invented this great technology called Intelligent Ready and includes this with all solid ink printers and MFPs. The software actually learns your office’s printing habits over a few weeks time and will wake the printer up right before you typically send the first print of the day. It also sends the printer or multifunction printer into power save mode at the end of the day letting you worry about other things in your business besides your technology. 

Do you have more questions about solid ink technology? Ask them here.