Trend

Wireless goes the MFD

Superior scanning and wireless printing will be an integral part of high-end MFDs, says Shivani Shinde

Multifunctional devices (MFDs) have made inroads into the market that was dominated by traditional standalone devices ever since they first hit the shelves back in 1999. These devices have been successful in both the SMB and enterprise segments.

IDC says that Indian MFDs based on inkjet technology are expected to grow at a CAGR of around 82 percent from 2004 to 2006. Laser MFDs are estimated to grow at a CAGR of around 40 percent during the same period. In terms of value, laser MFDs corner a bigger share of the pie with the ratio being 60:40 of a nearly Rs 450 crore market in 2005.

Some of the prominent players in this field are Brother, Canon, HP, Lexmark, Toshiba and Xerox. MFDs have evolved to provide value-added features such as universal send, scan to pdf, and remote delivery.

Depending on features, an MFD’s price can range from Rs 55,000 to Rs 25 lakh. High-end MFDs start from 35 pages per minute (ppm) to 105 ppm, with some players providing features such as mailboxes (each product ships with about 100 mailboxes) that can be used to store scanned and printed data. Functions such as document storage, and integrating scanned and printed data with other documents are on offer.

Says Jimmy Lim, Country Manager, Toshiba Singapore, “Having one vendor for all functions and having to manage fewer devices with better TCO works in favour of MFDs.”

With more enterprises going in for MFDs, security on these devices becomes important. Explains Som Gangopadhyay, Senior Marketing Manager, Office Systems and Solutions (Volume), Canon India, “Security is always a concern, and we have provided mailbox security through passwords. Users can designate passwords for accessing their individual mailboxes on the device.”

Another feature that vendors are building is workplace collaboration that allows virtual teams at onsite and offsite locations to use a common virtual docking place for posting project status, etc. Taking into consideration the needs of mobile users, companies are including remote access that allows instant delivery of a scanned document.

Feature driven

Today the spotlight is on features. The colour MFD category is picking up. Says Sameer Shah, Country Category Manager, Shared Printing and Connectivity, Imaging and Printing Group, HP India, “Earlier, colour printing was 20 times more expensive when compared with black and white MFDs. Now it is affordable, and the ratio is just 4:1.”

“MFDs cost much more than standalone devices because of the features that they provide,” points out Kuldeep Malhotra, General Manager, Volume Products, Xerox India.

Most MFDs have features such as print, copy, scan and fax. Many are already adding features to the existing versions. P G Kamat, General Manager, Lexmark says, “Lexmark MFDs let you add only the features that you want to.”

With the MFD as the primary communications hub, a trend emerging is that of Java-based solutions which extend network capabilities into the wireless frontier.

Swiss army knife

The next thing to watch out for in high-end MFDs are features such as digicam card slots, rechargeable MFDs, photo colour reproduction and superior scanning facilities in the inkjet segment. Also, attributes like wireless printing will fuel the growth of these devices.

Gangopadhyay says, “Until recently, high quality colour documents for our business requirements were outsourced to the graphics industry, namely printers, designers, desktop publishers and advertising agencies. Today, there’s value in having the ability to produce colour documents onsite and on demand.”

Concurs Tushad Talati, Head, Brand and Communication, Epson India, “Our photo MFDs are used as a one-stop device for all photo-related solutions.”

Elaborating on wireless technology in the MFD segment, Lim says, “MFDs will have the option of being integrated into wireless LAN systems to create an office environment without the hassle of cables. In future, customers will prefer MFDs which are compatible with both wireless and convention LANs.”

shivani@expresscomputeronline.com