With the paperless office a never-never dream, the key for companies wanting to maximise the impact of their hardcopy output while minimising its cost, is to choose a printer output solution that best suits its needs.
A visit to Computer Faire 2003 will provide an unprecedented insight into the many solutions available - from standalone, budget inkjet offerings to top-of-the-range multipurpose machines that do everything to do with getting images on paper.
The `big four` printer vendors - Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark - will dominate the Printer Village, a first-time innovation at Computer Faire. But visitors looking for printer solutions should not stop there.
They should also visit:
Aisel Systems (Hall 2 / F9) which specialises in the supply of printing, plotting viewing and file format conversion solutions to the engineering, GIS, mining, graphics and related industries. Aisel Systems not only offers consultancy, training, installation and support in the solutions, it also assists in the implementation of the most suitable technology that supports a specific business requirement for the collection, manipulation, storage, conversion and output of images and/or documents.
Fargo Electronics (Ballroom A1) supplies technologies for desktop card personalisation systems and is the only manufacturer to offer three distinct technologies in printing systems. These include High Definition Printing (reverse image), traditional direct-to-card printing (dye-sublimation), and CardJet Printing technology (inkjet).
Fargo`s colour and monochrome card printers have the ability to print on a wide variety of card thickness and sizes, offering high-resolution, edge-to-edge printing for unlimited design possibilities. Optional magnetic stripe encoding and an optional smartcard contact station, as well as secure lamination on certain printers, is offered.
Frontier Electronics (Hall 1 / E1-4) is an importer, distributor and wholesaler of a large variety of computer related items, has added photo printers to its range of products which will be displayed at Computer Faire.
Graficomp (Hall 2 / B31-32), a Hewlett Packard ASP (Authorised Service Provider), is recognised by Hewlett Packard SA as the largest reseller of HP large format printers and plotters in southern Africa. Graficomp is the sole distributor of Onyx RIP software and Staedtler ink refill systems for the HP 1050 and HP 5000 / 5500 models. The company`s consumables division is the largest supplier of HP large format printer consumables and has a dedicated team with extensive knowledge of media for the CAD and graphics markets.
Harmonic Computer Services (Hall 1 / A39) will display a cost-effective POS (point of sale) printer. New to the SA market, the Orient BTP-2002CP thermal POS printer is a high performance 6-inch per second units that features several connectivity options including USB. It offers easy paper loading and a built-in paper cutter that can handle over a million cuts. Ideal for retail, hospitality, ticketing and receipts applications, the BTP-2002CP is said to retail at 20 to 30% less than comparable devices.
Minolta (Hall 1 CD 9-16) is the sole importer and principle distributor of Minolta digital office automation solutions. The range includes monochrome and colour digital copiers/printers, the Minolta-QMS suite of monochrome and colour laser printers, and a range of faxes and fax servers.
Minolta SA will exhibit its range of digital copiers, including the Di850 and Di470, both of which are on show for the first time in South Africa. The Di183f multi-functional copier and Di251f multi-functional copier with fax will complement these.
Minolta will also showcase its latest colour copier/printers. The CF3102 and CF2002 will be on show for the first time, while the CF9001 colour copier/printer, originally introduced at Computer Faire last year, will also be featured.
In the fax department, Minolta will have a number of units on display such as RightFax, Unifax and Unimessage Pro, in addition to the MF1600e laser fax machine and MF2800 dual line fax machine.
The Minolta-QMS laser printer range on display will comprise two new products: the PagePro 1250e and the Magicolor 2300DL, possibly the smallest and most affordable colour laser printer to date.
Minolta will also present Pagescope, a network printer management utility; Crown III, a high performance controller technology; Velocity, a workflow software enabling up to 12 printers to appear as a single virtual printer group; ZonerDraw 4 Plus, an advanced graphic software programme; and Equitrac, which has been designed to track document cost and charge allocation accuracy.
MRID Card Technologies (Hall 1 / A37) is a leader in the card technology field. The company will be exhibiting its new Datacard SP35 card printer, a range of card consumables and new ID Works card-producing software. The Datacard SP35 digital card printer is being introduced to the local market for the first time.
Taltronics (Hall 2 / D6-8) is one of South Africa`s most prominent players in the `power electronics` market. Its Talimage division has exclusive rights to market and distribute Fuji`s full range of photo-conductor drums. It also supplies a full range of imaging products including copier spare parts and laser spare parts.
Xerox (Hall 2 / E9-12) will showcase its fastest workgroup colour printer, the Phaser 7300, which leverages single pass technology that transfers a full-colour image to paper in one pass instead of the four colours required by most traditional workgroup colour printers.
Xerox will also demonstrate its DigiPath production software - available in four versions - which the company says streamlines the production printing workflow and makes any business more productive. DigiPath`s scanning, digital printing and publishing technology is increasingly sought after to replace short-run black/white and colour offset printing.
Also on show will be Xerox`s recently introduced DocuShare 3.0 architecture, the company`s next generation Web-based document and content management software that expands the way people share information and collaborate in the office. DocuShare incorporates features that meet the needs of both small businesses and global enterprises.
Xerox Engineering Systems (XES) recently raised the performance bar on wide-format colour printing in the graphic arts industry in South Africa with the introduction of the new 36-inch ColorgrafX X2, a six-colour inkjet for high-end corporate use. The product will be one of the leading colour products on show at Computer Faire 2003.
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Computer Faire, South Africa`s most comprehensive information technology business exhibition, is organised annually in Johannesburg by Exhibitions for Africa. This year`s event takes place from 13 -16 May.
Computer Faire is an Associate Member of the Black IT Forum (BITF); a founding member of the Cape Information Technology Initiative (CITI); and a member of the US-based Centre for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR).
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