This year visitors to GITEX witnessed a range of printers and software solutions, which was evidence of the growing significance of printers and related technology in day to day life. In this post show report, we bring you the activities of companies like HP, Kodak, Epson and OKI at GITEX.
The 32nd GITEX Technology Week saw the convergence of technology at its best. Twelve dedicated platforms explored the potentials of existing and emerging technologies in sectors like SME Zone, International Zone, Hardware, Software, Network & Security, Gulf Comms, Cloud Confex, Consumer Tech, Card Tech, Digital Marketing, Government and Mobile Apps & Content World.
Held at Dubai World Trade Centre, the five day event was officially opened by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council for Dubai Government. Sheikh Hamdan was accompanied by Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, along with several other dignitaries and Helal Saeed Almarri, Chief Executive Officer of event organiser Dubai World Trade Centre.
Answering to the question of ME Printer, Helal Saeed Almarri, CEO of Dubai World Trade Centre commented that GITEX has grown over the years and there is a growing interest for printing solutions. “We listen to the market and we work to bring the latest market trends in to GITEX in order to satisfy the interest of our visitors. The growing interest for printing solutions prompted us to launch a dedicated platform for printing.”
This year over 138,000 ICT professionals from 144 countries and about 3,500 companies from 77 countries took part at the event. First time participants included countries like Algeria, Denmark, Malaysia and New Zealand. The technology extravaganza featured exhibitors like Cisco, Dell, Du, Etisalat, Facebook, Hewlett Packard, SAP and Symantec. New exhibitors included Chinese telecommunications equipment company ZTE, Saudi Telecom company, Sage, Vocalcom and African IT distributors Mitsumi.
Big Data
According to International Data Corporations (IDC’s) 2011 Digital Universe Study, ‘Extracting Value from Chaos’ – the world created 1.8 zettabytes (1.8 trillion gigabytes) of digital information last year. It’s estimated that during the next decade, the amount of information managed by enterprise data centres will grow 50 times in size, and the number of files at data centres will grow 75 times. This year the major agenda at GITEX Cloud Confex was managing the ‘Big Data’. Hewlett Packard, a leading contributor and developer in cloud computing was the diamond sponsor of the event.
A recent study conducted by HP and Coleman Research Group found out that 85% of companies polled are planning to implement some form of cloud infrastructure within the next 12 years. The study reveals that four out of ten respondents confirmed that they will be prepared to move mission critical systems into the cloud in the next two to five years. Eyad Shihabi, Managing Director and Enterprise Business Lead of HP Middle East says that the main drivers for companies to move into cloud are agility and the speeding up of core processes; savings is also a big bonus for companies, with 50% of survey respondents saying that the move to cloud would save them 21% to 40% from IT OPEX.
Printing Convex @ GITEX
At GITEX 2012, HP showcased anti-counterfeit product innovations and new technologies in its printing and workflow solutions. The company hosted a press conference during the GITEX Technology week to explain their advancements in this field.
“HP has a strong history of delivering reliable and innovative products that don’t compromise on quality or cost,” said Salim Ziade, General Manager, HP PPS Middle East. “Whether it’s providing best-in-class printing functionalities to support businesses or developing new technologies to protect our customers from counterfeit supplies, our focus is always to give customers the quality and reliability they can count on.”
Meanwhile, HP announced that its collaboration with the UAE law enforcement has again resulted in an important seizure of counterfeit printing supplies that were destined for HP printers. Later in the meeting, officials from the Dubai Police, Microsoft and HP discussed the challenges posed by counterfeit goods and piracy to the U.A.E and Middle East region.
The participants affirmed that education and increased vigilance, as well as evolving technologies including HP Mobile Authentication and Software Authentication will help protect consumers and businesses against fake merchandise.
HP’s Mobile Authentication technology enables customers to verify the authenticity of their cartridge prior to purchase through the validation of coded security labels on both inkjet and Laser Jet cartridges. Subsequently, customers can also validate cartridge authenticity by using the HP Software Authentication solution installed in HP printers.
New Launch
HP highlighted new workflow solutions for businesses at GITEX, and introduced two new LaserJet printers that facilitate mobility and workflow. The HP LaserJet Professional colour MFP M267 is an easy to use printer with quick set-up and touch screen capabilities, which gives businesses professional quality they can rely on. While the HP LaserJet Professional Colour M251- ePrint is designed to provide a selection of business apps, and improved speed, which gives increased productivity for customers. The printers are just two in a series of 20 new printing and multifunction printing (MFP) devices that was introduced by HP in the last 12 months.
ME Printer, while attending the press conference talked with Glen Jones, Investigations and Enforcement Operations Manager, for HP’s global Anti-Counterfeit Program, and also with Robert Dinkelacker, HP’s Printing and Personal Systems Group Product Marketing Manager for EMEA region.
Talking about counterfeiting and its imminent challenges, Glen Jones commented, “Counterfeiting has undergone a lot of changes. Earlier finished products were shipped from other countries. Now we are seeing different components being shipped, which are later assembled. Middle East, being a key transport hub, is the most preferred route by counterfeiters.”
He added, “Often people buy counterfeit products unknowingly. Counterfeiters copy packages, boxes etc and often mislead customers into thinking that they are getting a genuine product.”
Glen noted that HP works with genuine channel partners and networks and always ensure that the products they sell are genuine. “Fake products are often distributed through criminal networks and the criminal market. Counterfeiting is present worldwide. Where there is demand for a product there is a market for counterfeit too.”
Commenting about the successive introduction of HP products into the market, Robert Dinkelacker said, “We are basically refreshing our portfolio by launching these print innovations into the market. This is done keeping in mind the requirements of our customers. Competition is also a factor, which inspires us to launch products in a row.”
Robert opined that software solutions are gaining importance as customers now require hassle free and easy to operate devices. “Software solutions will drive the future and we are now working on methods to store and access data by reducing the usage of paper.” Pointing out an example, he said, “Today in the market, you don’t have any device that combines a high end scanner with a high end printing device. It all depends on where you would like to position your products. To be successful one needs to come up with different hardware solutions.”
In recent years, HP has identified itself in the cloud space. Talking about the developments in this sector, Robert said, “Only few vendors in the world offer secure cloud systems as offered by HP. We use high security standards, and our servers are completely secure. We are also able to offer private servers to customers by using it behind firewalls.”
Robert added, “HP is today the biggest printer manufacturer in the world. We sell 7 million units a year just in the EAMER region. We define the details on printers to address different kinds of requirements and MPS is just one of it. Our professional print line up is not defined to suit the MPS space; rather it is defined for small and micro businesses.”
Commenting about the trends in print, Robert said, “An advantage of HP is that we play in every area. If the digital part of it is somewhat slowing down, we compensate it with our newer innovations. While other companies focus on only one specific space. What we see now is that more and more customers are now opting for multi function printers for their internal affairs and other marketing collaterals. Today, the number one area in HP’s printing business is office printing,” he concluded.
New Strategies For Kodak
After a series of makeovers and adaptations, Kodak was at GITEX exhibiting their solutions in document imaging. Martin Birch, Regional Director, Document Imaging EAMER region talked with ME Printer about their future plans. “Kodak has transformed a lot during the last 10 years. As technology changed, we also moved along with the trends. Today we have devised strategic directions for the company and commercial printers is our current focus.”
Explaining about their participation at GITEX, he said, “At GITEX we are showing document imaging solutions, which mainly includes scanners. We are the number one in scanning business today. Our target for this show is to create awareness and to show that we are committed to the Middle East market.”
He added, “We launched some unique products this GITEX. One among them is the Kodak Capture Pro Software v4.1 software, which now adds optical character recognition (OCR) for Arabic. They actually analyze the paper that’s coming through the scanner and is able to read Arabic words on the document and later classify them. For the first time in Arabic market, we have a unique differentiator that makes life easier for a customer. The device can scan 1000’s of pages per minute and will soon be available in the market.”
He added, “The OCR device has high quality, high speed and can scan a wide variety of documents. You can scan anything from thick paper to cardboards and they all feed at the same engine speed. We are confident that the solutions from Kodak will help customers to use information better.”
Commenting on the changes in the organization structure of the company, Martin Birch said, “Though we are getting leaner, we are actually investing more on the customer end. Middle East is a prospering market for us and we are currently focusing on areas where customers are.”
Epson Launches Printers, Scanners and Projectors
Participating for the past 15 years, Epson exhibited a range of business solutions including printers, scanners and projectors at GITEX 2012. They displayed their range of Retail & Hospitality, Label & Ticketing and Banking & Finance technology solutions. Epson displayed printers including the WorkForce Pro printers, with 50 per cent lower running costs compared to competitive laser printers and two new large format printers from a new range of SureColor graphics printers aimed at the CAD, GIS and Signage markets. Other key product lines include lasers, scanners, and a wide range of projectors for education and business.
Epson also launched a new range of A3 and A4 document scanners, which come in network-ready models and have been designed to improve efficiency and integrate seamlessly into document management and cloud systems. At the stand, Epson demonstrated the WorkForce DS-6500 and WorkForce DS-70000 flatbed scanners with scan speeds of up to 70 pages per minute.
Smart Printing by OKI
Smart printing was OKI’s concept at GITEX this year. Reji Mathews, Marketing Manager at OKI Printing Solutions Middle East talked with ME Printer about their smart printing initiatives. “A lot of new technologies and products were showcased this year. Last year, we had a very small space at GITEX and this year it is almost 3 times the space, which shows OKI’s growing confidence on GITEX.” He added, “This year we have exhibited high end machines that can do copying, printing, scanning and faxing in A3 and A4 formats, both in colour and monochrome. Another specialized product was a white toner, which is very useful to print on materials with dark background. It can be used for heat transfer solutions on dark t-shirts, or even to print on a dark paper. We launched this at GITEX and it has been very well received by people.”
Commenting about their ‘Stop Printing’ campaign, Reji said, “We advocate smart printing, which helps customers to print effectively and efficiently and with lesser footprints. All the printers that are exhibited here can do duplex printing, which means that it can reduce paper usage by half. All these features in the printers provide a greener outlook for the business.”
Reji Mathews said that during GITEX their stand was most visited by customers from Emirates, Saudi and other regional countries including Qatar and Egypt. Talking about their future plans, he said, “OKI had done a massive product launch in Barcelona during last May, where we launched 30 new products. Our goal is to double the business within the next 3 years. As far as exhibitions are concerned, we will be participating in Gulf Print & Pack and are planning to participate in Sign & Graphics and other shows in the region.”
