It's more than the paper-handling ability, color management or the prints per minute that make the copier-printer or multifunction machine in modern office systems unique.

"What drives the capability of a piece of equipment is the software, not the equipment itself," said Steve Martin, CEO/President of Minneapolis-based 4Site Systems. This month, 4Site Systems, which uses open-systems software solutions to integrate new digital technologies into existing production environments, is the subject of the Copier Careers newsletter mini-profile. While most office-equipment retailers focus on the machine/supplies route when entering the marketplace, Martin's background and foresight allowed him to connect customer machines using open-systems software solutions.

Today, OEMs increasingly partner with other vendors to develop software solutions that will make the machines perform tasks such as document-management or scan-to-fax. And sometimes OEMs use duplicate solutions. Canon and Ricoh both use MEAP, a Java-based Multifunction Embedded Application Platform for designing customized functions for machines. Canon's software designs depend on about 20 partners for solutions, such as Equitrac, which tracks copies and faxes of multifunction machines and allocates costs.

Imaging environments are increasingly demanding. Scanning has to be brilliantly configured so anyone can easily use the scanning capability of that machine Watchwords for document-management software are time-savings, ease of retrieval and user-friendliness. Sometimes software has other demands dictated by placement, such as security in health care, finance or insurance environments.

4Site Systems bridges solutions across any devices the user owns - and with savings - is a unique imaging niche. The company started in an opposing direction from that of many others, which worked to its advantage. As Wall Street guru Bernard M. Baruch said: "Never follow the crowd."

Footnote: Bill Brewster, vice president of marketing for Konica Minolta, Ramsey, N.J., has been appointed to the board of directors for 2007 to The Electronic Document Systems Foundation 2007 Board of Directors, a non-profit dedicated to the document management and communications marketplace to build industry leaders of tomorrow.

IKON Solutions, an imaging conglomerate headquartered in Valley Forge, Pa., will be selling three Kyocera Mita multifunction products to U.S. and Canadian customers under a strategic agreement announced recently.

IKON will sell the KM-3050i (30 pages per minute), KM-4050i (40 ppm) and the KM-5050i (50 ppm) beginning in February 2007.

IKON has about 25,000 employees in 400 locations through North America and Western Europe and 2006 revenue was $4.2 billion. Kyocera Mita, with world headquarters in Osaka, Japan, has USA headquarters in Fairfield, N.J.

What computer company is selling a multifunction color laser printer that costs about $900 and costs almost half that for the four-color toner to refill it?

It's the Dell Multifunction Color Laser Printer 3115cn (31 ppm mono, 17 ppm color), which is a recent entry into the MFP market.

The MSRP cost is $899, and it costs about $436, minimum, for all four toners for the machine. Here is the list of toner costs from the OEM site:

8,000-Page High Yield Black Toner for Dell 3115cn -$109.99
5000-Page Standard Yield Black Toner for Dell 3115cn -$76.00
4000-Page Standard Yield Magenta Toner for Dell 3115cn - $119.99
4000-Page Standard Yield Yellow Toner for Dell 3115cn - $119.99
4,000-Page Standard Yield Cyan Toner for Dell 3115cn - $119.99
8,000-Page High Yield Cyan Toner for Dell 3115cn -$214.99
8000-Page High Yield Magenta Toner for Dell 3115cn -$214.99
8000-Page High Yield Yellow Toner for Dell 3115cn -$214.99

Here is some other news in the imaging industry:

• Ricoh introduced the Aficio SP C811DN series of color laser MFPs. The retail price is $3,999 and the MFP prints 40 ppm in color and monochrome.
• ComDoc; Green, Ohio; Ricoh's largest independent office-equipment dealer, is now 100 percent employee owned, according to a recent announcement. The company has 12 sales offices.
• The AFICIO MP 3500/MP 4500 Series (35 and 45 ppm) monochrome digital series was recently launched by Ricoh with a price of $8,890 for the Aficio MP 3500 and $11,050 for the Aficio MP 4500.

Want to develop larger numbers of buying customers and increase sales volume? Up-selling and cross-selling involve time and research to bring a wider array of products to a salesperson's existing customers.

Do a little homework to pick cross-sells, which means providing a broader range of products for customers to buy. Up-selling uses a very similar range of techniques. Up-selling is just making sure customers use your services if they wish to upgrade to a higher-grade product.

Salesmanship involves knowing the customer and your product to provide the right product at the right time. Cross-selling and up-selling depend on researching which products your customers have bought before or listening when they tell you of products they might like. Before long, a salesperson will have a list of potential products the customer might buy.

Founded in 2000, 4Site Systems specializes in digital application development, using open-systems software solutions to integrate new digital technologies 4Site sells into existing production environments.

"The software determines the specific types of products that can be output on a specific piece of equipment." said Steve Martin, president and CEO of the Minneapolis-based digital solutions company. "But there are many different types and levels of equipment from both a quality and cost standpoint that can be used to deliver product. This knowledge was needed to establish a base for the development of the bundled software and equipment solutions that we now offer."

In 2002, Martin partnered with Brad Knight, vice president of sales, who has over 20 years experience in the digital equipment sales and service market. "When you put us together, we make one pretty decent digital solutions sales person," Knight said.

4Site works with all sizes and types of companies that utilize digital document distribution software and equipment. The customer base has been traditionally focused in the graphic arts area, but in 2006, 4Site established bundled solutions for the banking industry. 4Site will be launching a new group of products in the medical-practice management arena in 2007.

"By establishing reseller licenses with several independent software and equipment providers, we have created a production platform that allows us to connect any open- systems software solution to almost any model of digital scanner, printer, finishing or mailing equipment solution, regardless of the OEM manufacturer," said Martin.

"Since we work with a lot of independent manufacturers and service providers, we can do all of the same things as the larger digital equipment providers, but the expense is usually 20-30 percent less," added Knight.

4Site Systems chose Copier Careers to find a person to build a service program for a broad range of digital four-color specialty printers, finishing and mailing solutions sold nationally. Martin said they needed to find a candidate who had high-end color service experience, but more importantly, could think and operate independently. Copier Careers provided a candidate who was hired within two days of the initial request.

OfficeMax has signed a three-year agreement with Xerox for rollout of 3,000 Xerox MFP systems and printers to 900 retail stores nationwide.

In an agreement that is becoming more common between OEMs and retail office superstores, Xerox will be the equipment vendor for OfficeMax ImPress, which provides copier and printing services at OfficeMax nationwide. OfficeMax will upgrade all self-serve copiers to the Xerox WorkCentre Pro MFPs by the end of this month.

OfficeMax plans to make it easier for people to create complicated documents at the centers, plus give more services and value. One of the reasons OfficeMax liked the Xerox model was because of a feature allowing independent software vendors or partners to explore customizing programs for the touch-screen display system, called the Xerox Extensible Interface Platform.

Internet searches for machine parts or tech advice enroute to a service call may become a little bit easier in Chicago and Washington, D.C. within the next several years. Those two cities will be the first two metropolitan markets for WiMAX, a wireless broadband service that is planned to develop into nationwide service.

It's expected WiMAX service will be available to 100 million people by 2008, boosted by Sprint Nextel being in league with major cable providers like Time Warner to allow cellular phone service for cable companies through the new network. Sprint plans to invest $3 billion into the network over the next several years.

Motorola will deploy services in the Chicago market, providing at least 1,000 access points. Samsung is contracted for Washington. Nokia has announced that it will also participate in WiMAX.

Craig McCaw, builder of a cellular phone network sold to AT&T in the '80s, is the founder of WiMAX. He also started the Clearwire Corporation, a broadband service launched in 2003 with backing from Motorola and Intel.

Sales Rep - San Jose

Konica trained technician - Atlanta

Service Manager - Louisiana

Field Service Technician - Southeast Boston

Service Technician - Santa Fe

Sales Manager - Oklahoma

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