Anyone wanting to take a glimpse of the direction Sharp document technology is moving should study the applications of vendors integrated with the company, with headquarters in the USA in Mahwah, N.J., that include Google and Yahoo! Sharp shared its MFP booth with eight vendors at the AIIM conference in Boston recently.

Sharp technology can turn an MFP into a two-way kiosk-like gateway, according to Jim McCarter, president of Docuteam, Alpharetta, Ga., whose company is featured in the Copier Careers mini-profile this month. Docuteam is the development partner and exclusive USA distributor for Sharp Drivve software that works with all MFPs made. Not only does Drivve interact seamlessly with databases, but it has can interact with more unusual applications such as bar-code recognition.

Sharp OSA technology is available now on many Sharp MFPs. Sharp's OSA is networked-based, allowing businesses to connect their MFPs with a wide range of applications. This includes print-management and document-management applications and customizable for programs developed internally. An example Sharp gives is an application can scan invoices on an MFP then instantly transfer the invoice into accounting software without the operator intervening through the desktop.

At AIIM, Sharp showed integration of Sharp OSA-enabled MFPs with the Google Search Appliance for search solutions that could, from the MFP, locate information that was anywhere on the network - including intranets, document and content management systems, file servers, corporate desktops and business applications.

For Yahoo!, the Sharp OSS was demonstrating MFP-based promotion opportunities made possible by the integration of Sharp OSA with web services APIs from the Yahoo! Developer Network, including Yahoo! Local, Mail, Search, Weather, and Flickr Web Services with APIs from Yahoo!, data and content from one application and merge them with content from another to enable custom applications. Also, an application created with Sharp OSA technology allows users to print Yahoo!-supplied local information from stores, restaurants or shops, along with complete with maps and ratings, from the MFP touch screen.

Footnote: Sharp ships high-volume, monochrome, multifunction copier line. The new multifunction machines have print and copier speeds ranging from 85 to 110 PPM, support the Sharp OSA development platform, and its security suite. Speeds are: MX-M850, 85 ppm; MX-M950, 95 ppm and MX-M110, 110 ppm. No manufacturer suggested list prices have been listed or publicized.

New this month - read the first of three 2007 Copier Careers Salary Surveys about the copier industry. Here are the links and the time schedule:

Copier Careers Technician Salary Survey Web site (Published in April):
http://www.copiercareers.com/salary_survey/cc07_salary_survey_tech_f.pdf

Copier Careers Sales Managers' Salary Survey Web site (Published this month):
http://www.copiercareers.com/salary_survey/salary_survey_salesmgr_cc_f.pdf

Copier Careers Service Managers' Salary Survey Web site (Published in June):
http://www.copiercareers.com/salary_survey/cc_salary_survey_svcmgt_f.pdf

Please visit the following link to participate in the next 2008 Copier Careers survey:
http://www.copiercareers.com/salary_survey/salarysurveys_form.shtml

Total imaging solutions come and go, but Kyocera Mita America, headquartered in Fairfield, N.J., is putting its crosshairs on the printing market. A number of advertisements show how the total cost of ownership of its products compete with HP and Lexmark, which are primarily printer vendors.

Kyocera Mita demonstrates that end-user savings amount to $9,500-11,000 over a three-year period over HP and Lexmark machines in the business printer market.

The campaign emphasizes the technical advantages of cartridge-free printers and extra-life consumables in Kyocera's printer and MFP line, plus advancements in color imaging technology.

- Xerox has first-quarter earnings of 24 cents per share and revenue of $3.8 billion grew 4 percent. Which is more responsible? CEO Anne Mulcahy paring employees and restructuring debt or its campaign to listen more closely to consumer-based focus groups for product design?

- Speaking of the imaging giant Xerox, the acquisition of Global Imaging, Tampa, Fla., which headlined the April newsletter, is proceeding with an offer of $29 per share.

- Konica Minolta, a/k/a Minolta Business Solutions, announced the availability of the new IC-304 Print Controller for the 65 ppm Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6500 digital printing system. The controller includes features to take advantage of the Konica Minolta Simitri HD color polymerized toner.

- Canon USA has been working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the New York Yankees to raise awareness of the issues surrounding location of missing children. On May 7, Canon, with USA headquarters in Lake Success, N.Y., gave a $756,928 the company raised on behalf of NCMEC.

Part of the 2007 Copier Careers Sales Manager Salary Survey, new this month, looks at how sales managers in the copier industry feel about their salary. The salaries are decent, but most think they could be making more.

Everyone thinks they're worth a little more money. The question has always been whether it's a good idea to make a move exclusively because of money. The answer has always been: Probably not (OK, sometimes it's necessary to continue to survive).

While satisfaction with money varies with the individual, happiness has been studied, analyzed and dissected. Here are some things we do know about happy people, even though everyone will find some exceptions:

- Simple things can be mood-boosters for happy people, like a morning coffee.
- Happy people are very sociable and may regularly have social events such as grilling burgers for friends in the back yard.
- Happy people also recognize the value of a sunrise, sunset or ocean seen alone.
- Married people are, in general, happier than singles.
- Keeping a journal helps happy people see life in more concrete terms.
- Pets make people happier, lower stress levels and blood pressure.
- Happy people have creative, skillful pursuits that take energy, skill or concentration.

Note: To see the 2007 Copier Careers Sales Manager Salary Survey, click here

Docuteam, an Alpharetta, Georgia-based company was swept into an imaging-industry metamorphosis a few years ago, said Jim McCarter, president. It moved the 10-year-old company into the local, regional and national-based networked document industry on a grand scale.

Serving Georgia and northern Florida, Docuteam's four locations work to enable the most from client networked devices through technology, IT and software support. For example, a program in conjunction with Sharp called Drivve offers the ability to "customize a multifunctional device and kind of make it a kiosk where you can communicate both ways," McCarter said. "We also have document management where you can store and retrieve documents electronically and that can be either on-site or off-site."

Print management includes moving devices toward drum-based technology instead of ink jet cartridges "We have the devices that have drums like the multifunctional devices," McCarter said, "and they're much less expensive."

Each customer contract comes with a clause allowing cancellation for non-performance. "We have a partnership program where customers can upgrade and downgrade their machine any time during the contract - without penalty, and they can cancel for non-performance," McCarter said.

The company co-founded by McCarter and Ed Greco, vice president of sales, in 1997, has 155 employees and about $35 million annual revenue, McCarter said.

"We have Docuteam's National Account Program, DNAP," McCarter said, "and we service and manage fleets of machines, whether it's in this vicinity, the county, the state, the U.S. or other parts of the world. Dispatch all comes through here and we manage all those machines from Atlanta."

In April, the U.S. Department of Labor reported an increase of 88,000 jobs. More high-tech jobs are available, but often such jobs go unfilled.

A report by the American Electronics Association (AeA) shows high-tech jobs increased in 2006 for the third year in a row. The jobs were up by 3 percent, or 146,600 jobs. High-tech jobs amount to about 5.8 million of the 138 million non-farm jobs that are reported by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Wages for high-tech jobs are generally 50-90 percent over other wages, according to the AeA's report, which brings its own recruiting limitations for smaller companies.

In the IT professions, it's also been found many people don't want to switch jobs. That comes at a time when many companies have indicated they will be adding IT staff this year, which will put further pressure upward on salaries.

Other factors weigh in to desirability of candidates. IT workers with credentials who also possess "good people skills" are always in demand.

Some day you may be able to ask your printer to make prints a deeper blue and it will respond to the voice command.

The Xerox Innovation Group is working on a prototype that will make bluer blues and lighter pinks in response to voice or typed command.

The discovery by Geoffrey Wolfe, principal scientist in the Xerox Innovation Group, means printers or even commercial presses could respond to voice or typed commands. Most color code is a series of mathematical coordinates in three dimensions. The devices will translate human voice or type into numerical codes the machine uses to print documents.

Other applications abound, such as voice commands for a computer to "punch up the red" in a bouquet of roses. The user could also make specific requests, like purple to print out only as mauve, in certain printed documents.

Field Technician - CO

Sales Representative - CT

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Technician - CO

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