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Lexmark Bids For Top Laser Printer Spot

Optra N aims to topple kingpin HP
By David Needle
Issue date: March 25, 1996

The speed battle is on in the printer market. Lexmark International Inc. will introduce in May Optra N, a high-end 24-page-per-minute laser printer. Optra N will go head-to-head against Hewlett-Packard's 24-ppm 5Si models, which were introduced last fall.

While both companies tout 24-ppm speed, users and analysts say the actual speed of a printer is determined by a variety of f actors, including page content, use of graphics, and page-processing techniques. Lexmark, in Lexington, Ky., claims an edge because Optra N sports an implementation of the Intel i960 RISC chip, which it claims gives Optra N a 40% to 70% performance boost over HP's 5Si MX Postscript printer. Lexmark says Optra N will be priced below the 5Si MX, which lists for $4,899.

If the performance claims are true, users will be interested. "That has me salivating," says Bob Miller, IS manager for flight controls manufacturer Parker Hannafin Corp. in Irvine, Calif., which already uses Lexmark printers. "I always want the fastest print speed and Lexmark beats HP."

Besides being fast, Optra N includes Lexmark's new Image Enhancement Technology, which offers 256 shades of gray in either PostScript Level 2 or enhanced PCL 5 emulation for sharper monochrome printing.

HP is still in the driver's seat when it comes to laser printing, a business it created when it introduced the HP LaserJet in 1984. HP held more than 50% of the U.S. market for laser printer sales in 1995, according to Dataquest Inc., a market research firm in San Jose, Calif. "Lexmark has to keep coming to market with good products to compete," says Bob Fennell, an analyst at Dataquest. Lexmark is back in the pack with Apple, QMS, Panasonic, and others, fighting for double-digit share.

But Lexmark has other advantages, according to Parker Hannafin's Miller: "HP is great if you have an Ethernet network. But we have Macs, Unix, NT, Banyan, and NetWare all running on token-ring networks. Lexmark offers the best token-ring support."

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