http://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2011-04-14T11:33:53ZThe free app allows the Apple smartphone to use the HP ePrint remote printing feature, matching the functionality of an existing BlackBerry app.http://www.informationweek.com/news/229401621?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbHP <a href="http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/article_detail.html?compURI=tcm:245-918921&amp;pageTitle=HP%20Offers%20HP%20ePrint%20Service%20App%20for%20iPhone">has announced </a> an iPhone app that lets iPhone users print remotely to HP printers that have the ePrint facility. Printers with the ePrint facility have a direct Internet connection and their own email address. If you send email to them they will print out the body of the message and the contents of any attached files as long as those files are in common office formats. <P> There was already a BlackBerry app that reportedly did much the same thing. <P> <a href="http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/us/en/ipg/hp-eprint3.html">ePrint machines </a> intended for public use are now found in many FedEx Office stores, many Hilton hotels, some Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges, and some print locations powered by PrinterOn. <P> The <a href="http://www.fedex.com/us/office/printandgo/?lid=printandgo_fxmegamenu_printandgo">FedEx Office </a> site does not mention the new iPhone app, but does mention the BlackBerry app. Its instructions for the BlackBerry likely parallel the iPhone app's, and tell you to download the app, select email with the attachment you want printed, select Print from the menu options, search for your preferred FedEx Office location, then select Print again to submit the job. You will get a confirmation email with a retrieval code. You go to the appropriate machine in the self-help section of the FedEx Office store and input your retrieval code. You can preview it before setting print options, and then you can print it. The cost varies by store, so you might want to check at the counter before proceeding. <P> Most PrinterOn locations are in hotels that cater to business travelers and have business centers. Typically, you enter a retrieval code, and then use it to print your document when you get there. Costs are set by the hotel but the PrinterOn service at many of the hotels whose listings I reviewed was complimentary. <P> Private owners of ePrint machines can set the machines to receive only from a whitelist. However, I've left mine open to the world for months, and no spam (or business documents from road warriors) has shown up yet.2011-04-05T11:51:56ZThe Google Cloud printing function previously had no printers that directly supported it. Eprint fills that void but has its own problems.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229400952?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbThe Google Cloud printing function previously had no printers that directly supported it. Eprint fills that void but has its own problems.<a href="http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/article_detail.html?compURI=tcm:245-915484&pageTitle=HP&#37;20ePrint-enabled&#37;20Printers&#37;20First&#37;20to&#37;20Support&#37;20Google&#37;20Cloud&#37;20Print">HP has announced</a> that its ePrint printers will henceforth support the Google Cloud Print function, which connects Google Cloud apps to printers. Previously this was done through software on computer-connected printers, in the absence of cloud-aware printers. <P> However, HP ePrint machines can connect directly to the Internet and have their own e-mail addresses that let them accept print jobs from anywhere on the net (as long as the incoming files are in common formats.) With the new arrangement, users of Google Cloud apps can register their ePrint machines with the app and use it any place where they have cloud access, as explained <a href="http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/hp-eprint-google-cloud-print/">here</a>. Basically, ePrint machines effectively become cloud-aware. <P> One little detail makes it sound less interesting: as explained at length <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2011/02/hp_eprint_troub.html">here</a>, I can't get ePrint to work from my desk, and I am apparently not alone. Using separate incoming and outgoing mail servers defeats ePrint, for some reason. Diverting mail that way is apparently not uncommon among mobile workers, who are the very people ePrint is aimed at. There appears to be no mystery about the source of the problem. But it persists, and I could not get through again this morning. <P> But those whose ePrint devices do work can now get additional functionality from Google Cloud.2011-03-29T10:32:19ZThe vendor announced several green initiatives at a recent conference in San Francisco, some of which are aimed at SMBs.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229400986?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbThe vendor announced several green initiatives at a recent conference in San Francisco, some of which are aimed at SMBs.In connection with its recent "<a href="http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/environment/commitment/unlockingenergy/index.html">Unlocking Your Energy</a>" event in San Francisco, HP <a href="http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110328xa.html">announced </a>several green initiatives, especially <a href="http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/environment/commitment/unlockingenergy/tipsandtools.html">this site</a> with green tips and tools. <P> Of interest to SMBs is the <a href="http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/education/green_procurement_guide.pdf">Green Procurement Guide</a>, which turns out to be more than an HP ad, as it covers various compliance programs and the meanings of various eco-acronyms. There is also a <a href="http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/us/en/solutions/hp-carbon-footprint-calculator.html?jumpid=ex_r2548_go/carbonfootprint">carbon footprint calculator</a> for HP printers, computers, monitors, and point-of-sale systems. (Actually, it estimates the power consumption of given HP systems, and then expresses that consumption in terms of CO2 emissions.) <P> The <a href="http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2009/domorewithless/HP_Green_Action_Plan_for_Office_Printing.pdf">Green Action Plan for Office Printing</a> covers how to go green and save money, mostly by getting organized and tracking usage data. Among other things, it suggests that you get rid of desktop printers that you don't need, get rid of printers that are more than five years old, unplug printers over the weekend, print on both sides of the paper, and make sure everyone understands your recycling program. <P> There are also several tools for up-market IT managers, such as power monitoring software and a data center cooling guide. There's also material pushing for the adoption of thin clients over PCs, and videoconferencing over travel. The green impact of both is surely obvious (and that fact that not everyone is in a position to use these alternatives should also be obvious) but you can't blame them for being thorough.2011-03-28T18:30:30ZIn the short term, yes, but in the long term things will probably sort themselves out, predicts economist's blog.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229400983?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbIn the short term, yes, but in the long term things will probably sort themselves out, predicts economist's blog.Amidst all the other bad news out of Japan after the recent earthquake and tsunami, now it appears that toner may get scarce, at least for a while. A <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/ericsavitz/2011/03/28/laser-printer-makers-seeing-parts-toner-shortages-due-to-quake/?partner=yahootix">Forbes blog</a> notes that Barclays Capital is predicting that Canon and Fujitsu Xerox may soon face shortages of toner material due to the disaster. Meanwhile, Canon makes the HP laser printer engines, and Xerox's engines come from Fujitsu Xerox. <P> Since they need toner to ship new engines, production of printers may have to ramp down in the next quarter, regardless of where the other components come from, or are assembled, the blog warned. <P> Beyond that time frame, though, things should sort themselves out, as other sources are found, the blog indicated. And, there's inventory in the channel that could take up the slack. <P> Would that this was the worst news to come out of the disaster.2011-03-24T19:04:20ZA recent briefing with a Sharp executive shows what developments we can expect in the high-end market, some of which may trickle down to the desktop market.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229400974?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbA recent briefing with a Sharp executive shows what developments we can expect in the high-end market, some of which may trickle down to the desktop market.We <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2011/03/sharp_shows_sma.html">recently mentioned</a> the new <a href="http://www.sharpusa.com/AboutSharp/NewsAndEvents/PressReleases/2011/March/2011_03_15_Workgroup_MFPs.aspx">Sharp A3 workgroup color laser printers</a> with a color touch-screen interface reminiscent of a smartphone. With prices starting above &#36;10,000, these units don't quite cook breakfast for you, but they will staple, fold, and saddle-stitch your output with a resolution of 1200 by 1200 dpi, all but putting you in the publishing business. <P> "If you are making 6,000 to 8,000 pages a month, you need this device," said Shane Coffey, director of product management for document systems products for Sharp, in Mahwah, NJ. "If you are doing 1,000 pages a month, this is not the machine for you." <P> Such machines are often seen in the offices of doctors, dentists, lawyers, and accounts, shared by workgroups of eight to ten, he added. They are typically leased for several years, making their purchase price less of a shock. The refill toner is priced by the dealer as part of the lease, and usually amounts to less than a penny per page for monochrome and less than 5 cents for color, Coffee said. (Refills for entry-level desktop units are typically three or four times that.) <P> Their large touch screens (10.1 inches, measured diagonally) will display pop-up menus that walk you through procedures, and let you edit scanned material in terms of removing unwanted marks and material, and rotating it by right angles, he said. If you scan from a book and there is a shadow where the mid-line gutter was, you can remove that, he noted. It can proof material to the extent of showing you where the staples are going to be when the machine binds it, he added. <P> Each user can have their own interface with their own selected icons and customizable function names, with 24 languages available. All aspects of the screen can be customized, and there is a software development kit for integrators, to integrate the machine into a custom application, he said. <P> One of the units has a Web browser which Coffey said was similar to that on a smartphone, meaning it can navigate to certain pages and display them, and display PDFs, but can't do animations. <P> And then there are new security features, which Coffey indicated were added in response to hackers boasting of retrieving personal information from the hard drives of MFPs. A standard feature on these machines is 256-bit AES encryption, and the ability to optionally overwrite your data one to seven times when you're through. There is also an end-of-lease mode, where all personal data and settings are erased and the machine restored to a like-new condition. (I trust no one does that accidentally.) <P> How long before all this reaches the desktop? Coffee did not have a clue, but the relentless trend is for electronics to get more powerful. It's inevitable, in other words-except for the stapling, folding, and saddle-stitching. We probably won't see that on the desktop. <P> (A3 printers, incidentally, refer to machines that can handle double-letter sizes, of 11x17 inches. A3 machines are actually bigger than A4 machines, which can handle regular letter or legal paper. A3 also refers to a standard European paper size equivalent to letter size. Coffey acknowledged that the nomenclature situation is a little ridiculous.)2011-03-21T15:01:11ZHP promised to cut the energy use of its products 40 percent by the end of this year, and now says that it has already succeeded.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229400965?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbHP promised to cut the energy use of its products 40 percent by the end of this year, and now says that it has already succeeded.The goal was to cut energy consumption by 40 percent, compared to the levels of 2005, by the end of 2011. But HP <a href="http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110310d.html?mtxs=rss-corp-news">recently announced</a> that it had reached that goal nine months early. HP products are, on average, more than 50 percent more power efficient than they were in 2005, the company said. <P> The results were figured from a mix of printers, displays, notebooks, desktop PCs, and servers. <P> HP also announced that subsequent analysis showed that if all makes and models of the printers, displays, notebooks, desktop PCs, and servers that HP shipped in 2005 were recycled and replaced with the latest models, within a year its customers would save about &#36;10.4 billion in energy costs and 40 million tons of CO2 emissions. <P> Considering the unspoken negative implications about its 2005 products, that's a pretty brave statement, and a lot of companies would not think of making it. Consumer advertising bombards us with a lot of "new and improved" slogans, apparently hoping we won't be bothered by the idea that there was something wrong with the previous generation-or they just repeat the slogans until we forget to ask. But HP embraced the question. That's rare, and shows respect for the customers. <P> But of course, anything bought in 2005 is by now in line to get replaced and recycled anyway-six years is a long time in information technology. And if HP gets all that replacement business, that's a fine chunk of revenue for them.2011-03-16T18:49:43ZIntegral large color touchscreen will let Sharp MFP users adjust scanned material before printing or saving it.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229301238?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbIntegral large color touchscreen will let Sharp MFP users adjust scanned material before printing or saving it.Sharp <a href="http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Sharp-Focuses-on-U-Unveils-Revolutionary-New-MFP-User-Interface-Its-2011-National-Dealer-1411845.htm">showed off</a> a new user interface for multi-function printers at its recent national dealers' meeting in Las Vegas, describing it as a "game-changer." <P> The interface is based on a 10.1-inch color touchscreen that can respond to "flick," "tap," "slide" and "drag" gestures reminiscent of the latest smartphones. Sophisticated functions should be easily accessible and clearly laid out, but probably the most obvious advantage would be the ability to proof and edit scanned material. <P> Being able to straighten scanned material that turned out to be out of kilter (common when scanning material from books, where you can't see what the bottom page is doing) would be nice, but it may be a stretch to call it a game-changer. But if you are stuck with Windows Paint for processing your scans, it might indeed seem like a game-changer, as that app can only rotate by increments of 90 degrees. Sadly, if the paper is skewed even one degree, it's noticeable. <P> The video that accompanies the online press release additionally showed the interface being used to change page layouts of scanned material. <P> The new interface will first show up on Sharp's new <a href="http://www.sharpusa.com/AboutSharp/NewsAndEvents/PressReleases/2011/March/2011_03_15_Workgroup_MFPs.aspx">A3 MFPs</a>.2011-03-14T17:31:20ZThe mystery of why refill ink is hard to use leads to the mystery of what the vendors are thinking.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229301247?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbThe mystery of why refill ink is hard to use leads to the mystery of what the vendors are thinking.<a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2011/02/smbs_shopping_f.html">Last month I describe</a>d the adventure of getting an HP97 three-color ink cartridge refilled in order to avoid paying full price for refill ink for an HP 7210 inkjet printer, a unit not like countless others in SMB offices <P> After rushing home from OfficeMax with a refilled cartridge (thanks to the Phoenix Ink kiosk they had in the corner) I put it in the machine and it commenced printing as well as it ever did. But I noted that it did not launch the usual cartridge alignment procedure that it normally launches when you put in a new ink cartridge. At the PC end, the printer status screen showed that the cartridge was about a quarter full, or no different than it was before the refilling. <P> I wrote this off as a mystery of technology. <P> Then, a month later, the machine kept signaling, "Check HP97 Cartridge." I checked it and could only determine that it was still there. There was nothing obviously wrong. But the printer status screen on the PC showed the cartridge was flat empty. <P> During the refill process the refilling device was supposed to alter the cartridge's serial number so the printer would see it as a new one and, presumably, reset its gauge. I theorized that this had not happened. <P> So I went back to OfficeMax, where I found that the ink refill kiosk was out of order. Unable to do anything with the refilled cartridge, the clerk just gave me, gratis, an OfficeMax remanufactured HP97 cartridge. That was very nice as refilling cost &#36;24 while the remanufactured cartridge cost &#36;39.99 (i.e., the same as a new one from HP.) <P> Back home, I installed it and the machine noted that it had detected a used cartridge. It then launched that alignment procedure that it neglected last time. <P> After that the machine seemed fully functional-except that the ink gauge showed the new cartridge was only a quarter full. <P> Another mystery. <P> If the vendors are trying to make off-brand ink hard to use, they're succeeding. But they are also demonstrating an attitude toward the customer that you would think they would not want to associate themselves with.2011-03-11T16:11:41ZPrinting green means printing less. As it turns out, there are ways to do that without simply turning off the printer.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229300864?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbPrinting green means printing less. As it turns out, there are ways to do that without simply turning off the printer.According to a <a href="http://news.xerox.com/pr/xerox/feature-story-Xerox-executive-sustainability-forum-and-sustainable-management-of-printing.aspx">recent Xerox blog</a>, itself talking about a recent IDC presentation, 61 percent of office employees agree that environmental considerations are important when deciding whether to print something, but only 16 percent avoid printing for environmental reasons. <P> For those willing to act on their beliefs, Xerox provided some tips, not all of which are blindingly obvious. <P> The least obvious is so-called N-up printing, where you print multiple pages on one sheet, the image of each page appropriately reduced in size. An obvious use would be for those PowerPoint slides that you want to hand out to the audience, but they don't need to be page-sized. PowerPoint has a way to automatically print multiple, scaled-down slides per page. Invoke the Print command, and on the options page find Print What and select Handouts, and then the number per page. <P> Microsoft Word will do something similar: invoke Print and then in the Pages Per Sheet box select something other than 1. It will go to 16. The results are interesting but probably rarely useful. <P> Meanwhile, if your printer has a security feature whereby it only prints after the recipient inputs a code, use it. There will be people who don't bother to claim their printouts, but that's fine since they were never printed. <P> Do away with banner sheets between print jobs, and other unneeded cover sheets. <P> When in doubt, scan the document and transmit it electronically. <P> Print on both sides of the sheet. Alas, this probably means you'll end up buying thicker paper. <P> Track your paper consumption and set up budgets. <P> Another thing I'd suggest (especially if you're using low-end office printers) is to leave a nickel by the machine every time you print a black-and-white page, and a quarter every time you print a page with color. The cost of refill ink/toner (and the paper itself, and other amortized costs) is a prime reason for going green.2011-03-10T13:16:06ZNew products break no new ground, but one claims to not be a printer when it clearly is.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229300854?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbNew products break no new ground, but one claims to not be a printer when it clearly is.Canon USA has apparently come out with two new monochrome office multi-function laser printers for the SMB market. I say "apparently" because one of them claims to be a copier when the specs clearly show it's a (slightly pricey) MFP. <P> First is the imageCLASS MF4450 monochrome MFP, running at 24 ppm. with a resolution of 1200 x 600, a color scanning resolution of 600x600 with 24-bit color depth, and a USB 2.0 interface. <P> The price is &#36;249, which is about right for a printer of that size and speed-with a wireless and Ethernet port. That's not to say that you might be better off without wireless, and that USB 2.0 is fast and simple, but you might miss that Ethernet port for printer sharing. <P> The toner cartridge costs &#36;82 for 2,100 pages, or 4 cents per page. Three cents would be better, but Canon incorporates the drum with the cartridge, simplifying maintenance. <P> So far so good. But the <a href="http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/about_canon?pageKeyCode=pressreldetail&docId=0901e0248029e66c">same press release</a> mentions the imageCLASS D550 monochrome MFP copier for &#36;299. But the <a href="http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/sna/consumer/printers_multifunction/imageclass_series/imageclass_d550#Specifications">specs </a>show it is just a slightly faster (26 ppm) version of the MF4450, with some scanner-related document management software. So why are they calling it a copier? (Or maybe the MF4450 is actually a stripped down D550, and the latter was built around the USB 2.0 interface, whose high speed and direct connection would be nice if you're involved in serious amounts of scanning.) <P> There's no immediate answer. Traditionally, in situations like this you call the vendor's product PR people and badger them for an explanation. But Canon is one of those companies that feels that their Web site should be a pure, disembodied, self-contained entity unsullied by connections to the grubby real world. In other words, there's no contact names or phone numbers. <P> Earth to Canon: climb down from the ladder, and have someone contact me.2011-03-01T16:39:35ZThe startup's announcement shows what can be done with a lot of simple CPUs, but what they are doing still may be overkill.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229300871?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbThe startup's announcement shows what can be done with a lot of simple CPUs, but what they are doing still may be overkill.SeaMicro Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., has <a href="http://www.seamicro.com/?q=node/110">announced </a>the SM10000-64, a 10U rack server consisting of 256 low-end dual-core Intel Atom N570 processors. It is touted as delivering the same performance as 45 high-end quad-core processors, while consuming a quarter of the power. <P> At Intel, they <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/intel-on-arm-servers-wimpy-cores-niche-at-best/45442">responded </a>by discounting the idea of customers wanting low-end or "wimpy" solutions. Of course, they'd rather sell electric razors than razor blades. <P> Priced at &#36;148,000, the new SeaMicro multi-Atom system is hardly an SMB solution. But it does have implications for SMB server users: someone has finally noticed that the file server task can be performed with minimal hardware. Soon, someone may also notice that you can do it with minimal software. After all, a file server is not running "World of Warcraft," it's responding to specific, predictable commands with specific file-related actions. All the other PC-grade general-purpose functionality is waste. <P> So maybe we can expect rationally designed file server appliances with limited functionality-and minimal complexity and minimal power consumption. (It won't run Windows, in other words.) Making an old PC stand in the corner and be a server was fine in the days when you had to do a hardware refresh every three years and always had old PCs in the closet, but those days are fading fast. Cheap, simple server appliances surely make more sense. <P> But keep in mind that, in many cases, the cloud makes even more sense.2011-02-25T11:10:25ZGartner says the market defied the Great Recession last year by growing 17 percent, driven by refresh cycles. But next year could be different.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229300882?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbGartner says the market defied the Great Recession last year by growing 17 percent, driven by refresh cycles. But next year could be different.<a href="http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1561014">Gartner's latest figures</a> show that the worldwide server market grew 16.8 percent during 2010 in terms of shipments, and 13.2 percent in terms of revenue. (Revenue growth usually trails shipment growth due to falling prices.) Only the Unix segment of the market declined. <P> Gartner says the growth was triggered by replacement of old x86 machines that users had clung to during the worst of the downturn in 2009. Some units also went into the cloud. <P> Things will cool off (although probably not turn south entirely) during 2011 as the refresh cycle ends and users (finally) discover that, thanks to virtualization, they really don't need so many servers, Gartner predicted. <P> Fans of market share data will be interested to hear that HP and IBM ended up almost dead even with worldwide server market share in terms of revenue, with, respectively, 31.4 and 30.8 percent. Dell trailed at 14.7 percent, Oracle/Sun at 6.3, and Fujitsu at 4.4 percent. <P> In terms of units shipped, its high-end hardware dropped IBM to third place. HP led with 31.7 percent, Dell with 23.4 percent, IBM with 13.1 percent, Fujitsu with 3.3 percent, and Oracle/Sun at 1.8 percent.2011-02-23T13:15:56ZBy "green" they mean bioplastics, resulting in lower CO2 emissions. Also, things made from them are not immortal, and that's good for the environment.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219231?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbBy "green" they mean bioplastics, resulting in lower CO2 emissions. Also, things made from them are not immortal, and that's good for the environment.OKI Data Corp., the Japanese printer maker, <a href="http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/PR/2011-02-22_09_49_10.html">has announced</a> that it will start using plant-based bioplastics in its printers starting next month. <P> While <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioplastic">bioplastics </a>are considered green chiefly because they will decay in landfills, OKI said that the goal of using them is to reduce its CO2 emissions and its consumption of petroleum resources. (It has a stated goal of cutting its CO2 emissions by 6 percent by 2012 compared to its 2007 levels.) <P> OKI ships about 1.1 million printers and MFPs yearly. <P> Chosen for its cost and availability, OKI will be using bioplastic that is at least 25 percent by weight composed of plant biomass. It is based on polyactic acid and is already used in home appliances and office equipment.2011-02-22T09:14:15ZHigh-price is justified by high print quality, says Xerox. The jury remains out on that, but the refill toner price is, as usual, no bargain.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219207?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbHigh-price is justified by high print quality, says Xerox. The jury remains out on that, but the refill toner price is, as usual, no bargain."Most small businesses want to grow their business by getting more customers, and we can help by providing great print quality for their marketing material," Shell Haffner, Xerox' desktop products marketing manager, explained to this blogger. <P> So they have come out with three units offering 600x600x4 resolution, using chemically grown toner. Most SMB laser printers offer at least 600x600, but the 600x600x4 resolution is something usually seen only higher up in the market, and means the machine has some control over the shading of each dot, he explained. (Otherwise, at the low end, a dot is just a speck of primary color.) <P> The chemically grown toner is congealed in a suspension rather than being physically ground and mashed, Haffner indicated. The particles can be finer and more uniform, covering more pages and requiring less heat to fix, he added. <P> The three new units are the <a href="http://www.office.xerox.com/multifunction-printer/color-multifunction/workcentre-6505/enus.html">WorkCentre 6505</a> and the Phaser 6500, and the desktop <a href="http://www.office.xerox.com/printers/color-printers/phaser-6010/spec-enus.html">Phaser 6010</a>. <P> The WorkCentre 6505 is a multi-function unit for &#36;649, printing 24 ppm in both color and black-and-white modes. (The speed rating is not ISO.) It has both USB and Ethernet interfaces, but no mention of Wi-Fi (which is just as well, since your office router probably has a wireless port.) <P> The Phaser 6500 is the same thing without the scanner, costing &#36;399. <P> The Phaser 6010 is a desktop unit (15.5x12x9.2 inches) with USB and Ethernet I/O, costing &#36;299. The output speed is 12 ppm in color mode and 15 ppm in black-and-white mode. It uses an LED rather than a laser engine. (That's the trend for desktop units, since LED technology is more compact.) <P> The 6500 and 6505 use the same replacement toner cartridges, which can be high capacity or regular capacity. The high capacity ones are rated at 3,000 pages for black, costing &#36;105.99, or 3.5 cents per page. The non-black cartridges are rated at 2,500 pages and cost &#36;109.99 each, or 4.4 cents per page per color. For all four colors, that's 16.7 cents per page. <P> The non-black colors also come in a standard capacity cartridge rated at 1,000 pages and costing &#36;65 each. That's 6.5 cents per page per color, or 23 cents per page for all four colors. <P> For the Phaser 6010, the black replacement cartridge is rated at 2,000 pages and costs &#36;69.99, or 3.5 cents per page. The three non-black cartridges cost &#36;59.99 each and are rated at 1,000 pages each, putting the price at 6 cents per page per color, or 21.5 cents per page for all four colors. (The starter cartridges that come with the unit are rated at 500 pages.) <P> In a world where you can get color laser MFPs for &#36;500, the prices of these new Xerox units are a little steep. Whether the price is justified by the 600x600x4 print resolution can only be explored if and when some physical output is available. If that happens, you'll hear about it. <P> But the toner refill pricing is hardly a breakthrough. Like most vendors in the SMB printer market, Xerox remains loyal to the razor and blade marketing model, where you sell cheap razors and then make your profit off the disposable blades. But the razor analogy is flawed, since, in this setting, growing a beard isn't an option.2011-02-17T12:28:43ZBut there are still some things out there that are higher than ink prices per ounce, such as silver, Chanel #5, and gold.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219230?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbBut there are still some things out there that are higher than ink prices per ounce, such as silver, Chanel #5, and gold.Grumbling over the price of refill ink? Well, according to the calculations <a href="http://www.cockeyed.com/science/gallon/liquid.html">at this site</a>, that may be because the cost is nearly twice that of human blood, or &#36;2,701.52 per gallon for ink versus &#36;1,514.79 per gallon of blood. <P> (Notice I said "cost" rather than "price." Blood has no price, but there are costs involved.) <P> The ink calculations were based on a black refill cartridge containing 1.42 ounces costing &#36;29.97, or &#36;21.11 per ounce. A US gallon has 128 ounces, giving us &#36;2701.52 per gallon. <P> Things could be worse-you could be buying ink at the cosmetics counter at Macy's, as Chanel #5 costs almost ten times more than ink, or &#36;200 an ounce. But don't worry: if there was some conceivable fashion marketing angle for refill ink, the vendors would have already seized on it, and tacked another zero onto the price. <P> Meanwhile, I have to grovel and admit that my past references to ink being priced like molten silver were (according to the previous calculations) somewhat exaggerated. The <a href="http://silverprice.org/silver-price-per-ounce.html">latest price for silver</a> is about &#36;31 per ounce, or a 47 percent more than the ink price used above. <P> But at least we're not talking about the <a href="http://www.goldprice.org/gold-price.html">price of gold</a>, lately pushing above &#36;1,382 per ounce. That about 65 times more than ink. So we don't have sleazy investment infomercials touting ink futures. <P> Not yet, anyway.2011-02-15T11:30:54ZUsing courier services to deliver files by hand makes no sense, even if they are too big for e-mail delivery.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219233?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbUsing courier services to deliver files by hand makes no sense, even if they are too big for e-mail delivery.I recently had to pay &#36;91 to have a FedEx courier go to a museum office in Italy and pick up an envelope addressed to me, containing a CD with a 26 megabyte image file of a Renaissance painting. It was then flown across the Atlantic to my city and delivered by a truck. <P> Obviously, there's a better way, greener, less costly way: digital transmission. The file exceeded the 10 megabyte limit used by most e-mail servers, but could have been sent through a download service. <P> When the time came to send out copies of the resulting book manuscript to reviewers, it was also too big for some e-mail servers. So I clicked over to a download service called <a href="https://www.yousendit.com/">YouSendIt</a>, and the first recipient had it in ten minutes. And it cost &#36;91 less than the Italian method (i.e., the service was free.) <P> Basically, you give YouSendIt the e-mail address of the recipient, plus your e-mail, and select the file to be transmitted, which is them uploaded to the service. You can also add a message to go with the notice. The notice is then sent as e-mail to the recipient, with a screen button. Clicking the screen button causes the file to be downloaded from the service to the recipient's machine. <P> The free service is limited to 100-megabyte files, but for &#36;9.99 you can go up to 2 gigabytes. Or you can skip the free service and subscribe to various levels of service, with various management controls. <P> YouSendIt hardly has a monopoly, incidentally, and some people count <a href="http://lists.econsultant.com/top-10-online-file-storage-transfer-services-download-limit.html">dozens </a>of download services. <P> None of them would have worked with the Italian job, incidentally. They kept sending me canned e-mails in Italian saying they could sell me a 35mm slide that I must have a courier pick up at their office. Only when it arrived did I find that it was a CD. It was labeled with the name of the brother-in-law of the artist whose work I wanted, but it turned out to be the right picture.2011-02-11T11:27:39ZIn a BBC interview, the executive says most Silicon Valley startups are now using the cloud rather than buying their own hardware.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219213?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbIn a BBC interview, the executive says most Silicon Valley startups are now using the cloud rather than buying their own hardware.Recently it was the turn of Bret Taylor, CTO at Facebook, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12406171">to be interviewed</a> by the BBC News Business site, which each week poses three questions to a high-profile technology decision maker. One of the questions (the third) was, "What's the biggest technology mistake you've ever made?" <P> His answer: to buy servers for a startup. Previously he was co-founder and chief executive of <a href="http://friendfeed.com/">FriendFeed</a>, a social networking aggregation site that was acquired by Facebook in August 2009. In the startup phase they had to decide whether to buy servers or use a cloud hosting service like Amazon. <P> Buying the hardware was cheaper but he ended up having to maintain the servers, often in the middle of the night. Paying someone else to do that chore would have been worthwhile, and at this point most Silicon Valley startups use the cloud, he told the interviewer. <P> The other questions, in case you were wondering, concerned his current biggest technology problem, and what he thinks the next big thing will be. The proliferation of platforms is the biggest problem, he said, and gaming based on FaceBook as a platform will be the next big thing. (Personally, I don't see it.)2011-02-10T18:09:15ZThree are MFPs, three are printers, and four can use a high-capacity toner cartridge that brings the ink price down to 2 cents per page.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219249?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbThree are MFPs, three are printers, and four can use a high-capacity toner cartridge that brings the ink price down to 2 cents per page.All are duplex monochrome 1200 x 1200 dpi laser printers with network I/O, although you would not know this for the <a href="http://www.samsungusanews.com/index.jsp?menu=post&post=6262">press release</a>. <P> The three multifunction machines are the 33 ppm SCX-4835FR for &#36;449, the 37 ppm SCX-5639FR for &#36;549, and the wireless, 37 ppm SCX-5739FW for &#36;699. (The latter comes out in March.) All three have duplex scanning, as well as Secure Pull Printing where you optionally have to input a code before the machine will print. The latter two also have embedded bar code fonts for use in shipping offices. <P> The three printers are the 33 ppm ML-3312ND for &#36;199, the 37 ppm ML-3712ND for &#36;249, and the 37 ppm ML-3712DW for &#36;299. The latter will be out in March, and the latter two have Samsung's proprietary anti-jam roller technology. <P> The printing speeds were reportedly derived using the ISO standard. <P> As for cost of ownership, all six can use a &#36;69.99 toner cartridge rated at 2,000 pages, for 3.5 cents per page; or a &#36;129.99 cartridge rated at 5,000 pages, for 2.6 cents per page. Additionally, all but the two smaller ones (the ML-3312ND and the SCX-4835FR) can use a &#36;199.99 cartridge rated at 10,000 pages, for 2 cents per page. <P> As usual, the ticket to getting off the high-cost refill ink treadmill is a higher purchase price. But not having to worry about the cartridge until you've gone through 20 reams of paper is also attractive.2011-02-09T16:02:23ZThe services does work, except when it stubbornly refuses to do so. E-mail account configuration may have something to do with it.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219239?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbThe services does work, except when it stubbornly refuses to do so. E-mail account configuration may have something to do with it.In a December <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/12/eprint_opens_ne.html">hands-on review</a> of an HP ePrint machine, the Officejet Pro 8500A, I mentioned that I could not get the ePrint facility to work from my computer, and implied that there'd be updates as I tackled the problem. <P> Update: I tackled the problem some more, and still can't get ePrint to work. Judging by what I've seen on the HP discussion forums, I'm hardly alone. <P> Of course, ePrint is supposed to let you print (using common file formats) from anywhere in the world, as long as you can get online, as ePrint printers have their own e-mail addresses and can be attached directly to the Internet. HP's commercials show a baby in a walker whizzing down the highway to the house of the grandparents, where its picture rolls off the old folks' ePrint machine. <P> But instead of printouts, all I got was the same error message in bounced-back e-mails: "550 5.7.1 Command rejected." HP's service department pointed fingers at my router. However, when sending material to the machine from a Hotmail account (traversing the same router) ePrint worked as advertised. <P> Wondering if my e-mail ISP was blocking the e-mails from my machine, I recently contacted their customer service department and found someone who seemed to know what he was talking about. He pointed out that I use his service for incoming mail, but my out-going mail is routed through the SMTP of my premises' broadband provider. Perhaps the ePrint mail server is rejecting messages where the e-mail address and the SMTP address don't match. <P> Using Hotmail circumvented the problem, but did not seem like a solution. <P> I kept the separate e-mail ISP since I did not want to change an e-mail address that I had been using for 17 years. My wife's e-mail account, however, uses the same service for both inbound and outbound traffic. So I fired up her machine and e-mailed material to the ePrint device-and it printed. <P> So ePrint works. But I still can't use it. Hopefully, HP will get its act together soon. Meanwhile, anyone who intends to rely on ePrint better check their e-mail account before spending any money, or plan to skip desktop e-mail and use Hotmail or a similar service. <P> Finally, I need to make two points. <P> First, as mentioned in the December review, ePrint has a security feature that lets you filter what e-mail addresses can send material to your printer. I did not set this filter but no spam has shown up yet. Of course nothing I have sent to it from my main e-mail account has shown up yet, either. Perhaps the security is too good? <P> Second, the HP Officejet Pro 8500A is a fine MFP. The ePrint problems appear to stem from HP's print server in the cloud.2011-02-08T13:31:35ZA dry inkjet cartridge triggers an adventure in comparison shopping, leading to various discoveries involving ink prices.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219202?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbA dry inkjet cartridge triggers an adventure in comparison shopping, leading to various discoveries involving ink prices.The adventure began when the aging HP Officejet 7210 MFP in my office began producing irregular colors and loudly demanding a replacement for its HP97 three-color ink cartridge. Being a cash-starved SMB, I weighed my options: <P> <a href="http://www.shopping.hp.com/accessories-store/ink">HP's online store</a>, <a href="http://www.officedepot.com/">OfficeDepot</a>, and <a href="http://www.officemax.com/">OfficeMax </a>charged &#36;39.99 for an HP97 rated at 560 pages, or 7 cents per page. <P> OfficeDepot also offered remanufactured (by which they must mean refilled) ink cartridges-but not of the HP97. They did have the HP95, which is smaller three-color cartridge rated at 330 pages. The list price for an HP95 is &#36;28.99, or 9 cents per page. The OfficeDepot remanufactured version was &#36;23.09, which looks better until you see that it's rated at 260 pages, which brings us back to 9 cents per page. <P> OfficeMax also offers house-branded remanufactured ink cartridges. They had a HP97 version, but it cost the same as the brand name version, or &#36;39.99. Meanwhile, the specs showed it was rated at only 450 pages, or 9 cents per page, making it a worse deal than the HP version. What's the point? (The in-house version of the smaller HP95 listed for &#36;22.99, and was rated at 260 pages, or 9 cents per page, so there was no savings there either.) <P> So I turned to a local (Texas) chain called <a href="http://www.inksell.com/">InkSell</a>, offering refilled cartridges. They had an HP97 for 20.95, but its rating was only 450 pages. Still, that was a comparatively attractive 5 cents per page. (A refilled HP95 was &#36;19.95 and rated at 260 pages, or 8 cents per page.) <P> InkSell also offered individual refill bottles at &#36;3.75 per color, bringing the price down to 3 cents per page (assuming 450 pages) if you had the kit needed to refill the cartridge. InkSell was out of such kits. <P> But that brought to mind the fact that OfficeMax has an in-store refill service. Checking, I found that they do HP97s for &#36;24. That was more than InkSell, but InkSell is primarily in the mail order business with limited retail hours. <P> So I showed up at the local OfficeMax and gave the clerk the old HP97. She stepped over to a <a href="http://phoenix-ink.com/">Phoenix Ink</a> kiosk where a video walked her through the steps. These included changing the cartridge's serial number to fool the printer into thinking it's a new cartridge, and sucking out the old ink while she marveled at how much was left. The kiosk seemed designed for basketball players, but she managed to reach everything and the HP97 was handed back to me, newly boxed, after about 5 minutes. <P> In a previous life I had tried refilled cartridges, with experiences ranging from complete satisfaction to watching the ink pour out onto the floor. (I can also remember the old ribbon re-inking kits, of which the less said, the better.) The experience this time was completely smooth. The printer accepted it without question, and the printouts were perfect. <P> The moral of this exercise seems to be that while better deals are available, they do not get us off the high-markup ink treadmill. That would take dramatic action. <P> For instance, InkSell also offered 1,000 ml bulk refill ink bottles for &#36;59.95 each. Assuming 14 ml per refill, that's 71 refills per color per bottle, for a total cost of about 25 cents per three-color refill. Assuming 450 pages per refilled cartridge, that brings us down to a twentieth of a cent per page. <P> Actually, the word is that you can't expect to refill a cartridge more than about ten times before its ink jets wear out, and good luck doing it by hand. But it does hint at what kind of markup is involved.2011-02-07T16:24:29ZAn SMB is more likely to save time than the environment, judging by one accounting SaaS. But saving time is good, too.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219216?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbAn SMB is more likely to save time than the environment, judging by one accounting SaaS. But saving time is good, too.Even if your accounts payable volume is not killing your bank account, it may be killing some trees. If that bothers you, Web-based software-as-a-service <a href="http://www.bill.com/">Bill.com</a> says it can move SMBs into the world of paperless payment. <P> But after talking to the service's vice president, Jeff Schultz, it seemed clear the main advantage was time savings, as plenty of paper may still be involved. But the SaaS can wring more paper-handling and data-entry time out of an SMB's accounting process. <P> You pay them &#36;19.99 for an accounts payable subscription, which includes a fax number that your vendors can send invoices to, although they could also use e-mail. You log on and assign the digitized invoices to vendor accounts, with the amount and due date. The service then pays from your bank account, since you have given them access. Payments via paper are 99 cents each, and electronic payments are 49 cents each. A computer-aided human will read and assign the faxes for you for 99 cents each, cutting your data entry time even further. <P> Accounts receivables subscriptions cost &#36;24.99, plus 49 cents for each electronic payment. <P> The AP system will synchronize with the user's QuickBooks, Intacct, or Peachtree accounting systems. The AR system synchs to QuickBooks. <P> What it does not do is handle inventory or other ERP functions-there is where it differs from large corporate accounting packages, Schultz said. <P> On the whole, the service sounded inexpensive-there is no limit to the number of accounts you can track. But it strikes me that it would be mainly useful if you are doing everything yourself-and then you might be uncomfortable having another party involved. If you are used to having an accountant, then you may feel no need for the service. <P> On the other hand, it also struck me that that road warriors could benefit. With everything going through the cloud, you could log on and do business from a hotel room as from your nominal office. <P> And, your data in the cloud is very likely to be more secure than in your filing cabinet, or in the PC by your desk.2011-01-31T15:23:16ZMicrosoft is reportedly calling for 16-core servers based on simple CPUs as way to save power. Could this spare us from software virtualization?http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219317?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbMicrosoft is reportedly calling for 16-core servers based on simple CPUs as way to save power. Could this spare us from software virtualization?That part of cyberspace devoted to computer hardware gossip <a href="http://news.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A2KJjbzo0kZNyCoA_QLQtDMD?p=servers&fr=sfp&clid=JmthLXcYtXiWjUyb4Pd5M90-">has been buzzing</a> with a report that Microsoft is demanding that Intel cough up 16-core server CPUs based on the low-power Atom processor. The farther the news outlet was from Silicon Valley, the more definite the report became. <P> But, as usual, reality is messier. Microsoft engineer Dileep Bhandarkar gave the keynote address at <a href="http://www.linleygroup.com/">the Linley Group's</a> Data Center Conference in Silicon Valley last week, with the stated topic of energy efficiency in data centers. <P> His call for 16-core servers came as he pointed out that there is an opportunity to improve energy efficiency using small, low-power mobile processors like the Intel Atom or the upcoming AMD Bobcat. They are more efficient with average server workloads than high-end chips like the Intel Xeon, he reportedly said. <P> Meanwhile, he apparently did not say anything about improved performance through parallelization. Presumably, that's because he knows that adding cores does not trigger improved system performance unless the software is written to take advantage of the additional cores-a non-trivial task. <P> Instead, he reportedly talked about energy efficiency, implying that having 16 cores on a chip would let you share peripheral, current-hungry circuitry among 16 processors. In other words, instead of using software virtualization to run 16 applications on one machine, he'd prefer hardware virtualization with a machine that can run 16 applications in parallel, because it really is 16 machines. <P> Frankly, that sounds like a much simpler approach to the problem-at least from the SMB end-user viewpoint-and I hope he gets what he wants. Server designers may disagree, of course.2011-01-28T17:41:00ZMisuse of computers can hurt the most important part of your personal environment: your body.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219315?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbMisuse of computers can hurt the most important part of your personal environment: your body.Twenty years ago you couldn't sit down in front of a computer without enduring a lecture about ergonomics. Those days have passed-but maybe we should relive them from time to time. Recently I got a press release about avoiding "computer burnout" among children through proper ergonomics. (Yes, things have come to that.) The tips differed from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergonomics">what's been printed elsewhere</a> for adults only through the scale of the drawings, but that agreement seemed to emphasize the validity of the information. <P> Pay attention-the quiz will come the moment you next sit at your desk: <P> The computer screen should be 18 to 24 inches from your eyes. <P> You should be looking down at the screen at an angle of about 30 degrees. <P> The height of the chair should be such that your feet are on the floor, with your knees at a 90-degree angle. <P> Your wrists should be straight, and you should neither reach up nor down to get to the keyboard. <P> The backrest should be adjusted to support the lumbar area (i.e., lower back.) This assumes you are sitting upright. <P> I have also found it advisable to rise from the desk and escape from the computer at intervals, but you don't see the literature dwelling on that-there seems to be an assumption that you are fated to sit rigidly in front of the thing for an indefinite period, in response to your boss's tyranny or your own digital beguilement. <P> And that only makes the child burnout press release seem even sadder. It was <a href="http://www.postureinstyle.com/">touting knee-high office furniture</a> from the German firm of moll Funktionsm&#246;bel GmbH. The furniture looked nicer than what I have now in my office. <P> But what about swing sets? Tree houses? Bikes? Or maybe a puppy? No ergonomic burnout there.2011-01-27T11:34:36ZHaving a printer that can reach out to the Web means having a printer that a hacker can reach out to. Should SMBs lose sleep over this?http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219308?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbHaving a printer that can reach out to the Web means having a printer that a hacker can reach out to. Should SMBs lose sleep over this?There are <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/27121/page1/?a=f">reports </a>of hackers using the new remote printing facilities like ePrint to penetrate office LANS. They do three different things. <P> First, they get access to the printer and use it to penetrate the office network, looking for passwords and files. <P> The second is that hackers can take control over the printers, pool their resources, and create storage networks. (This would appear to constitute a nuisance rather than a danger.) <P> <a href="http://research.zscaler.com/2010/08/corporate-espionage-for-dummies-hp.html">Thirdly</a>, multi-function printers can be rigged to purloin images of any documents that were left on the scanner, taking advantage of their scanner's remote control feature. <P> Surely the answer to the third problem is implement any available security on the printer, and don't leave documents on the scanner bed. <P> The answer for the first two is a little iffier. Remote printing is new technology and the kinks have not been ironed out yet, and this apparently includes the security. We may have to hearken back to the early days of PC security, when the first and best advice was to turn off the machines when not in use. <P> With the ePrint machine <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/12/eprint_opens_ne.html">I have tried, an HP Officejet Pro 8500A</a>, the main security measure seemed to be the use of a randomized e-mail address to suppress incoming spam. And after two months I can say that no spam has arrived. <P> Also, it continues to work fine with Hotmail, but not at all with Microsoft Outlook 2007, despite official compatibility. <P> So I assume hackers would have an equal amount of trouble.2011-01-26T14:40:49ZA lot of SMBs are apparently deciding that they don't, and firms like Cbeyond are banking on that.http://www.iweek-interim.com/news/229219303?cid=SBX_iwk_related_commentary_Company_Size:_50-249_smbA lot of SMBs are apparently deciding that they don't, and firms like Cbeyond are banking on that.The demand for cloud services among SMBs is growing by 50 percent a year, indicating that SMBs are discovering they won't need servers if they can get to the cloud. These numbers carry more weight than they might as they are cited by a firm that serves the SMB cloud services market: <a href="http://www.cbeyond.net/">Cbeyond in Atlanta</a>. <P> Brooks Robinson, head of Cbeyond's cloud services division, said he has seen figures indicating the SMB global cloud services market will grow 50 percent yearly from 2008 to 2011, and is expected to reach about &#36;60 billion next year. <P> Cbeyond's experience bears this out, , he added, and the firm (which went public in 2005) now has 55,000 users and revenue of about &#36;400 million. <P> Cbyond's cloud differs from services like <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/">Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) cloud</a> (which charges 12 cents an hour for Windows users) by being simpler, says Robinson. He says that EC2 and services like it are too elastic and offer too many options. Vendors like Cbeyond offer simplified services with predictable billing, he said. <P> Their service starts at &#36;99 per month for one gigabyte of RAM and 30 gigabytes of storage. That's pretty basic hardware these days, but someone else is handling the installation, upgrading, patching, anti-virus software, and daily backups, Robinson noted. You also get a licensed Microsoft operating system. (Cheaper services are based on license-free Linux.) <P> And basic hardware is probably sufficient for most applications that SMBs normally run on servers. Robinson said they tend to be industry-specific, such as inventory for manufacturing companies, or billing for medical offices, while CRM and accounting is widely popular. The application software is typically purchased on-line and then downloaded through the Internet to the user's virtual server on the cloud, he added. <P> Of course, people will still want on-premises servers, and there will always be SMB server users, since there are SMB tasks (like video editing) that will not be practical on the cloud. But in this day and age they should be seen as an option, not a necessity.