Fewer Devices Add Up To Savings

Getting the deal, of course, is important, especially now that about 35% of the office equipment sold today is multifunction, integrating some combination of copying, faxing, printing, and scanning capabilities, according to estimates from Norton.

Multifunction machines are likely to follow the rest of the network toward the use of commoditized processors as a way to make them less expensive and more accessible to business-technology professionals. An example is Intel's MXP line of processors, designed to improve printing and copying performance while lowering the cost, says Larry Lewis, lab manager for the Xerox Innovation Group, part of the company's Image Processing and Advanced Computer Technology unit.

Intel's MXP will be used in high-end multifunction systems. Low-end printers instead rely on a combination of embedded PowerPC processors from IBM or Motorola and application-specific integrated circuits from companies such as LSI Logic, Motorola, and Texas Instruments. Because the MXP isn't hardwired into the device the way an ASIC is, the device can be reprogrammed as needed.

An 8.5-by-11-inch page scanned at 36,000 pixels per square inch takes up about 100 Mbytes of memory, Xerox's Lewis says. "You want to be able to view and store these files, but they're big files to send over a network." Xerox is counting on being able to use Intel's MXP processors to compress image files by as much as 1,000 times without losing the file's important characteristics. The company early next year plans to begin shipping multifunction machines that use the MXP chips.

In networked copiers, printers, and multifunction devices, processors and ASICs play the role of managing network connectivity, reading the page-description language, turning images into bits that are sent to the print engine, and controlling the flow of print jobs. Although the MXP is an industry-standard processor, Intel designed it specifically for use in a peripherals environment, says Patrick Johnson, general manager of Intel's Advanced Media Processor Operation, which is part of the company's communications group. Unlike the Pentium or Xeon, the MXP processors run in parallel to process digital images that are broken down, thus speeding along the printing process.

MXP processors also are expected to drive down the cost of digital color copying. Each time Xerox, for example, develops an improved process for color copying, the company also must create a set of algorithms for that device's processor or ASIC. "With the MXP, we can move them from the realm of developing hardwired ASICs to writing code, which could cut development time and staff in half," Xerox's Lewis says.

The new chips that Xerox and Intel are developing to add industry-standard intelligence to the copier market will make these machines "better network citizens," Ikon's Lewis says. The MXP also will make Xerox less reliant on Japanese chip manufacturers and position Intel to grab a share of the photographic imaging market.

It will still be another six months before Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield moves any of its Xerox copiers to the network, Moran says. The company is still evaluating where networked copying will improve worker efficiency rather than contribute to the recycling bins.

Illustration by Tadeusz Majewski