Scan - Lexmark

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Lexmark X854e MFP 55 ppm Monochrome Print ▪ Copy ▪ Scan ▪ Fax ▪ Internet Fax www.BERTL.com Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. What’s What’s Inside Inside Lexmark X854e MFP Click on an entry to go to the page listed. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 4 Device Features Summary .......................................................... 4 Paper Handling: Paper Input .............................................................................. 5 Paper Handling: Input Features Summary .................................. 5 Reloading Paper Supplies ........................................................... 6 What We Liked ............................................................................ 6 What We Would Like to See........................................................ 6 Paper Handling: Paper Output/Finishing .......................................................... 7 Paper Handling: Output/Finishing Features Summary................ 7 Finishing Options......................................................................... 7 Finisher Productivity .................................................................... 7 Routine Maintenance .......................................................................................... 8 Maintenance Features Summary ................................................ 8 What We Liked ............................................................................ 8 What We Would Like to See........................................................ 8 Paper Jam Removal.................................................................... 9 Toner Replacement Process ..................................................... 10 Device Management ......................................................................................... 11 What We Liked .......................................................................... 11 What We Would Like to See...................................................... 11 Status Monitoring....................................................................... 12 Job Queue Reporting ................................................................ 12 Security Settings........................................................................ 12 Address Book Management ...................................................... 13 Cost Control Reporting .............................................................. 13 Scan Templates......................................................................... 13 Email Notification Alerts............................................................. 14 Job Log Management................................................................ 14 Security .............................................................................................................. 15 Security Features Summary ...................................................... 15 What We Liked .......................................................................... 16 What We Would Like to See...................................................... 16 Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 2 What’s Inside Lexmark X854e MFP Click on an entry to go to the page listed. Accessibility ..................................................................................................... 17 User Accessibility for Device Controls....................................... 17 User Accessibility for Paper Refilling......................................... 17 User Accessibility for Paper Jam Removal................................ 17 What We Liked .......................................................................... 17 What We Would Like to See...................................................... 17 Copy .................................................................................................................. 18 Copy Features Summary........................................................... 18 Image Quality ............................................................................ 19 What We Liked .......................................................................... 21 What We Would Like to See...................................................... 21 Print on Demand................................................................................................ 22 Print on Demand from USB Memory Stick ................................ 22 Bookmarking and Held Pages................................................... 23 What We Liked .......................................................................... 24 What We Would Like to See...................................................... 24 Print .................................................................................................................... 25 Print Features Summary............................................................ 25 Ease of Installation .................................................................... 25 Print Productivity........................................................................ 26 Print Driver Functionality ........................................................... 27 Image Quality ............................................................................ 28 Image Quick Direct Print............................................................ 29 What We Liked .......................................................................... 31 What We Would Like to See...................................................... 31 Scan.................................................................................................................... 32 Scan Features Summary........................................................... 32 Scan to Email ............................................................................ 33 Scan to USB Memory Stick ....................................................... 35 Scan Data Capture Accuracy .................................................... 36 Scan Data Capture Accuracy Results ....................................... 37 Scan Data Capture Productivity ................................................ 38 Scan Data Capture Productivity Results ................................... 38 Mixed Media Size Scanning ...................................................... 38 What We Liked .......................................................................... 39 What We Would Like to See...................................................... 39 Summing Up ..................................................................................................... 40 About BERTL .................................................................................................... 41 Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 3 Introduction Lexmark X854e MFP Lexmark’s all new X854e MFP is the MFP version of its successful W840 monochrome ledger/A3 capable desktop printer. The X85X family of products all support ledger/A3 media and include three speed products, the 35 ppm X850e, the 45 ppm X852e model, and the 55 ppm X854e headline model. BERTL tested the top-of-the-range for this evaluation. For those looking to buy the lower speed—and lower suggested retail price (SRP)—alternatives, the only difference is the throughput engine speed. All other features are identical from device to device. The X854e is the first of the Kentucky printer giant’s ledger/ A3 MFP range to offer the new large color touch screen. This screen puts many copier manufacturers to shame in its size and color capability, considering that the SRP of this fully-featured device is a fraction of that of a copier industry 50 ppm+ alternative. The X854e will naturally be compared to other 50 ppm MFPs from the traditional copier giants. In such comparisons, the Lexmark will look very strong to some and deficient to others depending upon the demands of the environment. Lexmark will be the first to admit that the Lexmark X854e does not offer the same media handling or finishing capabilities offered on copier-based rivals. And, those looking for a departmental device that can handle high volumes of heavy paper weights or create saddle-stitched booklets with tabs or pre-printed covers inserted on the fly, the Lexmark X854e might not be the device. However, Lexmark, like its printer rivals, is looking for mass unit volumes, achieved through a low cost point and minimal service demands achieved through 100 percent end-user replaceable consumable parts. Couple the engineer-independent design philosophy to the aggressive, all-inclusive, fully-featured price, and IT purchaser comfort factor and you have a ledger/A3 capable product that will send a shiver through a copier rep looking to go pitch to an IT manager rather than the office manager. It is fair to say that the Lexmark X854e is a true document portal with no particular leaning for any function (copy/print/ scan/fax) over another. There are some features that traditional copy or fax purchasers may raise an eyebrow to, but in reality much of this is down to the brainwashing by copier reps who have convinced the buyer that these features are critical to life itself. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. Device Features Summary Monochrome Engine Speed 55 ppm Color Engine Speed N/A First Copy Out Mono 6.8 seconds First Copy Out Color N/A Warm Up Time Info not available Maximum Monthly Volume 300,000 stated volume Copy Standard Print Standard PSTN Fax Standard Internet/Network Fax Standard TWAIN Scan Standard Network Scan Standard With every generation of MFP, Lexmark is eliminating feature omissions that have raised concerns from copier buyers and analysts alike. It is now more difficult to find weaknesses in the copy and fax functions than it is to wonder why copy and fax manufacturers have not included some of the novel features and user-friendly attributes of the Lexmark. One of the most novel new additions to the Lexmark MFP family is the direct USB port which allows walk-up users to print files from or scan hard copy documents directly to a standard USB memory stick. This feature alone separates the Lexmark X854e from virtually all opposition at the time of test and offers a valuable time-saving, userfriendly range of features that are proving very popular at BERTL headquarters. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 4 Paper Handling: Paper Input Background Paper handling is a core requirements of every device. If a device cannot create documents a user wants on the paper they need, it does not matter how fast the print engine is, or how many pages it can produce in a month. Paper handling comes down to three key attributes: weight, capacity, and size. Weight The majority of paper used in the general office is graded between 20 lb. bond/80gsm and 28 lb. bond/105gsm. If a device cannot handle these weights through the main paper sources, users are forced to use the low capacity bypass tray, resulting in a higher user intervention rate. The straight paper path of the bypass tray lets it handle heavier paper stocks to create business cards, covers for reports, product brochures, menus, tickets, programs and other special documents. Paper weights for this type of job usually start at 90 lb. index/163gsm with business card stocks often higher at 110 lb. index/200gsm. Capacity Workgroup desktop printers commonly start with either a 500 or 1,000 sheet capacity plus a bypass tray. Workgroup MFPs usually start with capacities over 1,000 sheets. Paper comes in reams of 500 sheets. A growing trend is paper trays with capacities greater than 500 sheets which let users refill trays that are almost empty with an entire ream of paper at a convenient time without waste or risk of overfilling. A device’s maximum capacity (without increasing the device footprint) depends upon the paper source configuration. Standard paper trays typically are universal or adjustable trays that can accommodate a wide range of paper supplies. Paper upgrade options on some devices include additional universal trays or a high-capacity tandem drawer. A tandem drawer maximizes letter/A4 capacity by accommodating dual stacks of paper side by side. However, larger-sized paper supplies cannot be loaded. To raise capacity even further, some units can be equipped with a side-mounted large capacity unit These trays are also limited to letter/A4 size paper supplies only. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. Lexmark X854e MFP Paper Handling: Input Features Summary Paper Supplies Standard: 2 x 500-universal sheet cassettes, 2,000-sheet letter/A4 cassette, 100 multipurpose tray, Optional 2,000 letter/A4 LCT Maximum Paper Capacity 5,100 sheets Bypass Tray Capacity 100 sheets Maximum Paper Size (bypass) 11” x 17”/A3 Maximum Paper Size (main trays) 11” x 17”/A3 Maximum Paper Weight (bypass) 110 lb. index/200gsm Maximum Paper Weight (main trays) 28 lb bond/105gsm Standard Legal Capacity 1,100 sheets Maximum Legal Capacity 1,100 sheets Standard Ledger Capacity 1,100 sheets Maximum Ledger Capacity 1,100 sheets Standard Paper Sources 5 Maximum Paper Sources 6 Post Process Insertion (PPI) N/A PPI Capacity N/A Size Letter/A4 size paper is used in the majority of day to day business operations. Legal and financial documents often are printed on the longer legal (8.5” x 11”) stock size. As a result, many desktop printers, and some entry-level MFPs reduce production costs by restricting the maximum paper dimensions to legal size. However, some environments also rely heavily on the larger ledger/A3 sizes for printing spreadsheets, schematics, design layouts, plans, and for copying books or magazines. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 5 Paper Handling: Paper Input Lexmark X854e MFP Reloading Paper Supplies Just like its predecessors, the Lexmark X854e is easy to reload. Unlike the company’s letter/capable devices, the paper drawers have a stop catch which prevents the drawers from completely coming out. This means that users must reload cassettes in situ. Reloading itself was a simple process with sliding guides allowing for changing media supplies on both axes. These sliding guides could be adjusted one-handed allowing for a quick refill for any drawer. Furthermore, the bottom 2,000 sheet unit has a more rugged feel than traditional paper cassettes for network printers, a feature that will be liked by buyers looking to put heavy volumes through the device. Paper guides can be adjusted with one hand. WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • Sturdy, high-capacity paper drawers will stand up to the rigors of high volume situations. • Increasing the paper capacity on the drawers by 50 sheets from 500 to 550 would let users refill the paper drawer with a full ream before the entire tray is empty. This could encourage users to take initiative and fill up the drawer before it runs out in the middle of a-job. • Paper guides are adjusted easily in both axes with-one hand. • More capacity for media supplies larger than letter/A4 size would allow for longer, uninterrupted printing of larger document sizes. • While many environments will not find this a hindrance, the device’s 100-sheet capacity when handling heavier grade card stocks is far behind that of copier-based alternatives. Support for heavier weight paper supplies through main trays would improve the device’s capabilities. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 6 Paper Handling: Paper Output/Finishing Background The paper output handling options on workgroup products can range from duplex output to saddle-stitch booklet making capabilities. Many devices offer a choice of finishers providing a low cost, minimum footprint solution, or a high-capacity, fully-featured solution. Lexmark X854e MFP Paper Handling: Output /Finishing Features Summary Maximum Output Capacity 500 sheets in standard output area Duplex Capability Standard Maximum Paper Weight Through Duplex Unit 28 lb. bond/105gsm Stapling Lower cost stapler units often have a 15- to 30-sheet maximum capacity and are often limited to corner stapling. Floor-standing, higher cost finishers should offer 50-sheet capability and can handle corner and double stapling. Saddle-stitch heads up the finishing capabilities, allowing users to create folded, center-stapled booklets. Some workgroup device saddle-stitch finishers only handle 10 sheets (40-page booklets) with others handling up to 15 sheets (60-page booklets). Maximum Stapling Capacity 50 sheets Maximum Booklet/Saddle-stitch Capacity No booklet finisher option Hole Punch Options two/three or two/four hole punch Physical Mail Bin Option No mail bin options Folding Options No folding options Mail Bin Units and Offset Output Many workgroup devices offer offset stacking (where each set is offset from the next) to make it easier to separate jobs. Some offer physical mail bin units allowing each user to send jobs to their own output area. Most mail bin units limit delivery to unfinished jobs. A multi-tray finisher can also offer some form of job separation, typically used to route different types of job (fax, print, copy) for easier identification. Finishing Options The Lexmark X854e has an optional floor standing finisher providing corner stapling and hole punching. The finisher is connected to the main engine unit via a bridge unit which carries the paper from the left output area to the right-mounted finisher module. The floor-standing stacker unit allows the uninterrupted output to run from 500 sheets standard to 3,800 sheets (unstapled) which means that the device could run for over an hour without user intervention. Finisher Productivity The evaluation unit did not have a finishing unit for testing. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 7 Routine Maintenance Background Workgroup devices sold through retail and traditional IT distribution outlets usually are maintained by office workers changing the all-in-one cartridge units that encase the entire imaging system. Units sold through the reseller/dealer community are usually maintained by office workers and trained service engineers. Separate long-life parts are more complex to install but offer lower running costs than the low yield, all-in-one alternatives. Toner Replacement Changing the toner or imaging cartridge is a necessary task that traditionally is avoided by some for fear of the black dust leaking on clothes or hands. However, most units today offer clean replacement of toner supplies. Lexmark X854e MFP Maintenance Features Summary Toner Yield 30,000 toner cartridge Drum Life 70,000 page yield Fuser Life Info not available Developer Life Not Applicable Toner Refill During Printing No End-user replaceable drum unit Yes End-user replaceable fuser unit Yes Imaging Drum Toner Cartridge Clearing Paper Jams The main device issue that office users attempt to remedy themselves is the occasional paper jam. As a general rule, the faster the device engine, and the more paper handling options, the more complex the process of removing paper jams. Common jam sources are the duplex unit and poor loading of paper supplies. The position of the duplex unit can be a major factor in the ease of paper jams. The method of loading paper supplies can be a factor in the overall number of jams that occur. WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • The paper path is simple, very short and direct which makes finding and removing paper jams an easy process compared to many copier-based MFPs. • The vivid display panel could be a great tool to display more information to walk the user through paper jam removal. In current operation, it simply told us to check the back door or the toner cartridge and made us work out the best way to remove the paper jam ourselves. • Users will have no problem locating and changing the print cartridge, imaging drum, or fuser unit. All are slidein/slide-out units and do not require tools. • The duplex unit is positioned to the left of the device, making jam removals easy. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. • After paper jams had been cleared, we had to manually confirm that the job could continue. We would like to see the device detect that the problem had been rectified and continue the job automatically. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 8 Routine Maintenance Lexmark X854e MFP Paper Jam Removal While we did not encounter any jams during the testing of the Lexmark X854e, we did force some jams to see how the unit would react. When a jam occurs, the machine beeps, a red light appears, and the color touch screen displays an error message. The message informing the user that a jam has occurred is displayed clearly on the touch screen. When the duplex unit is opened to reveal the paper, the sheet can be removed easily. Paper is then removed from the paper path along the left side of the device. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 9 Routine Maintenance Lexmark X854e MFP Toner and Imaging Drum Replacement Process The front panel is dropped to reveal the toner cartridge (on right) and imaging drum unit on left. The toner cartridge can be removed simply by pulling on the green tab. The new cartridge is installed by simply sliding the unit in until it snaps in place. To remove the imaging drum, users must first drop the duplex and side door of the device. The imaging unit now can be replaced by sliding it out and replacing with the new unit. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 10 Device Management Lexmark X854e MFP Background An efficient device management backbone is needed to take maximum advantage of the feature set within a device, be it a printer, fax, scanner or multi-functional product. Device management is commonly-supported through a Web server on the device controller. This Web server is accessed using any desktop Internet browser; the user simply enters the IP address of the device into the URL address line. Administrators and office users have different management and monitoring needs. General Office Users End users want to know if a device is capable of handling a job. Supply levels and a list of jobs already committed to print are important. For MFPs with document storage and communications capabilities, end users also need desktop management of print on demand, stored document viewing (to check print on demand files or incoming faxes) and, for the more advanced, the creation of scan-to-email or scan-to-file destination templates. Administrators An office or network manager looks for greater control over the device functionality and setup without leaving their desk. They may be looking to manage network setup, establish security for IP filter ranges, apply cost control measures, check supply levels, and set up automated email alerts to different staff members when problems occur. Due to the nature of the Web server, this capability is usually limited to an individual device. Many manufacturers also include a network device management fleet tool which allows for the monitoring and management of multiple devices around the network concurrently. Many also provide plug-ins to the most popular IT device management utilities to ensure that the maximum amount of information can be relayed from their device to the third-party application. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. The home page of Lexmark’s device Web server gives users a status of key device functions at a glance. Specific functions are described on the following pages. WHAT WE LIKED: • Users get a snapshot of a great deal of information right away. They immediately know the toner level and paper drawer status and can view vital information when getting ready to print from the desktop. • The menu is located to the left of the home screen and is straight forward. An index is available when portions cannot be located. WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • We would like to see the entire job queue display the number of sets and pages in each set for all users through Web server. This function is only available through Lexmark’s MarkVision utility which is more likely to be used by the administrator than general office users. • There is no indication of the job queue displayed on the touch screen, forcing users to wait to see when a job can be processed. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 11 Device Management Lexmark X854e MFP Status Monitoring The yellow box in the top left corner jumps out and lets administrators know that the paper supply in Tray 1 is low. The screen also indicates that the toner is 90 percent capable. Job Queue Reporting There is no job queue monitoring capability within the device Web server. Security Settings The Lexmark offers advanced security features which can be set up at the touch screen, using the Web server or Lexmark’s MarkVision administrator application. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 12 Device Management Lexmark X854e MFP Address Book Management Users and administrators can set up email, fax, and scan profile addresses for local storage on the device. Each address/location can be assigned a shortcut number allowing users to quickly select the entry they need. There is no way to set up groups—which would have been a useful feature—and one that is available on rival units. Cost Control Reporting From the Web server administrators can set up internal account management lists as shown at the right. The list has to be manually entered and there is no ability to set up limits or qualify allowable use. Lexmark works closely with thirdparty partner Pharos to deliver extensive cost control/job auditing capabilities for those who require them. The functionality of this advanced cost accounting capability is built into the MFP’s touch screen control panel, making it one of the easiest, most affordable, walk-up device control systems on the market for workgroup MFPs. Scan Templates The scan profile allows users to create a profile which lets you scan documents back to the PC you are currently stationed at. Scanning can be commanded at the desktop or the unit itself. A folder will house the scans sent to your PC. Scan profiles can be set to once only use or multiple use. A variety of default template styles come as standard with users also able to create their own as required. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 13 Device Management Lexmark X854e MFP Email Notification Alerts Using the Web server, administrators can set up email alerts for a variety of device events. The alerts can be split between two email lists allowing, for example, internal events (paper low, toner out) to be split off from external events (fuser maintenance call required). Job Log Management The Web server does not provide job log information on a job-by-job basis. It does provide valuable statistics on the patterns of activity for the device including a breakdown of the size of job and media types commonly used. This information allows administrators to evaluate workflow and usage of the device, which to many will be a lot more valuable than a huge log list of print jobs that must then be analyzed to interpret the data. For those needing to keep a track of all print jobs for security or regulatory purposes, Lexmark offers its own cost accounting feature as standard, plus the Pharos option for greater control and auditing capabilities. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 14 Security Lexmark X854e MFP Background High-tech security is never out of the news, with reports of information theft and hacking making headlines. By the very nature of their development, network printers and MFPs are security risks if not managed correctly. Advanced network connectivity options open ports to hackers. Industry-standard Java and Web browser design elements are vulnerable to virus attack. Large hard drives store a latent copy of every document flowing through the device data for years. Devices link directly to core network components such as the LDAP address list or the central file server. Plus, fast communication options let insiders send information to the outside with no method of being traced. Security and data compliance buzzwords and regulations such as Common Criteria certification, HIPAA, SarbanesOxley, Gramm Leach Bliley, FERPA, SEC, FSMA, and the Patriot Act look to safeguard information and force companies to conform to best practices in document and data security management. Safeguarding Data Most MFPs now offer a standard or optional hard drive. Any company dealing in critical, sensitive information should determine if they need a data overwrite capability that has passed Common Criteria (CC) certification. Data overwrite deletes information on the hard drive by writing a series of random ones and zeros over the sectors storing data, usually multiple times. The CC test relates to how data is deleted from a device’s hard drive after being used. CC certification carried out by a governmentapproved test facility. Many manufacturers get CC certification to satisfy government security requirements and it is a requisite for many government agencies and contractors. Most MFP devices pass evaluation assurance level (EAL) 2, with some aiming higher at EAL 3. The higher the level, the more extensive the testing, and the more secure the hard drive is deemed Controlling Access One of the keys to security is limiting the initial access to the device both remotely and at the device itself. TCP/IP and MAC filtering allow the administrator to limit remote access the device. MAC filtering is more secure; the TCP/ IP address can be copied but the MAC address is a fixed specification that can not be changed. IPv6 is now becoming commonplace on network devices. IPv6 makes it harder to crack or hack into a PC address range by making the address more complex. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. Security Features Summary Hard Drive Overwrite Yes Removable Hard Drive No Private Print Yes Encrypted Print Optional Secure Fax Yes Encrypted PDF Send No Network Authentication Yes LDAP Authentication Yes Kerberos Authentication Yes SNMP v3.0 Yes IPv6 Yes SSL Yes IP Filtering Yes MAC Filtering Yes Network authentication is now available on nearly every MFP and printer, forcing users to enter a user name and password before access to the device is granted. Most devices can verify a user by linking to Windows Exchange user lists, Novell network user lists, and LDAP server lists. There should also be password encryption at the point of the login process through SSL or other encryption or other security technology (such as Kerberos) preventing hackers from watching and capturing user names and IDs as they travel over the network. Secure Transmissions The hard drive (if not equipped with a data overwrite capability) provides the ability to create secure repositories for incoming print and fax jobs. Instead of being printed upon delivery, print jobs and faxes can be stored on the device and printed only after a PIN has been entered by the authorized user. IPv6 makes it harder to crack or hack into a PC address range by making the address more complex. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 15 Security Lexmark X854e MFP WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • The large touch screen and full 10-digit keypad makes entering security information such as PINs and usernames easier than competing units. • Secure PDF encryption at the time of scan to email or scan to file, using the measures built into Adobe Acrobat, would provide additional document security. Users scan the confidential document, assign a PIN code, and tell the recipient the PIN code so the file can be opened. Several rival devices now offer this feature. • A wide range of advanced security measures are standard including MAC and Kerberos authentication which many rivals do not offer. TCP/IP via IPv6, SNMP v3.0, and integration with a wide range of authentication protocols make it very difficult to infiltrate information flow between the device and the desktop users. • Secure print is restricted to the release of one job at a time. We would like to see users have the ability to select all their secure jobs and release them in a single step. • The optional PrintCryption module allows companies to secure print traffic by encrypting print files as they are transferred from the desktop to the device. • The “Confidential” print mode is easy to find on the final tab of the similar PCL and PostScript drivers. • Retrieving held jobs is simple and straightforward. From the home key users have two options. By pressing Search for Held Jobs, users can type in a portion of the username and have all the matching names come up (example: Search for JVilla Result is JVillanella). Users can also press Held Jobs and search for the specific folder they wish to print from. • Administrators can set a default deny access after a set number of improper pass code entries have been attempted. This nice feature helps ensure security protection from unauthorized users. • The device offers the ability to select specific functions that require security measures before access is granted. Some manufacturers do not differentiate or offer limited customization options. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 16 Accessibility Lexmark X854e MFP Background In the U.S., Section 508 legislation prohibits government agencies from purchasing devices that are not accessible to those with physical impairments. For this reason—and the corporate world’s increased focus on delivering a better work environment for all—user-friendly features for physically-impaired users are considered more and more. Common design features include tilting control panels which give wheelchair-bound users a better view of the screen and larger display options for those with impaired vision. Voice navigation and Braille also are becoming increasingly popular. Easy access to the paper path for jam removal or front access to User Accessibility to Device Controls Overall the layout of the Lexmark X854e is well thought out with the user in mind. The color touch control panel tilts, making it easier for wheelchair access. The hard keys, which include numbers and a start key, could be somewhat larger but are still adequate. User Accessibility for Paper Refilling Paper refilling is easy with one-handed adjustment of paper guides. The handles for the cassettes are designed to be gripped from underneath, which can make access to the lower cassettes more difficult for wheelchair users who must bend over to gain access. Lexmark X854e control panel is tilted to make the viewing easier for wheelchair users. WHAT WE LIKED: • The large tilting control panel offers easier navigation, viewing, and data entry than rival units in its class despite costing many times less than some. • Most routine maintenance is handled from the front of the device making it easier for wheelchair users. WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • Handles on the paper cassettes that allow for gripping above and below would give wheelchair users better access. User Accessibility for Paper Jam Removal The paper path and duplex unit are located on the left of the device and access is easy to both for removing paper jams. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 17 Copy Lexmark X854e MFP Background Copying is the standard feature on every MFP on the market and is increasingly being offered either as an option or a separate model within network printer product ranges. Before being wowed by headline speeds and advanced features, consider that the most common copy job is a single set of a simplex document that is five pages or less with no finishing and no changes to image quality default settings. Small, Simple Jobs Despite the wealth of features that MFPs offer today, most users will not be prepared to wade through countless screen menus to get to the point where they can press the Start button. Think in terms of human productivity, not device productivity. Reporting the productivity of the device from the moment the green start button is pressed until the final page comes out does not consider the most costly element in the copying process: the user’s time. Large, Complex Jobs Even for big jobs—where you may think engine speed plays a larger role—the simple start-key-to-finish-line productivity measurement approach again disregards the user. The user is less likely to wait at the copier for larger and more complex jobs. They will look for features such as a quick and easy job setup menu, fast scanning (so they can return to their desk with the originals faster), email notification when the job has finished (eliminating the guesswork of when to return to the device to collect the job), or the ability to build a job using a mix of pages scanned from the document feeder and platen. Features or Benefits? Many copy features that are overlooked by the masses are critical time savers in niche workflow environments. For example, medical offices or car dealerships need to copy insurance and license cards. A card copy feature allows the user to scan the first side of the card, turn the card over, scan the second page, and produce a singlesided copy with both sides of the card on the single sheet. This saves 50 percent on paper and the print click cost charged by the dealer. Copy Features Summary Maximum Copy Speed 55 ppm First Copy Out Time 6.8 seconds Document Feeder Type Reversing duplexing document feeder Document Feeder Capacity 75 pages Job Build Yes Job Build Combining Platen and Document Feeder Scans Yes Scan Ahead Copy Memories Unlimited No. of Copy Job Programs 0 Customizable One-touch Buttons on Home Screen Optional Max/Min Zoom Ratio 25 percent to 400 percent Cover Insertion No Sheet Insertion No Page Stamp Options Date/Time stamp and overlay My Copier MFP design is moving away from proprietary, closed systems and embracing open architecture and IT standards like .NET and Java. This opens the door to greater flexibility in the way the walk-up experience can be tailored to each user. Coupled to this ability is the growing need to account for all device usage for security, compliance or cost considerations. These two trends can result in a “My Copier”-type experience where each user is greeted with their favorite settings when logging in. Copier Concurrency Concurrency, the ability to handle multiple tasks at the same time, varies greatly in workgroup devices. Some devices can not accept a copy job while a print or copy job is in progress. If a connected MFP is carrying out either job, a walk-up user must wait for the job to finish before they can scan in their copy job. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 18 Copy Lexmark X854e MFP Image Quality The device comes with text, text/photo, and photo modes to allow the user to capture and reproduce different image types. BERTL’s testing included all three modes with a wide range of copy originals to look for strengths and weaknesses of the device. Image quality on the Lexmark X854e was to a high standard across a wide range of original types. As with most devices, the text/photo mode was the default setting for the device and the mode which offered the best overall image quality across the spectrum of copy jobs. Text Mode: The font reproduction is very good for 8 point. and good at 6 point. Fine like reproduction faired very well. The text mode, which captures information in two-bit black or white mode, is best used in text only or fine line situations, and delivers crisp output. However, as the images on page 20 illustrate, the two-bit capture mode does not fare as well in more graphic copy jobs where grayscales and halftone reproduction are required. Photo mode, on the other hand, uses a halftone rendering algorithm which produces high quality reproduction of photographs. However, it does not fare as well on text and fine lines with poor legibility. Text/photo uses an algorithm that sits between the more extreme text and photo modes. This is ideal for documents with a mix of text and graphics, as can be seen in the examples. Text Photo: The font reproduction is fair with Text/Photo mode. The line reproduction is also fair. Photo Mode: Reproduction of the text and fine lines is pale and poor with much detail being lost. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 19 Copy Image Quality Lexmark X854e MFP (continued) Text Mode: Good reproduction of fine lines and text but some shaded map areas reproduced poorly making the map harder to read. A lot of fine detail is lost in the photograph in areas such as the foliage and roof tiling where shade reproduction is essential. Text/Photo: Crisp lines and text, some loss of grayscale/color reproduction from map. Acceptable reproduction of property photo. Photo Mode: A lot of detail is lost on the map image reproduction. The graphic reproduction of the photos appears in proper context with good reproduction of fine details such as tiling and foliage. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 20 Copy Lexmark X854e MFP Touch Screen Selections Required for Commonly-used Copy Functions WHAT WE LIKED: • Despite still being regarded as a printer company rather than a copier vendor, Lexmark yet again raises the bar in terms of the walk up user touch screen experience with intuitive menus and minimal menu mining. • Job build capabilities are extensive allowing users to combine scans from both the document feeder and the platen, a valuable aid that some MFP rivals do not offer. Users also can create mixed letter/legal jobs by choosing the Mixed Letter/Legal setting on the Copy From setting. This allows legal, real estate, and accounting firms to work more efficiently rather than have to use the more complex job-build function. • If a user submits a copy job when the Lexmark X854e is printing, the print job can be automatically interrupted so the copy job can take precedence. This works well when long print runs are running and a walk up user has a small copy job to run. • Copies can be made from the touch screen and from the green hard key to the right of the touch screen. User can select the button that matches their comfort level. • On the bottom left corner of the copy screen, a “?” touch key gives detailed instructions to aid users with the current screen. The help function breaks down the current screen, telling users what the functions do and provides a nice description of each. Corner Staple One step Hole Punch One step Enlarge to 200% Hold down manual button until 200% is reached 2:2 One step Photo Mode One step Mixed Original Size Two steps (mixed letter/legal) Cover Mode (printed front cover on bypass supply) Not Supported WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • Single pass duplex scanning would reduce user time at device during job entry. • Cover and sheet insertion mode options would allow for more complex copy job creation. • A job memory feature would allow commonly-used multi-feature copy jobs to be stored as one-touch selections. • The ability to view the entire job queue would allow walk up users to see if large copy jobs are ahead of them in the queue. • Watermarking and more diverse page stamping capabilities including a unique set stamp feature would allow for tracing of unauthorized copies back to the original recipient. • The zoom setting is entirely manual with no preset onetouch options. We would like to see a selection of common options such as copy credit card/ID card to letter size, letter to ledger, legal to letter, etc. • In mixed letter/legal mode, the monochrome scanner slows from 50 ipm to 12 ipm (letter-size paper) which forces the user to spend more time at the device. We would like to see productivity in this setting improved. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 21 Print On Demand Background Ever since MFPs started including hard drives, manufacturers have looked for ways to offer more and more on-demand document facilities. The most basic is the ability to store a document on the device for instant reprinting from the walk-up interface. Virtually all manufacturers offer this level of print-on-demand capability. Most allow users to store, copy, and print. Some also include scan and fax documents into the mix. Are All Documents the Same? The way different document function types are stored and the way in which they can be reused at a later date create some issues due to the file format in which the function operates. Copy is usually done in a compressed proprietary format, fax in TIFF, and scan in TIFF/PDF or JPEG as selected by the user. When users look to reuse the files, they are often limited to the same function as it was created in. Do All Devices Offer the Same Capabilities? There is much differentiation between products and manufacturers in this area. Those interested in print on demand should look carefully at the functionality offered by each manufacturer. Areas of differentiation include the range of finishing or output control the user can place upon a reprint-on-demand job; whether more than one stored job can be combined and treated as a single print file; the ability to view, manage and share stored documents using desktop applications; the complexity of the filing system in place; and the ease at which users can search for documents. Lexmark X854e MFP Print on Demand from USB Memory Stick We were very pleased to see that, after years of asking, a manufacturer finally started including a USB flash drive reader on its device consoles. For years manufacturers have been boasting about their ability to handle raw PDF data. However, it is only now that a user is finally able to walk up to a device with a USB flash drive and print a PDF directly from the device. This function has a number of potential real-world benefits. The most obvious is in the service print industry, namely business centers in hotels, airports, conference facilities, Internet cafes, and print for pay businesses. In these instances, travelling business people will frequently have laptops and USB pocket flash drives. If they need to print a file they can transfer the file to the USB card, pack away the computer and walk down to the hotel business center or airport lounge and print the file. To use this novel feature, we simply inserted the USB flash drive into the socket on the front console panel. We could then browse through the folder tree of the drive until we reached the PDF file we wanted to print. At the time of testing, users can only select the number of sets they require. We would have liked to have the ability to choose features such as duplex or finishing options (if available) allowing for even greater document flexibility. The Future Increasing security concerns may result in more companies using data overwrite kits. This would put an end to the print on demand capability of such devices. For those still looking for a fast reprint capability, the answer may be external media ports such as USB memory sticks, digital camera SD cards, or volatile memory storage Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 22 Print On Demand Lexmark X854e MFP Bookmarking and Held Pages The Lexmark X854e also includes a novel bookmarking feature for print-on-demand users. Traditional MFPs store print on demand documents on the hard drive of the local MFP. The X854e utilizes a central repository, be it a file location on the network, FTP site or Web location. A user generates a pointer to the document location (a bookmark) thus creating a direct pull print feature. The big advantage of this approach is that the files can be stored in a single location with a bookmark being set up on each device around the network. This makes administering the document repository more efficient and less prone to out of date documents being left in circulation. Step 1: The user selects the Create Bookmark icon. For example, a company stores a price list on each MFP. When the pricing changes, the file must be replaced on each MFP. With the Lexmark approach, the master file in an FTP folder is replaced with the same name and location; the bookmarks do not have to be altered and every future reprint request will print the correct document. Step 2: The user creates a name for the new bookmark. Step 3: The user enters the URL location for the document. Step 4: The bookmark is now available as a one-touch action. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 23 Print on Demand Lexmark X854e MFP WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • The USB flash drive feature is a simple method for walk-up users to get files printed on a device in a matter of minutes without the need to install print drivers or other sophisticated connection alternatives. • The ability to select more document production capabilities such as duplex when printing from the USB memory stick would provide more functionality. • The bookmark feature provides a centralized, easy-toadminister location for all commonly-used files in an organization. • Large touch screen panel makes entering metadata such as file names a fast, efficient process compared to some rival MFPs. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. • The ability to create bookmarks from the desktop and distribute to a cluster of Lexmark MFPs in a single action would ease administrative overhead. • If users could see a thumbnail of the document saved on the USB memory stick prior to printing, they could confirm that the correct document was selected. • The ability to browse directly to Web locations when setting up bookmark URL locations would be easier than having to enter the location manually. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 24 Print Lexmark X854e MFP Background Print passed copy as the primary method of creating output years ago. To limit costs and raise integration between functions, more multifunction products use a single processor board for copy, print, and scan functions. Connectivity The vast majority of devices include Ethernet and USB connectivity out of the box; some include parallel connections. In addition, most devices offer a selection of optional connectivity choices like Wireless 802.11b or g (g is the faster, preferred standard.), Bluetooth for connection to cell phones or PDAs, and FireWire for high speed local connectivity. PDLs PCL is the de facto printer description language (PDL) of choice provided by all suppliers. Some bundle in PostScript (PS) while others charge for an upgrade. A few manufacturers also include their own PDL which is based loosely on the Windows/GDI printing technology of old. These Windows or GDI drivers often offer significant productivity advantages over traditional PCL/PS drivers since the bulk of the processing is handled by the more powerful desktop PC rather than the less well-equipped printer processor itself. Productivity Judging print productivity is an inexact science at best or misleading at worst. Factors such as processor power, memory capabilities, spool and RIPping efficiency, engine throughput speed, RIP while printing capabilities, and more all play a major part. Most devices fair better is some of these factors than others, and different workflows benefit from one factor more than another. It is easy to play judge and pronounce what determines productivity. But, it will have little merit when evaluating print performance for an end user environment. Device A may print Document 1 faster than Device B. But Device B may print Document 2 faster. You cannot determine which document is the best measure of productivity. The same is true of network traffic tests where multiple jobs are submitted at once. By rearranging the order of the jobs, the productivity of Device A and Device B could easily be reversed. BERTL does not restrict its evaluation of print performance to such tests. It provides information on how jobs are treated across the various PDLs offered, thus allowing users to get the best out of the device. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. Print Features Summary CPU 625MHz RAM and Hard Drive Main Memory: 256 MB Operating Platforms Supported Windows ME, 2000, Server 2003, XP, NT 4.0, Macintosh, Linux, UNIX, Novell, AS/400, Citrix MetaFrame, Printer Drivers PCL6, PostScript 3, PDF1.5, PPDS Network Protocols IPX/SPX , TCP/IP, Ethertalk, Appletalk, NetBIOS, Over TCP/ IP LPR/LPD, IPP, SMB, SNMP, Netware, Port 9100, Bluetooth (HCRP) Interfaces / Standard 10BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet, USB 2.0, USB Direct Interface Interfaces / Options 802.11b/g Wireless LAN, 10/100Basefx (fiber), Internal Gigabit Ethernet Client Software MarkVision Professional, MarkVision Messenger Std PCL Fonts Supported 89 scalable, 2 bitmap Std PS Fonts Supported 158 scalable Printer Drivers Driver design varies enormously from manufacturer to manufacturer. Most try to keep a common style throughout their range to reduce learning curves. However, many have significant design differences between PDLs which can raise issues. While many features are common throughout drivers from all manufacturers, there are some differentiators which—while niche benefits in many instances—can be valuable in the right hands. Ease of Installation The Lexmark X854e arrived at BERTL’s test facility via a courier as a selection of boxes. Two BERTL analysts assembled the device and output the first test print in less than an hour. It took an additional 30 minutes to install the accompanying drivers and software. The instructions were well illustrated and the set up required no technical experience or specialized tools. Small to medium sized companies that may not have a technical/IT department to install new hardware will appreciate the installation documentation. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 25 Print Lexmark X854e MFP Print Productivity The design of the PCL and PostScript drivers is very similar, allowing users to easily switch from one to the other without confusion. While many users will never veer away from PCL—and many IT managers will not give them the option—those that do will reap benefits in bandwidth and productivity. Bandwidth efficiency flip-flopped between the two PDLs depending upon the type of job undertaken. The biggest difference between the two PDLs was on the highly graphic-intensive Publisher file where the PCL driver proved to be around 300 percent more efficient than the PostScript driver. A similar pattern emerged in productivity terms with PostScript and PCL vying for supremacy on a job by job basis. However, the only real difference that would affect user PDL decision making was the Publisher file test where the PCL handled the job much faster than the PostScript driver. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. Bandwidth Comparison PCL PostScript 50-page text based PDF 1.09 MB 3.50 MB 16-page magazine in PDF 4.95 MB 3.96 MB 6-page medium resolution graphic PDF 2.50MB 1.13 MB 2-page high resolution PDF 5.93 MB 6.54 MB 32-page text-based PowerPoint 2.06 MB 1.67 MB 69-page graphic intensive PowerPoint 10.6 MB 8.57 MB 33-page graphic intensive Publisher document 57.3 MB 157.28 MB 38 page Word document with tables and images 3.80 MB 3.04 MB 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 26 Print Lexmark X854e MFP Print Driver Functionality The drivers for the Lexmark X854e are virtually identical with a few additional image quality selection options available—as expected—for the PostScript user. The Page Layout tab includes all the most common print setting items which means that many users will never need to move to another tab during the course of a day. Within the Print Quality tab, users can choose between a selection of preset image quality setting modes or create their own settings including resolution, toner darkness, and other attributes. The Toner Save mode, found within custom settings on the Print Quality tab, lets users choose from a sliding scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being the more dense and 1 being the lightest. We found the image quality at the most economical setting to be more than satisfactory for internal use. However, when the output was processed through an OCR engine, higher manual intervention was required. Businesses that need to convert internal hard copy back into electronic files via OCR may want to use a higher toner setting. Page Layout Tab On the Other Options tab, users can add watermarks, an overlay, and set secure print and print on demand options. Users also can set account tracking and fax options (for the analog fax function on the device). As with other Lexmark equipment, multiple media supplies cannot be selected from the driver’s Paper tab, which could be an issue for some users. Print Quality Tab Paper Tab Other Options Tab Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 27 Print Lexmark X854e MFP Image Quality Overall, the print image quality from the Lexmark X854e was to a high level across a wide range of document and image types. Greyshades reproduced well with pleasant gradation from light to dark with none of the banding that we have seen on some devices. Fine lines were reproduced, especially when we switched to true 1200dpi. Text was crisp down to our lowest 4 point text size with black, blue, and green text being clearly legible. Red text at 4 point size was hard to read, becoming more legible at 6 point. True 1200dpi mode also assisted with making small fonts slightly more legible in blue and red. Above: High resolution PDF Below: High resolution digital camera picture (Both images scanned at 600 dpi and reproduced at 100 percent) There was negligible image quality differences between PCL and PostScript drivers which means that switching between the two will not result in a large variance in document quality from job to job. Shading and fine line text sample test patterns Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 28 Print Lexmark X854e MFP ImageQuick Direct Print Drag’N’Print is a direct print utility that is provided as a standard feature for the Lexmark X854e with the driver CD. Lexmark’s direct printing will be a popular resource with users looking for fast reproduction of high bandwidth graphic files. It lets users to send PDF, JPEG, HTML, TIFF, GIF, BMP, and PostScript files directly to the print engine without launching an application or RIPping the file into a PCL or PostScript file. The time alone required to open an application such as Photoshop can be longer than the time it takes to print the file in some instances. Users are able to set up as many direct PDF queues as they require (see right). This is a valuable feature allowing users to set up a direct print queue with the required document production features necessary for a specific job type. For example, a user could set up one job queue defaulted to duplex output on paper from tray one, while another queue could be set to incorporate an overlay of the company letterhead and print from the bypass tray. We also liked the ability to use the direct print facility without having to first open a browser or Windows application. Some manufacturers that offer direct print force user to first open a browser and effectively pull jobs into a direct queue. Others have a specific direct queue application which must be opened. The Lexmark just lets you create multiple direct queues which are always available. Print settings can be specified for the direct print queue. Users of the Lexmark X854e have multiple ways in which they can route a job into a direct print queue. They can either drag a file on the desktop onto the ImageQuick icon or they can simply right click on the file and select the direct print queue from the Send To options as shown to the right. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 29 Print Lexmark X854e MFP ImageQuick Direct Print Another valuable and unique feature on the Lexmark’s ImageQuick utility is the ability to set up automatic, scheduled print events. These can be files stored on a local device, networked device or can be URLs pulled directly from the Internet. Scheduled events can be set up to go out on a one off basis or at regular intervals as set by the user. The user simply sets up the location of the file, be it a network folder location or the URL address (if a Web site address), enters the print parameters, and saves the job as a scheduled task. This function has a broad range of real-life applications. In the example below a stock broker in New York has set up a series of scheduled print events to ensure that when the brokers arrive in the morning that they have the main news page of the New York Times, CNN, Financial Times and the Nikkei Index to read before the day’s events get underway. In a business where time is money. this can be valuable. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. In another example a retail head office could set up a specific URL with the flyer design for the day’s promotions. Each regional store sets up a scheduled print so that each morning the point of sale material and daily flyers are ready to be displayed and handed out immediately. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 30 Print Lexmark X854e MFP WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • The upper left hand window on each driver has an option which can be viewed in both graphic and text mode. As a job develops, the current selections can be viewed to help ensure that the correct feature sets are chosen for the current run. The graphic selection supports more visuallyoriented users who prefer to see how the job will be laid out on paper. The text mode uses only words when describing the layout elements. • We could not move one job ahead of another in the print queue. This is a necessary feature when some jobs take priority over others, from job to job and user to user. • The ability to view the jobs in the queue from the desktop is a nice feature. Users can see not only what jobs are printing but also the exact order of how they are being spooled. Users also can see copy jobs in this viewer. • The print quality was very good. Clear, crisp lines and graphic reproduction were apparent across a variety of different resolution settings. Different types of jobs will run well on this unit. • When multiple sets of a print run are submitted, the display on the device only shows the number of sets remaining. We would have liked a page count within each set so walk-up users would have a better knowledge of the time remaining before the device is available to use. • The Scheduled Print function is ideal for those users who have large runs and print them at night. This function allows the user to select the time and day and will begin the print job at that time. However, we would like to see a confirmation of the time and date of the MFP with the user’s PC. That way, the operator can confirm that both are in sync. • The PostScript and the PCL drivers were nearly identical in the layout and overall appearance. This similarity allows users to jump from one driver to the next without issue. • Complex operations such as cover insertion and page insertion were user-friendly, intuitive processes. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 31 Scan Lexmark X854e MFP Background In just a few years, network scanning has moved from a luxury item to one of the most important functions on many MFPs. Virtually all MFPs offer standard or optional network scanning. Document feeder design is now a major focus with users looking for higher speed, low resolution capabilities, more versatile scan functions, and even color scanning on devices only equipped with monochrome marking engines. Address Book Integration Integration into central corporate address books on LDAP or NT servers is the de facto standard today, as is the ability to force-populate outgoing email with sender information through an enforced login process. This way, outgoing communications from the remote MFP can be traced back to the user and audited for compliance purposes. Destinations Scan-to destinations include email, SMB (Windows desktop locations), FTP, and Internet fax. In some instances, the scan goes directly to the hard drive; an email is sent to the recipient with a URL link so they can quickly download the scan file from the device hard drive location. A growing number of devices are starting to include external media ports to allow scanning directly to USB memory sticks or digital camera SD chips. We expect to see be commonplace over the next year. Security Security is another hot point in scanning. Several devices now include the capability to send scan messages using encrypted PDF or other secure transfer medium. This can be an important factor in many industries sensitive to data theft or misuse. Integration with Third-Party Applications The big buzz in the MFP industry is the move toward open architecture, where the firmware backbone of the device is based on an industry standard like Java or .NET rather than a proprietary systems. This opens great opportunities for far greater MFP integration with other software applications through third-party applications created with software developer kits (SDK). Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. Scan Features Summary Maximum Scan Speed (Mono) 55 opm Maximum, Scan Speed (Color) 27.5 opm Document Feeder Capacity 75 sheets Connectivity Options 10/100BaseT/1000BaseT Ethernet USB 2.0, 802.11g Scan to email Yes Scan to SMB Yes Scan to FTP Yes Scan to HDD Yes Scan to URL No Scan to Internet Fax Yes TWAIN Scanning Yes Scan to External Memory Source (USB/SD card) Yes Network Authentication Yes LDAP Authentication Yes File Formats Supported TIFF, PDF, JPEG Encrypted PDF Format No Resolution Options 75 dpi, 150 dpi, 200 dpi, 300 dpi, 400 dpi, 600 dpi Ad hoc Subject Line Entry Yes Ad hoc Message Line Entry Yes Ad hoc File Name Entry Yes Through these partnerships, scanning from the MFP can take on a new life, doing more than just routing files from the MFP to an email or folder. Now, information can be directed into a sophisticated workflow complete the metadata, billing information, image enhancement, and other functions, all from the initial scanning action, rather than the multi-stage process used previously. Currently, there is great differentiation in the field of scanning as manufacturers continue to develop this aspect of the device. Watch for more image enhancement and workflow capabilities to become commonplace as scanning continues to pick up the pace as a dominant factor. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 32 Scan Lexmark X854e MFP Scan to Email To initiate the scan to email function, users select the icon on the home page of the touch screen to go to the email data entry screen. On the email data entry screen, searching for previously stored email addresses is simple. Users just enter the first few letters of the email address, and it is located in either the local or central address list. Locally stored email addresses can also be retrieved using the shortcut feature which acts like a one-touch redial button on a fax. Multiple addresses can be added using the next address button. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 33 Scan Lexmark X854e MFP Scan to Email Within the Options menu, users have a wide range of adjustment and customization options including the ability to add a file name, subject and message line Users also can select from various file types, resolutions, original types and chose color or monochrome. The Advanced Options menu offers even more capabilities. The Advanced Imaging tab lets users to adjust the background (more/less) and other contrast settings which can assist when scanning documents with a colored background. The Custom Job menu offers the same advanced job build capability found in the Copy section, letting users scan pages from both platen and document feeder. The Scan Preview menu is possibly the most interesting and novel feature. Users can view a thumbnail of the first page of the scan, allowing them to accept or reject the job before sending. This is a valuable feature that no other manufacturer currently offers without the costly addition of third-party hardware. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 34 Scan Lexmark X854e MFP Scan to USB Memory Stick The Lexmark X854e has a USB port on the front panel to the left of the color touch screen. When a USB drive is plugged in, the touch screen will automatically go to the Held Jobs/USB Drive screen. Users can view any existing documents on the USB stick, scrolling up and down if necessary. To start a scan, the user presses the Scan to USB Drive button to open the universal “scan” screen. This screen (bottom left) is virtually identical to the scan-to-email screen, except for the green button in the bottom left corner that says “Scan It” versus “E-mail It”. When users press the File Name button, a QWERTY keyboard (bottom right) appears so they can enter a file name (SCAN TEST USB in the example). The same options and advanced options that described for Scan to Email on the previous page are available in this workflow as well. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 35 Scan Lexmark X854e MFP Scan Data Capture Accuracy One of the fastest growing needs for highspeed scanning is the conversion of legacy hard copy documents into an electronic format for better information sharing, reduced storage space, and easier search and data retrieval. A scan converts a page into an image which is not very manageable. Most companies use optical character recognition (OCR) software to convert the images into editable text which can then be searched, changed, or incorporated into a new document as required. The OCR engine recognizes individual images on the page, converting them into letters, numbers, and other symbols. The OCR engine then runs complex analysis on the text in conjunction with spell checkers, technical dictionaries, and other data sources before offering up its best conversion into electronic format. This stage can be very time-consuming, especially if the quality of the scanned data is poor leading to character recognition errors. To look into this important workflow issue, BERTL ran a series of standard test patterns with multiple font types, sizes, and colors capturing the data at various resolutions using both text and text/photo settings. Text is the default setting for most OCR work due to its 2-bit format which tends to produce the best text reproduction. However, as more documents incorporate images and color elements, text/photo, which operates in 8-bit and reproduces grey shades for better reproduction of images and colored text elements, is also being used. After scanning each page of its test originals, BERTL analysts then ran the scanned files through ABBYY FineReader 8.0, in default configuration. The impact of the accuracy of the scanning process at the various resolutions and settings is reflected in the number of manual confirmations that the OCR application demands before the document is deemed clean and ready to use. Above is a portion of BERTL’s OCR test chart scanned at 200 dpi (top), 300 dpi (middle) and 600 dpi (bottom) in text format and saved as a PDF file. The image has been zoomed to 400 percent in Adobe Acrobat and screencaptured for display. The top line is 4 point, the middle line is 6 point, and the bottom line 8 point. The choice of OCR application will also have a dramatic effect on the level of human intervention that is required after the initial scanning has taken place. For that reason, we have standardized on ABBYY, a well-respected leading OCR software developer. Our tests are run using the latest level of ABBYY’s FineReader 8.0 software in default modes. Through fine tuning of the rich feature set in ABBYY, an additional portion of the manual intervention could be removed. However, to maintain benchmark comparison procedures, default settings were selected. The higher the human intervention rate, the higher the cost of carrying out the action. As expected, the greatest difficulty in OCR recognition was found on the smallest 4 point text sections of the test documents. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 36 Scan Lexmark X854e MFP Scan Data Capture Accuracy Results accuracy than stepping up the resolution from 200 dpi to 300 dpi. The device fared well on 8 point and 10 point type, which is standard in most documents with text/photo mode delivering a perfect reproduction rate during the OCR conversion. Six point delivered more than 80 percent conversion on three of the four scan resolution setting tests with only 200 dpi text resulting in a poor mid-60 percent accuracy. By raising the scanning resolution to 300 dpi, which is the more common default for OCR applications, the OCR accuracy was greatly improved with text/photo 300 dpi mode delivering a near perfect test close to perfect on all but the 4 point fonts. Four point text, which will be processed on diagram labels, and terms and conditions on contracts, did not fair as well with a very low recognition rate at 300 dpi, even on the bold black font; only 300 dpi text/photo delivered 70 percent conversion accuracy. The accuracies that should be critiqued the most are 10 point Arial and Times New Roman as these are the most commonly-used settings in general office work today. These fonts came through at pinpoint accuracy across all four resolutions in black text, with blue and red text only ping a few percentage points on the Times New Roman. As the chart shows, text/photo mode delivered a higher level of OCR accuracy across the smaller font point sizes than the text algorithm, having a greater impact on OCR Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 37 Scan Lexmark X854e MFP Scan Data Capture Productivity Judging scan productivity is another difficult task. The impact of the user on the overall process will be largely determined by the amount of work required at the initial scan operation. In other words, if the scan operator is expected to enter copious amounts of metadata using the device touch screen interface before hitting the scan start button, then the overall productivity is going to be governed more by the user-friendliness of the interface rather than the scanner technology or transfer rate. However, if the user is merely scanning a file to a preconfigured location, then the scan productivity can be measured looking at two aspects: the time the user must wait until they can return to their desk with originals in hand, and the time they must wait before the files can be accessed. BERTL looks at both of these factors across a selection of scanning settings. Scanning time is only one part of the time required to support image creation. Getting it to your destination is another. The chart below shows the scanning time but also reflects something just as, if not more important: the time it takes to actually use this image. This is a frequently overlooked aspect of scanning. There are differing time elements in the actual scan side of the operation but also in the time to desktop. BERTL’s test included different resolution settings (200 dpi and 300 dpi) as well as different capture levels: text only and text/photo. Users will delight in the ease of use and quick turnaround time for a MFP scan as they find more and more reasons to scan their documents and support requirements ranging from knowledge sharing to records management. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. Scan Data Capture Productivity Results As the chart shows, the Lexmark X854e showed no slowdown when moving from 200 dpi to 300 dpi resolution and scanned at the same rate as data was transferred which meant that there was no delay from the time the last page being scanned to the file being available. The scanner slowed by 45 percent when we switched to color mode but again there was no further slowdown when we switched from 200 dpi to 300 dpi. Mixed Media Size Scanning The Lexmark X854e includes a feature that allows users to scan a mix of letter and legal documents as a single batch. In this mode (selected in the Original Size dropdown list) the monochrome scanner slows from 50 ipm to 12 ipm (letter-size paper). 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 38 Scan Lexmark X854e MFP WHAT WE LIKED: WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE: • The large, color touch screen made the entire process quick, efficient, and accurate. • The ability to encrypt PDF files with a PIN before attaching and sending—a feature that is now available on some MFPs—offers greater security safeguards when communicating confidential information. • Users have a wide variety of customization options available to them including subject and message line capabilities and resolution capabilities down to 75 dpi (which is lower than typical MFPs) allowing for even higher bandwidth saving on archive tasks. • The device offers color scanning capability, a valuable feature missing from most monochrome MFPs on the market today. • Job build allows document feeder and platen scans to be build into a single scan to email. This is a feature missing from many MFPs and saves time and expense for many users. • Letter/legal mode lets users build scan jobs with mixed media sizes without the need to use complex job build features. • Preview Scan lets users check that the selected scan settings are OK before initiating the scan process. • A user-friendly search facility makes it easy to find stored email addresses. A large QWERTY keypad makes ad hoc email entries a fast process. • The ability to attach files to an email directly from the USB memory drive would provide a fast method to send portable documents. • We would have liked the single-pass duplex scanning technology that Lexmark has included in its legal MFP range applied to its ledger/A3 MFP product lineup. It would reduce time at the device for users when carrying There is no scan-to-desktop via SMB feature, something offered on some rival devices. We would have liked the ability to scan a file directly to a folder on our PC on the fly, with the capability to browse—using the SMB protocol—across the network to the folder location. • A scan-to-URL feature which scans large files to a storage location (either on the device itself or to a file repository) and sends the recipient an email with a URL link to retrieve the file would give users control of when they could download large files, rather than having a bottleneck in their email service. • The Preview Scan would have been even more useful if you could have seen all the pages rather than just the first page and if you could have zoomed in to look in closer detail. • With the color scanning capability included, it would have been even more valuable to have included a color dropout capability. This removes a color spectrum during the scanning process and is an valuable factor for automated processing of forms and other documents Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 39 Summing Up Lexmark X854e MFP The Lexmark X854 family of products will be tough to beat in environments where the more advanced document production and finishing capabilities are not an important factor. Traditionally a weakness of the printer giants, Lexmark has embraced the departmental ledger/A3 market with a selection of devices that offer much more than simple feeds and speeds, but address the real issues surrounding workflow and document migration between electronic and hard copy formats. Its fully loaded price would put a shiver down most traditional MFP sales reps. The device can be installed and maintained by the general office workforce, which will be attractive to many as it removes the need to have a long-term service contract and periods of downtime waiting for engineers to arrive. Indeed, it is hard to assign fault or weaknesses to the Lexmark X854e when you remove the device’s lack of finishing from the equation. In fact, many of the “We would like to see” features listed throughout the report are not actually weaknesses versus rival units, but are suggestions on how the device’s advanced technology that the device can be even better utilized in future generations of product. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. We are already looking forward to seeing how competitors rival this new powerhouse and hope that some of our suggestions become a reality in the next generation of what is becoming a product range to beat. 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 40 About BERTL Lexmark X854e MFP About BERTL BERTL Services The success of an organization depends on its ability to manage its information and assets. An effective workflow process requires the complex integration of information, devices, software, and people. Reports and Star Ratings BERTL analysts provide detailed reports of the technical and practical benefits of thousands color and monochrome workgroup, office, graphic arts, and production devices. IT managers, office managers, and other knowledge management professionals need to know which digital imaging devices would best serve their specialized workflow processes. Product Specifications DataCheck Gen II provides the most current competitive data on printers, copiers, MFPs, fax devices, wide format printers, scanners and more. BERTL’s services are designed around this real-world framework, delivering business consumers the independent analysis and insight they need to make critical decisions about digital imaging’s role in their organization. Independent Analysis and Insight BERTL’s reports, comparative data, and strategic guides look and digital imaging through the eyes of the business user. The research examines not only the technical features, but also vertical market applications, and business benefits. The impact on worker productivity is a primary concern. BERTL is 100 percent independent. It receives no funding from manufacturers and all product evaluations and reports are published at BERTL’s own expense for its subscribers. Business users worldwide trust BERTL for objective, unbiased analysis of digital imaging systems. Copyright © 2006 MCA Internet, LLC dba BERTL. News, Interviews, and Analysis The ITchat online magazine provides insight into the dynamics and trends of the digital imaging marketplace through interviews, feature articles, and software reviews BERTL Awards BERTL analysts recognize the leading devices and software solutions in the annual BERTL’s Best awards. BERTL also honors the performance of manufacturers in the annual Readers’ Choice selections. Contact BERTL 200 Craig Road Manalapan, NJ 07726 USA Tel 1.732.761.2311 Fax 1.732.761.2312 Email: [email protected] www.BERTL.com 13 June 2006 All Rights Reserved. The license under which this document is made available and applicable law prohibit any reproduction or further transmission of any portion of this document. This document may only be viewed electronically through the www.BERTL.com Web site and may not be stored in electronic or hard copy format. Any reproduction of trademarks is strictly prohibited. BERTL accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions contained in this document. Page 41