Feb (02-05) - Enter Lenovo

February, 2005 Editorial

So, IBM exits the PC business, and HP seems to be choking on its Compaq purchase. I'm glad we didn't hang our hats on the PC business! What equipment does big blue even manufacture anymore?

>As mentioned in this space before, IBM has STILL has problems with delivery of its 4247 family of printers. I had expected an announcement by now with news of their new direction. Their reliance on a single manufacturer hurt them before, and I believe it would be in their best interests to even acquire a company (Psi would be a great choice in my opinion). If you still need IPDS ethernet matrix printers, consider our IBM 4224 and 4230 upgrades. Even Genicom and Tally gear has dried up a bit on the used/refurb market. TallyGenicom sells their own equipment as "factory refurbished", and they do an excellent job, but their prices are a bit steep.

I heard of a specific end user who, in an effort to maintain uniformity (here-here), displaced over 1500 IBM laser printers to replace with newer ones. Seems like a mighty steep price to pay, and an enormous logistic puzzle with all those hundreds of locations, but the customer is always right! Whoever lost that toner deal is probably crying right now. I have yet to see them appear on the third party market yet, so there is still no impact other than anecdotal.

Activity since the first of the year is generally up and we hope to sustain the increased traffic as we recover (collectively) from the recession we endured. Markets on many products have gotten tighter and many large packages that had come to market over the past several years have been reabsorbed. By and large, net economic growth can put a strain on supplies. We're doing our very best to keep overhead down, but we cannot single handedly control the vast market. In a mature industry such as ours it is incumbent on the major players to maintain a stable and predictable market in order to continuously supply the end-user base. We are doing our part.