Jan (01-02) - Recovery post 9/11

Editorial 01-08-2002
January 2002

It seems that everyone has logged in with some comments regarding 9-11 and I have thus far held back. I mention this event in order to reflect on its impact on the refurbished printer industry. While there was a mad rush to acquire and deploy systems to replace those lost in the disaster, much of the demand has abated. Now, since the continued weakness in the economy, activity has slowed dramatically on both availability and demand. There has been little mention of the impact that the disasters had on the accumulated intellectual capital that was destroyed and a renewed interest in off-site data recovery and backup. We can be sure that an enormous amount of software and data was destroyed and that no backup copies exist.

Because of the ensuing deterioration in the economy, it is more important than ever to address medium term strategies to preserve installed infrastructures. Optimistic plans for technological changes have been scaled back. Users both large and small must reconsider their choices. Keeping what you have now is an important source of stability and safety. This particularly favors the used market as a source for maintenance parts, whole replacements, and continued acquisition of like-models. Coming up with capital to replace platforms or make major upgrades is an anathema.

In other news, IBM has struck a deal to outsource its retail PC lines. Did someone say the PC was dead? Thin Clients markets continue to grow at the expense of PC?s? Lindows and Linux are finally getting some press due, at least in part, to the continued problems with Windows XP?. Don't forget about our IBM 4224 and 4230 Ethernet conversion kits. External kits for all coax and twinax printers shipping soon. IPDS due any day now? Speaking of IPDS, more and more users are facing the harsh reality of the fragility of Ethernet for print traffic. Without a protocol like IPDS, host directed print jobs from AS/400?s and OS/390?s can?t/don?t recover form errors well (if even at all)?.Call me to discuss your options

Herewith is a quickie overview of the used printer market for your entertainment.

Abundant
Lexmark Optra S1620, S1625, S1650 monochrome laser
Lexmark 4049 Optra R/L families of monochrome laser
Lexmark Optra T612n,v
Lexmark SC1275 color laser
IBM 4317 monochrome laser
IBM 4303 color laser
Okidata 320 and 320t dot matrix
Epson DFX5000 dot matrix

Loosening
HP4000 monochrome laser
IBM 6262 high speed impact printers
IBM 6400 high speed impact printers

Tightening
IBM 4332 monochrome laser
IBM 4308 color laser

Just Plain Tight:
Lexmark Optra S1855
Lexmark Optra T610, T612, T614, T616
IBM 4320 IP20 monochrome laser
IBM 4322 IP21 monochrome laser
IBM 4234-011, 012, 013
ASCII interfaces for 6262, 6252, 4234
Accessories for IBM 43xx?s (high cap input, output, ethernet, etc.)

Favorites of the low end lasers:
HP 1100
Lexmark Optra E 4026
Lexmark Optra E310
Lexmark Optra M410