by Amy Weiss
On December 3, HP Inc. announced a series of new products and solutions, including two new JetAdvantage solutions, three new scanners, and two new A3 MFPs. We have talked about the scan and capture solutions extensively over at Workflow, but for the purposes of this publication we wanted to take a closer look at what was an interesting hardware launch for the newly formed HP Inc. — the HP MFP S965dn and HP MFP S975dn.
The launch of these two light-production A3 devices was almost buried in the announcement of the new offerings in HP Inc.’s JetAdvantage portfolio — a suite of workflow and printing solutions. However the S900 series is notable for a number of reasons.
HP first launched its S900 series in December 2013 with the S956dn monochrome MFP and the Color MFP S962dn, S951dn and S970dn. The devices in the line were manufactured by Sharp and delivered exclusively as part of HPS’s Managed Printing Service and Partner MPS agreements.
Like the older devices in the line, the HP MFP S965dn and HP MFP S975dn are A3 devices manufactured by Sharp, and are intended for HP Inc.’s Managed Print Services customers. HP Inc. says these are the fastest and highest-volume devices in the LaserJet MFP fleet, with the S965dn printing up to 65 pages per minute (ppm) and the S975 printing up to 75 ppm. Both devices can scan up to 200 images per minute with single-pass, dual-sided printing, and are rated for up to 150,000 pages per month. The devices are intended to round out the monochrome side in the light production space, previously occupied by only the 56-ppm S956dn. Aside from the faster print and scan speeds, the features on the two new devices appear similar to the S956dn, with a 10.1-inch touchscreen with high resolution and live editing capability, retractable keyboard, a number of finishing options, and a paper input of up to 6,700 sheets.
HP’s partnership with Sharp in the light production A3 market is an interesting one, particularly as many hardware OEMs are seeking a crossover between A3 and A4 markets (at the recent Sharp dealer meeting, for instance, the question of Sharp’s presence in the A4 market was a hot — and largely unanswered — one). Although HP has not released specific numbers, the S900 series appears to have been doing well enough to continue it and add to the line. Kristofer Provencio, future product marketing manager, LaserJet and Enterprise Solutions, HP Inc., said that A3 has been an area of emphasis for the company over the last year.
The S965dn and S975dn offer support for multiple solutions, including HP Access Control and HP Capture and Route, the latter of which was one of the updated solutions also announced at the same time as the S900 devices and is now available through a one-button implementation on HP Enterprise MFPs and Digital Senders.
HP did not provide pricing on the devices or their estimated cost per page, as they are available only to Managed Print customers and numbers are heavily impacted by volume.
HP Inc. also fleshed out its hardware line with a refresh of its flatbed scanner line, with the ScanJet Pro 2500 fi, 3500 fi and 4500 fi. The 2500 fi, priced at $299, replaces the Scanjet 5590, the $549 3500 fi replaces HP Scanjet N6310, and the $899 4500 fi will replace the Scanjet N6350 and Scanjet 8270 (the 4500 fi is scheduled to be available in January; the two others are currently available). It has been several years since the original devices were released, and although there has been some shift toward MFPs as input devices, HP says there are many use cases still better suited to standalone devices.
Our Take
Taken all together, the new product launch for HP Inc. makes a statement for the company, offering both high-volume print devices as well as products that help ease the migration to digital workflow. In a prepared statement at the time of its Q4 earnings release, HP Inc. President and CEO Dion Weisler said, “In these challenging markets, we are taking decisive actions that will protect our core business which generates the majority of our cash flows.” This most recent product release seems to emphasize that statement quite clearly.
Amy Weiss is editor-in-chief of BPO Media’s publications Workflow and The Imaging Channel and analyst for BPO Research. She has more than 20 years’ professional writing and editing experience and has specialized in the office technology industry for the last 14 years, focusing on areas including print and imaging hardware and supplies, workflow automation, managed print, document management solutions and software, business solutions and more. Contact her at amy@bpomedia.com.
is editorial director of BPO Media’s publications Workflow and The Imaging Channel, and senior analyst for BPO Research. As a professional writer and editor, she has specialized in the office technology industry for the last 20 years. Prior to that she worked in public relations and has a master's degree in communication arts.
