C5500 with Internal Finisher
Responding to an evolving office environment, Canon U.S.A., has released several advanced new color devices, uniFLOW Online, a multi-tenant, cloud-based print management solution, and ADVANCE Cloud Portal V2.0.
Addressing these new releases, Canon USA’s Director of Product Marketing, ESD, Tom O’Neill, stated that Canon is developing and releasing technology to meet the changing requirements and expectations of customers. O’Neill cited studies that predict print to remain healthy, but said that fundamental transformational changes need to occur if Canon and its partners are to continue finding success with their customers.
“We’re still committed to being a leader in that market, but there are spending shifts towards solutions and professional services,” said O’Neil. “Our products and services reflect how Canon is responding to these changes.”
Targeted at SMBs and departments within enterprises, Canon stated that the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5560i, imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5550i, imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5540i and imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5535i multifunction systems (MFPs), offer advanced personalization, along with a convergence of imaging technology and support for cloud connectivity and various mobile solutions.
The imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5500 series is the second product series based on the third generation platform, introduced by Canon earlier this year. Canon said it was designed to provide high-quality output, powerful performance, outstanding ease-of-use and virtually seamless integration with various Canon and many other third-party workflow solutions. Canon hopes that the new series is positioned to be the core of an organization’s digital business communications.
Canon also released a new series of imageRUNNER ADVANCE MFPs, the Color imageCLASS LBP712Cdn which delivers print speeds of up to 40-pages-per- minute (ppm) and offers increased paper capacity.
Canon said that this A4 color device with a small footprint is ideal for office areas or individuals that only need a color print solution. Touting its adaptability, they added that when used within a print management strategy, that includes imageRUNNER ADVANCE fleets, the Color imageCLASS LBP712Cdn can provide affordable color printing and a consistent user experience via common print driver with the imageRUNNER ADVANCE MFPs.
uniFLOW Online
Canon describes uniFLOW Online as a multi-tenant, cloud-based print management solution that enables small and medium sized businesses a way to manage their print environment without the need for a local server.
O’Neill expressed excitement about the release of uniFLOW Online, stating that it provides a firm foundation for their growth and the growth of their channel partners. He went on that businesses are beginning to realize the unified approach brings security and better tracking capability and improves individual work productivity.
“Our uniFLOW channel partners have been experiencing the benefits for quite some time,” said O’Neill. “But it’s really increased and expanded to scanning, mobile printing and even wide format printing device support.”
Compatible with the Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE devices, other uniFLOW Online benefits listed by Canon were better control over costs and helping reduce environmental impact.
ADVANCE Cloud Portal V2.0
Last year Canon introduced ADVANCE Cloud Portal with connection to Google Drive. It was available for their ADVANCE systems and O’Neill noted that it was utilized by many customers, particularly the education-based customers.
ADVANCE Cloud Portal 2.0 is compatible with the imageRUNNER ADVANCE systems and builds on the capabilities of the current version of ADVANCE Cloud Portal, by allowing scans to four additional cloud destinations, including Box®, Dropbox®, Evernote® and Microsoft OneDrive®.
“The ADVANCE Cloud Portal is really much more than just a portal and cloud services for us,” explained O’Neill. “It’s a portal that can provide customers with ways to make specific, individualized work release and then provide our channel partners with a path to higher value service offerings.”
