HP Makes Big Splash as It Dives Into A3 Market with 16 New Platforms

One of HP’s New A3 PageWide Models

HP Inc.’s dual announcements of its acquisition of Samsung’s printer business and its own line of 16 A3 platforms sent a strong signal that it intends to be a major player in the A3 market. The new multifunction printers (MFPs), introduced on September 12 at the HP Global Partner Conference, are added to HP’s PageWide and LaserJet lines. All offer features, tools, and security capabilities that HP hopes will set its A3 line apart from competing models. (For more on HP’s acquisition of Samsung’s printer business, see “HP Buys Samsung Printer Unit, Unleashes 2-Prong Strategy to Disrupt A3 Copier Market.”)

“HP is entering the A3 market in a big way with a fresh eye to the marketplace,” said David Laing, worldwide vice president of contractual channels at HP Inc. The new A3 line includes three PageWide and 13 LaserJet platforms, representing a total of 54 SKUs with a full range of finishing options. Print speeds for the PageWide models range from 40 ppm to 60 ppm, but a “general office” mode can boost that to 80 ppm. The LaserJet line print speeds range from 22 ppm to 60 ppm. The HP PageWide Pro and HP LaserJet Managed MFPs will be available in spring 2017. HP PageWide Enterprise models will follow in the fall of 2017.

HP boasts speed and color affordability for the line, but sees the A3 line’s biggest competitive advantage in cost of ownership savings, in part driven by another offering announced on Monday, HP Smart Device Services. This is a set of cloud-based tools and device-sensing capabilities designed to optimize performance and minimize service requirements. By anticipating service needs, channel partners can service their customers’ printers more efficiently while optimizing uptime.

“If Smart Device Services detects a temperature fluctuation in a fuser, it might dynamically predict fuser failure within 2,000 pages,” said Laing. The system can then alert the partner to send a technician as it also orders a new fuser. Smart Device Services can then take it one step further. “It will statistically look at other machines in a customer’s environment and identify what else to fix at the same visit,” said Laing.

The simplicity of the PageWide models also reduces service requirements. They have only three replaceable components. That simplicity also contributes to lower power consumption for the PageWide models.

Both the PageWide and LaserJet A3 lines will have built-in security features including Sure Start, run-time intrusion detection, and whitelisting. HP is claiming that these features make the A3 line “the world’s most secure printers,” based on its own comparison with competitors. Sure Start protects the printer’s BIOS, rebooting with a clean BIOS if trouble is detected. Whitelisting looks for HP-signed code before executing. Run-time intrusion monitors memory for unusual events.

Focus on the Channel
The A3 market is as big as A4 and a good adjacent opportunity, particularly for HP’s channel partners, said Laing. A3 is more skewed to the SMB market–as much as 65%,” he said. “That makes go-to-market through channel partners much more important.” Laing cited several benefits for HP’s channel partners, including a fuller portfolio (A3 and A4), more and cheaper color options via PageWide, more upsell opportunities, and improved uptime and security. Greater reliability and lower service needs give channel partners the option of passing savings on to customers or enhancing margins on service.

Laing estimated that channel partners can save as much as 30% of their service costs, eventually boosting that to 50%. He projected that on average a PageWide A3 system would need four service visits per year, and a LaserJet A3 printer would require about seven visits. He noted that a traditional copier requires nine to 16 service visits a year at an average cost of $100 to the partner.