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buoyant market to address, Brother’s
expanding range of thermal printers can
be used by system integrators as part of a
complete mobile working solution, along
with Brother’s new range of lightweight,
USB-powered portable scanners.
Enterprise solutions
To date, Brother has focused on the
SME sector, but the development of
faster printers (e.g. the new HL6180DW
and HL5400 series) and a new Brother
Solutions Interface that allows printers
to be integrated with applications from
Brother and third parties mean it is now
in a position to meet the needs of larger
customers.
One of the first such solutions, available
exclusively from Brother in Europe, is the
b-guard cost management, secure and
pull printing application, which helps
businesses reduce waste, cut costs and
improve document security. Operated
by Windows log-in, PIN or card-based
authentication, it includes features useful
for today’s more mobile workers, such as
the ability to submit a print job by email.
When linked to Active Directory, it can
also be used to scan documents straight
to a user’s email address – a good way of
supporting scanning to mobile devices.
Because b-guard is vendor-independent
and will work with other manufacturers’
devices, resellers can install a system that
works across a customer’s entire fleet
including departmental A3 MFPs where
Brother doesn’t compete.
Diversification
As well as developing existing product
areas, Brother announced a new Network
Imaging Device division to address markets
complementary to office printing. Targeted
to achieve sales of 50 billion yen by 2015,
the new division will provide hardware and
software solutions aimed at end users and
system integrators.
In July, this division is launching
Brother's first range of single function
desktop and network
scanners, giving resellers
and system houses
further scope to
deliver integrated
solutions and the
opportunity for
resellers to attack
a market that
Infosource expects
to double over the
next three years.
Key features include
duplex colour
scanning, automatic
document feeders,
touchscreen controls,
wireless networking and
the ability to scan directly to cloud-based
services including Brother Online.
Brother Online is a brand new cloud-
based portal that provides two-way
communication between end users’ cloud-
enabled computing devices, printers and
scanners and cloud-based services from
Brother and third parties.
One of the first of these is Brother’s
OmniJoin web conferencing solution
derived from its acquisition of Nefsis.
Available this summer, OmniJoin combines
web conferencing tools, such as application
sharing, screen sharing, VoIP, chat and
presence, with the cloud-based storage
of documents and video that makes it
easy for participants to share (and print)
content.
AirScouter
Another offering from this division is the
futuristic AirScouter. Mounted on a pair
of glasses and connected wirelessly to
an iPad or iPhone, this small box displays
a 2D or 3D image that the wearer can
view while carrying out other tasks. It also
incorporates a camera so that colleagues
off-site can see what the wearer sees.
Unlike consumer-oriented Google
Glasses, Brother’s Airscouter is being
promoted as a business tool suitable for
integration into industrial applications,
such as manufacturing or servicing and
support. Examples given by Brother are
of an assembly line worker following a
video demonstration of how to assemble
a particular item; and a service engineer
examining a fault remotely and advising
the on-site engineer how to resolve it.
In his opening address IDC’s Arnaud
Gagneux argued that the European printer
market is alive and well (see page 5). By
diversifying, expanding its product range
and developing capabilities demanded
by enterprise customers, Brother is giving
resellers the opportunity to capture a
greater share of that market now and in
the future.
growth opportunities
26 Print.IT Reseller
...continued
Brother's lightweight scanners can
be integrated into a complete mobile
working solution.
This summer
Brother is
launching its first
single function
desktop and
network scanners.
HL5400
HL6180DW