The Ipex-launched InfoPrint 5000 MP brings monochrome and MICR inkjet printing to the 5000 family of continuous-feed machines.

It fits between the full-colour 5000 and the entry-level, monochrome toner machine, the 4100.

InfoPrint, a joint venture of Ricoh and IBM that is set to become wholly owned by Ricoh on 1 July, has a strong market share in Europe and the US, but no machine installations in Australia.

Chris Reid, InfoPrint’s Asia-Pacific general manager, told ProPrint that while InfoPrint had a different business structure to its parent company, it was planning to piggyback on Ricoh’s marketing push down under.

“Ricoh is doing a lot of brand building in Australia. We are part of the Ricoh brand so we can get a lot out of that. Whenever we can team together with Ricoh, we will do that,” said Reid (pictured).

He predicted that the first machine to find a home in Australia would be the full-colour 5000.

“Australia is unique. IBM struggled to sell hardware into Australia – the country is rare in that IBM does not have a dominant position in the market,” said Reid.

He added that Océ had a massively dominant share of the continuous-form sector in Australia.

Reid said the target customers for InfoPrint machines were transactional service bureaus, adding that several potential Australian customers were booked in to visit the vendor’s Ipex stand.

“Australia will be a challenge because we are selling into accounts that use a different technology provider,” he said.

Steven Kiernan is in Birmingham for the Ipex exhibition.

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