Xerox this week announced an innovative new printer multifunctional. Based on improvements to Xerox’s solid ink technology, the company is now able to use solid ink in larger models aimed at business users.

The ColorQube 9200 models provide fast output times ranging from 38 ppm (color) up to 50ppm (black).

These machines, which use solid ink “cubes” instead of toner or ink, offer a dramatic reduction in waste from consumables, up to 90% less waste than conventional laser or liquid ink machines. There are no drums, no empty cartridges, no wasted toner kits. Another green bonus: Solid ink printers work well with recycled paper.

Xerox is also using an innovative cost-per-page plan, which makes printing pages with just a little color (company logos or some accent type, for example) as inexpensive as printing all-black pages. Many color pages with more content (what Xerox calls everyday color) will cost 3 cents or less, a big reduction from industry averages of eight to ten cents per average page. Xerox claims that the machines will provide a 64% reduction in per page costs over comparable color laser printers – even its own.

The ColorQube models are major departmental/enterprise machines and are priced comparably to copier multifunctionals. List prices start at $23,500, though unlike most printer MFPs, these will most likely be leased like a copier.

Xerox has been nibbling away at the color laser printer market with its solid ink models. The ColorQube may allow it to take an even bigger chomp of market share.

Tags: color printing, ColorQube, solid ink, Xerox