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Xerox badges the Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40 large format scanner!

Xerox Sphere of Connectivity logo

Xerox has quietly entered into an OEM agreement with Colortrac, the developer of the SmartLF Ci 40 large format scanner, now included as part of a new Xerox system.

Colortrac logo

Following the recent release of Xerox Corporation's Wide Format 6604 and 6605 Solutions, Scanners4CAD wrote to Xerox and Colortrac saying "We are intrigued by your new scanner whose technical data and images we have examined. It looks identical to the Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40 wide format scanner, albeit in a different color. The technical specifications indicate that it is the Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40. Please confirm or deny that Xerox is now OEM'ing the SmartLF Ci 40 technical document scanner".

Xerox 6604 System
The new Xerox 6604 with
integrated SmartLF Ci 40 wide format
scanner showing front exit paper guides.

Neither Colortrac nor Xerox were willing to confirm or deny this development to us. Xerox simply told Scanners4CAD that it "conducts business and maintains contractual agreements with various equipment vendors to bring our portfolio of Wide Format products to the market. These contractual agreements often do not enable us to discuss individual vendors in any detail". Colortrac similarly declined to comment.

Proof, if proof is needed

The SmartLF Ci 40 is the most unique 40" wide, 600 dpi optical, CIS (contact image sensor) technical document scanner available today. It is distinguished by its use of a single roller mechanism which allows unique front operation, the paper path going in at the front and, unlike all other scanners, exiting at the front, something which Colortrac call a "clamshell design" (not to be confused with Ricoh's printer "clamshell design").

Besides looking the same as the SmartLF Ci 40, the scanner components in Xerox's 6604 and 6605 devices have a maximum media thickness of just 0.3mm or 250gsm, thin by comparison to scanners from Contex or Graphtec but thick enough for technical documents and maps and unique to the Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40. The Xerox 6604 and 6605 Solutions' large format scanners share all these unique and distinctive features.

Xerox Wide Format 6604 and 6605 Solutions

The Xerox 6604 and 6605 is an A0 / E-size monochrome printer with an on-board color scanner. Scanned color documents can be printed in black and white or saved to either a local Xerox FreeFlow Accxes Print Server or an FTP server. The Xerox 6604 and 6605 also offers the ability to scan color images for printing on remote color printers.

Xerox 6604 System

According to Xerox, its 6604 and 6605 solutions offer AEC companies, manufacturing firms and commercial print shops an affordable option for black-and-white technical documents. Xerox claim that by integrating 600 dpi optical resolution copying, scanning and printing within an easy-to-use interface, crisp, accurate image quality on jobs such as emergency services maps, electrical wiring diagrams or construction plans is assured.

The Xerox 6604 and 6605 Solutions can "produce up to four and five D or A1 size images per minute, respectively". Users can select a two-roll paper option for greater printing capacity. According to Xerox, the 15-inch color touch screen and intuitive user interface make the 6604 and 6605 Solutions easy to operate, even for users that don't have familiarity with wide format printers.

A significant if unspoken endorsement

BERTL OUTSTANDING logo
Awarded to the SmartLF Ci 40

Colortrac's involvement with Xerox gives it and its SmartLF Ci 40 wide format scanners a significant if unspoken endorsement far more powerful and valuable than a questionable BERTL award.

Despite the SmartLF Ci 40 being awarded a 4.5-Star "OUTSTANDING" rating by BERTL, the highest made to any scanner, real endorsements don't come bigger than being selected by Xerox, the biggest name in global digital document management solutions.

What does this OEM development mean?

Having Xerox OEM the SmartLF Ci 40 is an enormous coup for Colortrac. It is a significant breakthrough for them into the OEM market. The implications of this unannounced development make it the the most significant event in large format scanning in 2009.

Colortrac SmartLF Ci 40 large format scanner
The SmartLF Ci 40

This development challenges the large format scanning status quo which is based on a triumverate of Contex and its OEMs, HP and Oce. Unfortunately, this coup is not a feather which Colortrac can display in its cap. Like HP and Oce, Xerox is sensitive to it becoming known that it OEMs devices from other manufacturers, something which is forced on it by the high cost of manufacturing scanners in small volumes.

Landing the mighty Xerox Corporation, a company whose very name is a synonym for photocopying, as an OEM for the SmartLF Ci 40 wide format scanner is a huge step forward for Colortrac. Previously, Paradigm Imaging, the US distributor of Graphtec large format scanners, was Colortrac's only OEM. Despite its growing success, Paradigm Imaging would not lay claim to being in the same league as Contex's OEMs, HP and Oce, or Graphtec's KIP. In getting Xerox to OEM its SmartLF Ci 40, Colortrac is now taking the first tentative steps towards gaining eventual OEM parity with Contex.

As news of this development becomes common knowledge - both parties seem committed to keeping quiet about it - it will slowly begin to redefine Colortrac's relationships with buyers, resellers, distributors and other OEMs within the wide format scanning industry. Colortrac will begin to be seen in a new light, no longer trapped in the perpetual shadow of Contex and its influential big brand name OEMs.

Some, including us, have suggested that Colortrac's past engineering quality was not as high as it could be. Colortrac has made strenuous efforts in the last two years to improve its manufacturing QA processes. If the SmartLF Ci 40 is now of a standard good enough for Xerox, a company fiercely proud of the quality of its products and its engineering traditions, then Colortrac has made real progress in this area.

Unlike Contex's OEMs who sell Contex scanners both standalone and as part of MFP solutions, Xerox is not selling the SmartLF Ci 40 as a standalone scanning device, at least not as far as we can see at present. Instead, Xerox is doing what KIP has done with Graphtec's scanners, building them into AEC scan-to-print MFP (multi-function peripherals) devices. This has been hugely profitable for Graphtec. This relationship has allowed KIP to develop an attractive range of scan to print solutions and in the process take sales off Xerox who until now has not had a low cost OEM scanner of its own to build into its document management print solutions. Presumably, Xerox will now be much more aggressive in KIP's expanding scan to print market.

CONCLUSION

The Bottom Line is profit. If Xerox enjoys success with the SmartLF Ci 40, it will provide Colortrac, a small but successful large format scanner manufacturer who refuses to go away, with a welcome, probably much-needed, financial boost. This new income from a previously untapped OEM sales source will help fund Colortrac's future growth and plans. Colortrac now appears to be going places at last. This is a welcome development. Many of the price and performance benefits we see in today's large format scanner market result from Colortrac's aggressive marketing which forces others to play catch-up. CAD users will benefit hugely from a more successful, more aggressive Colortrac.