Category Archives: "News & Events"

Konica Minolta Named to ChannelE2E’s Top 250 Public Cloud MSPs List for 2020 Posted on January 14, 2021 by IA Staff Tweet Share Share Third-annual List Honors Leading MSPs for Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and More  Ramsey, NJ – Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), along with its IT Services Division, All Covered, is proud to announce ChannelE2E,

Technology Trends JAPANESE HEADLINES: KONICA MINOLTA’S POST-PANDEMIC VISION written by Tetsuo Kubo December 16, 2020 Business development is accelerating to keep pace with workstyle changes. On October 9, Konica Minolta held a web briefing for the Japanese market with President Shoei Yamana and the company’s directors. The theme was, “Konica Minolta’s Business Acceleration Amid COVID-19.” Yamana reported that while Konica Minolta’s business performance is on a recovery trend

Report published by Gadget magazine Uses research published by Technavio Managed Print Services market to grow by $7.08 billion in next 4 years CAGR (cumulative annual growth rate) of 2% until 2024 Major factor driving growth is increased adoption of MFPs by SMB 39% of growth will come from North America

Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company) launched new platform to assist dealers with live hardware and software solution demonstrations Sessions can be booked with team of product experts Accessed through the MyKyocera dealer portal

DSCOVR: Deep Space Climate Observatory Home DSCOVR: Deep Space Climate Observatory   About the Mission The Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR, was launched in February of 2015, and maintains the nation’s real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of NOAA’s space weather alerts and forecasts. Without timely

HIPAA & Cybersecurity Updates The FBI is reporting that pranksters are hacking into smart devices in the home, accessing the audio and video feeds from the devise (i.e. Alexa, smart TVs, etc.) and then contacting local law enforcement to report a fake crime Hacker than watches the live footage of police response This is called

Feds say don’t use Chinese hardware The US Department of Homeland Security published a “business advisory” warning US customers against using hardware created or linked to Chinese companies FBI is investigating more than 1,000 cases of data theft by Chinese government Claims that Chinese designed products could contain backdoors or hidden data collection mechanisms accessible

On New Year’s Eve, American inventor Thomas Edison demonstrates his incandescent light bulbs in Menlo Park, New Jersey, by lighting a street in front of about 3,000 spectators. Edison isn’t the first to design such a light bulb, though his is the first to burn steadily for hours.

Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company) will soon ship the TASKalfa 2554ci and 3554ci color laser A3 MFPs 25ppm and 35ppm top speeds respectively Replace the 2553ci and 3253ci models 4 tandem amorphous silicon (aka ceramic) drum design Advertised as offering 4800x1200dpi Does not offer true 8 bits per pixel Dark grey plastic exterior Optional white

Acquisitions and mergers update First Citizens Bank, headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, announced it has acquired CIT Leasing for $2.2 billion Total assets of combined entity = $100 billion

More security threats for printers/MFPs Forescout Security published new report detailing how millions of IoT devices are at risk from TCP/IP stack flaws Named the new vulnerabilities “Amnesia 33” “you can crash devices with a single data packet”; stated Elisa Costante, VP of Research “We find that the DNS, TCP and IP substacks are the

HP suffers another security issue Report published by Help Net Security magazine HP Device Manager solution software vulnerabilities may allow full system takeover by hackers Device Manager is an application for remote management of HP devices Security researchers Nick Bloor found 3 vulnerabilities that could be chained together to achieve unauthenticated remote command execution as

Lexmark loses another executive Lexmark, owned by Ninestar of China, is now looking for a new VP of Channel and OEM Sales, as Sammy Kinlaw has left the company Kinlaw was named SVP of Endpoint Solutions for Tech Data’s Americas region Reporting to John O’Shea, president

Paper superior to laptop for learning research published by Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) students who write by hand learn and remember more than those that use computers pen and paper sparking activity in part of the brain responsible for attention approximately 45 US states currently do not require schools to teach students

HP pays $6 million fine over sales practices Agreed to pay the huge amount to settle federal Security & Exchange Commission charges that company misled investors by failing to disclose the impact of certain sales practices conducted to meet quarterly earnings targets Included using incentives to pull in printer/MFP supply sales to current quarter earlier

  Notification of Phishing Email Scam — Termination of HUB Certification Dear HUB/CMBL Participant: The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has been notified by several participants in our HUB/CMBL programs that they have received a phishing email that appears to have been sent by our agency informing the recipient that the State of Texas Historically

HCFCD Citizen Participation Opportunities for Flood Risk Reduction The Harris County Flood Control District can facilitate communication with our partner organizations to promote citizen-based flood risk reduction strategies and assist in organizing community events for wider implementation. These partner organizations can direct prompt and effective public outreach that is targeted toward flood risk reduction strategies

Deloitte report on printer security Estimates a 15% increase in sales of desktop printer/MFPs in 2020 due to increase in employees working from home and needing device to complete work Many retail stores seeing massive increases in sales Depletion of inventory of devices 62% of US households had a printer/MFP before COVID-19 pandemic, so actual

Langenhagen, Germany, 14 September 2020 Konica Minolta wins the BLI PaceSetter Award for Serviceability and Support 2020-2021 in Western Europe awarded by Keypoint Intelligence for the second time. The recognition honours the OEM that offers the best-designed tools, programs and trainings to enhance the serviceability of its products and services. With its “shift left” approach,

Konica Minolta Welcomes New Vice President, Dealer Sales South Posted on September 14, 2020 by IA Staff Tweet Share Share Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), is pleased to announce Phil Boatman has joined the company as Vice President, Dealer Sales South. Phil Boatman was at Lexmark International for 16 years, most recently serving as Director for

Konica Minolta Expands bizhub® i-Series Line with New Monochrome Devices Posted on September 14, 2020 by IA Staff Tweet Share Share Six Multifunctional Printers Round Out Award-winning Portfolio Ramsey, NJ — Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), a leader in world-class printing technology, has expanded its bizhub® i-Series with the launch of six new black and white

HIPAA & Cybersecurity Updates Adobe notified customers that it has fixed 5 critical flaws that would allow hackers to run JavaScript in browers Would allow hackers to steal info, and move laterally through network Microsoft notified users that specially crafted Windows 10 themes and theme packs could be used in “Pass-the-Hash” hacking incidents Could steal

Quote from “The Cure of Troy” by the Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney. One paragraph.  History says, don’t hope On this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme. The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles’ Philoctetes is a

HIPAA & Cybersecurity Updates Advocate Aurora Health of Wisconsin & Illinois notified 1,907 patients that their PHI was exposed after a mailing error by Diamond Healthcare Communications. The Idaho Board of Nursing reported a potential breach exposing info on nurses in the state, being used by a hacking group to extort funds. The Philadelphia Archdiocese

Okidata to get out of printer/MFP business Reported its last quarter’s earnings Net sales down 24.4% to 81.4 billion yen ($756.5 million) Operating income was a loss of 1.1 billion yen (-$10.2 million) Components & Platforms (includes printers and MFPs) division net sales down 25.1% to 40 billion yen ($371.7 million) Reported a loss of

TIPS TO LIVE BY How Sweat Works: Why We Sweat When We’re Hot, as Well as When We’re Not Aug. 19, 2020 – Katie McCallum Did you know that there are only two mammals capable of long-distance running — and that humans are one of them? (Horses are the other, since I’m sure you were curious). While

Community: The Harris County Sheriff’s Office Announces Multi-Agency Partnership for DWI Initiative Ahead of Labor Day Weekend HOUSTON – (September 3, 2020) – The Harris County Sheriff’s Office, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and the Texas Department of Public Safety are joining forces ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend to crack down on

HP reported its last quarter earnings net revenue down 2.1% to $14.3 billion earnings per share was $0.52, down from $0.78 for third-quarter 2019 Net earnings down 37.7% to $0.7 billion Printer/MPF division net revenue down 20% to $3.933 billion 2% operating margin Total hardware units were down 2% Commercial hardware units down 32% Consumer

By: Key Kain on August 11th, 2020 What are the Security Risks Associated with the use of Unmanaged Print Devices? Are thousands of work-from-home employees from across the United States tempted to introduce unmanaged technology (and the associated cyber threats) through a personal printer to their workplace network? I had never thought of this. Until one day…