The humble office printer is now a multi-functional device that is boosting the document management industry, writes Karlin Lillingtonin Grenoble.

Printers have been, until now, the dumb workhorses at the end of a network. Soon they may be one of the ways that people connect to the internet and interact with company networks.

The transformation, which already has seen printers turn into "MFPs" - industry jargon for multi-function peripherals that can scan, print, fax and copy - is expected to burgeon into a key element of Europe's fast-growing document-management market, say analysts.

"We believe the MFP has taken on a new central role in the workgroup," says analyst Jon Reardon, European group director of InfoTrend, speaking at an event at Xerox's Grenoble research centre.

Growth across the document-management sector, involving both hardware and software solutions, is estimated to reach €922 million by the end of the decade, with a compound annual growth rate of 42 per cent in Europe, a level described as "astounding" by Reardon.

"We haven't experienced that kind of growth in decades. It's a fast-growth market in western Europe."

InfoTrend believes that Xerox and HP will lead in the sector due to their understanding of the need to merge software solutions and hardware offerings, and Reardon says InfoTrend places Xerox in top position because of "a very sustainable strategy that is perfectly articulated in EIP".

EIP, or extensible interface platform, is Xerox's web services environment for developers. Web services are a way for applications and devices to talk to each other easily and share data, using internet languages like XML and HTML. EIP allows developers to write programs using the simple webpage design language HTML rather than Java, which is popular but requires far deeper programming knowledge.

Web services are central to the transformation of MFPs because they allow for a high degree of personalisation. Xerox says one of its "smart MFPs" accessed though a computer touchscreen and a user's smart card will recognise an individual user and offer services and network access associated with that user.

MFP colour touchscreens, which are about half the size of a standard laptop screen, are mounted on an arm and display folders and program icons as a PC would. Applications are accessed through a web browser.

This new approach means that an MFP essentially becomes a network computer. Instead of simply printing a document from a desktop, or scanning a document at a printer and sending it to a desktop folder, a user could view folders and services on a personal desktop or on a company network at the printer's touchscreen, and access them directly from the printer/MFP.

A user could also access the internet through the MFP, opening the door for an MFP to become a place to pay bills or buy postage, then print out a receipt or the stamps, get maps or other information and send that data somewhere specific or print it out for immediate access.

Within a network, Xerox suggested an MFP could become a place for students to access class notes from a lecturer or a class schedule and print them out, or for a bank to scan documents needed for opening an account and send them directly to appointed locations in the company network.

Students from Sheffield Hallam University in England went further in reimagining the role for the devices. They presented projects in Grenoble where they proposed MFPs as social centres that could be used for dating, as devices for checking student essays for plagiarism, or as stations to read e-mail quickly.

The coupling of devices and software solutions means Xerox will have a direct outlet for the applications it regularly develops at its four global research centres. In the past, software could not be so directly tied to its hardware products, says Rick Dastin, Xerox senior vice-president.

Xerox says using MFPs in such ways extends the life of its hardware, which is typically leased by organisations for three to four years. The software can be updated regularly, which Destin says means "the technology can remain fresh and is not constrained by what is in the box".

Destin says all its touchscreen printers will have EIP built in this year, and that eventually even older printers would be upgradable.

All Xerox printers eventually will have EIP as a standard feature. Organisations can choose to turn on the function or not.

InfoTrend's Reardon says vendors and channel partners, the smaller companies that sell on MFP products from Xerox and other manufacturers, need to wake up to the change coming.

"Somewhere at the end of next year the size of the pitch is going to change dramatically. Vendors and channel partners who sell only hardware will see sales decline dramatically."

Those who also offer solutions - software coupled to the MFP - will see sales "lift", he predicts.

The battle over the next year or two will be to see which manufacturers come out on top.

"These technologies meet very real and tangible needs," says Reardon. "The future potential of this market is not a question of if, but a question of who and when."