September 25, 2002 (CAP VENTURES) -- IBM announced that it has increased the application flexibility of its Infoprint 4000 and 4100 printer families with the introduction of color toner. Users can now choose to print simplex jobs with black toner and a hi-lite color, or the reverse side of a duplex job can be printed with a different color. The Customer Changeable Developer (CCD) feature of the Infoprint 4000 or 4100 printer series allows users to switch from printing black duplex jobs to simplex jobs with a hi-lite color without the need to engage IBM Service to change developers and toner. The ability to have important items highlighted in color printing provides a means to communicate with customers. In addition, the ability to print "Terms and Conditions" in a different color on the reverse side of a statement saves the cost of buying and storing many pre-printed forms. IBM also announced that Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) toner is currently available for select models of the Infoprint 4100 family of printers. With this feature, users can take full advantage of the built-in Customer Changeable Developer Feature on the Infoprint 4100 to print their MICR applications on select models. The Infoprint 4100 offers a high MICR read rate and 600 dpi print quality. The Infoprint 4000 and 4100 families of high-speed, continuous forms printers have been enhanced with the following Customer Changeable Developer (CCD) features: * A Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) CCD is available for the Infoprint 4100 High-Quality Models (previously available only on the Infoprint 4000 family).  * Blue and Green CCDs are available for the Infoprint 4000 and 4100 families to enable printing simplex jobs with a hi-lite color or duplex jobs with one side printed in an opposing color. Color CCDs for the Infoprint 4100 Printer are expected to be available on November 22, 2002. CCDs for the Infoprint 4000 Printer and MICR/Black CCDs for the Infoprint 4100 are available immediately. Blue and Green Customer Changeable Developers enable consumers to use the Infoprint 4000 or 4100's Customer Changeable Developer (CCD) to print two types of applications on duplex printers: * Simplex applications with black toner plus one hi-lite color  * Duplex applications with the reverse side printed in an opposing color Statements can now have important information printed in a hi-lite color such as blue on the front of the page or have "Terms and Conditions" printed on the reverse in a selected color. This ability provides the following benefits: * Changing from printing black - black duplex applications to printing simplex jobs with black and a hi-lite color only requires the operator to change the Customer Changeable Developer (CCD)  * Decreases the overall cost of printing by reducing the need for the costly purchasing and warehousing of pre-printed forms  * Adds impact to statements by highlighting important information in color  * Reduces downtime associated with changing from one pre-printed form to another The Customer Changeable Developer (CCD) on the Infoprint 4100 enables users to print MICR applications on the Infoprint 4100 Family of high-speed, continuous forms printers. This new feature provides the following benefits: * Easily switch from printing production black toner applications to printing MICR checks simply by switching the developer  * High MICR read rates are obtained by using the print quality enhancements and 600-dpi output of the Infoprint 4100, along with newly developed outline MICR fonts  * Print the same MICR applications on the Infoprint 4000 and 4100 Families A developer cart is needed anytime a customer wishes to switch from one CCD to another. A developer cart is automatically shipped with each "Additional CCD" feature that is ordered. If an additional CCD is ordered, an additional developer cart must also be ordered. Applications with Hi-lite color support are supported by the following software platforms: * Infoprint Manager for AIX V3R2 (5765-E42)  * Infoprint Manager for AIX V4R1 (5765-F68)  * Infoprint Manager for Windows NT and Windows 2000 V1R1 (5639-I27)  * Infoprint Manager for Windows V2R1 (5639-N49)  * z/OS V3R3 or greater  * PSF/390  * PSF/400 V4R5 or greater  * PSF/VSE V2R2 or greater In addition to the PSF support, Basic Color Support is available in DCF V1.4, OGL/370 V1.1, AFP Toolbox for MVS V1.0, and AFP Toolbox for Multiple Operating Systems V1.1. Also PPFA/370 V1.1 supports color text. The Color Toner CCD features have the following limitations: * Auto - Align is only available when the Color CCD is located in the second engine of a duplex system.  * The Enhanced Operator Console (feature code 9450/4450) is required.  * Data verification between black and color data is not available in simplex applications (similar to Side 1 / Side 2 data verification in black duplex applications). IBM does not recommend printing sensitive customer data in color toner while running simplex applications.  * Although it is possible to print 1-D and 2-D barcodes with color toner, not all barcode scanners and readers will be able to properly decode a color barcode. For this reason, it is not recommended to print bar codes with color toner.  * CCDs are not interchangeable between different printer engines or models. A CCD is dedicated to one serial numbered printer engine. Additional CCDs can be ordered to print other color or MICR applications.  * Once a CCD is loaded with one color toner, it can not be changed to another type of toner.  * Tractorless (pinless) mode is only supported for duplex applications when the color CCD is located in engine 2. Simplex applications with a hi-lite color are not supported in pinless mode.  * Custom colors are not available.  * The AFCCU cannot detect which, if any color CCDs are installed. It is the operator’s responsibility to determine if the CCD installed matches the application being run.  * Infoprint Fidelity Manager (FC 4832 or 4833) is not supported. The following limitations apply to the Infoprint 4100 MICR feature: * MICR is not supported in tractorless (pinless) mode.  * In duplex mode, MICR toner can only be used in first Infoprint 4100 engine (HD1). In dual simplex mode, MICR can be used in both engines.  * The MICR CCD for the Infoprint 4100 cannot be switched to another type of toner. Additional CCDs can be purchased for additional types of toner.  * Paper weight support is limited to 75 to 90 gsm (20 to 24 lb. bond) paper. This is a banking industry standard for check stock.  * When printing on boxed paper with MICR toner, the printed MICR line cannot be within 1/2 inch of the box-fold perforation (bottom or top of page).  * Paper must meet the IBM Forms Design Reference Guide (G544-3921) specifications for Infoprint 4100 family printers.  * CCDs can not be interchanged between printer engines. A CCD is dedicated to one serial numbered engine.  * MICR Fonts for the Infoprint 4100 must be downloaded at http://www.printers.ibm.com/r5psc.nsf/web/4100supt.  * Checks must be printed so that the text is oriented in the scan direction.