NORWALK, Conn. -- Xerox Corporation's ColorQube 9200 Series multifunction printer (MFP) received an Outstanding Achievement Award from Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI) for its innovative pricing structure, ease of use and environmental benefits. The honor marks the third industry award bestowed on the world's first high-speed solid ink MFP since it was launched in May.

The independent testing lab called out Xerox's Hybrid Color Pricing Plans, which can reduce color page costs by up to 62 percent compared to traditional color laser MFPs - without compromising quality. With these new plans, customers pay only for the amount of color used on any given page, and pages with logos or color highlights cost the same as a black-and-white page.

Managers from a wide range of businesses report that the unique pricing structure lets them keep more print jobs in-house, increasing productivity and use of color while reducing costs. School officials at St. Augustine College, the only bilingual institution of higher education in the Midwest, now incorporate color into most of their documents and have been able to internally manage more print jobs. Life Services Network, a nonprofit network of adult care providers in Illinois, has also been able to increase their in-house printing without increasing costs.

"The Xerox ColorQube saves us both time and money. We use our MFP to create 30-page reports on customer satisfaction surveys, something we do quite frequently. This MFP allows us to quickly compile our reports, with fantastic color graphics, without having to ever leave the building," said Scott Parker, director of marketing and communications at Life Services Network.

BLI also cited Xerox's advancements to its proprietary solid ink technology and its ability to expand solid ink from desktop printers to a fully featured and easy to use workgroup MFP.

"The units' ease of user maintenance far outshines the toner-based products it competes with in this speed range," said BLI assignments editor George Mikolay.

Additional features recognized by BLI include:

    •    Less waste - Due to the cartridge-free solid ink technology, there is much less waste and low environmental impact. Aside from the ink sticks, the devices have only one customer-replaceable component. Compare this to similar toner-based MFPs that require much more user intervention - replacement of toner cartridges and multiple drums.

    •    Improved workflows -Xerox's XRX_ELINK>LNK_NR_ExtensibleInterface_Platform (EIP) allows the machine to integrate easily with third-party workflow applications to simplify document management.

    •    Hassle fee tools - Embedded help videos offer quick troubleshooting assistance for situations such as loading staples or clearing paper jams, right at the user interface. In addition, the ColorQube's paper path is illuminated with blue LEDs making access easy and less intimidating.

The ColorQube 9200 Series also received a LNK_NR_Technological_Innovation_Award_release from Industry Analysts, Inc., in recognition of the breakthrough technology behind the MFP and a 2009 BERTL's Best Award for "Most Innovative Color Printer Pricing".