200 Percent Throughput Performance Increase For Industrial Print Environments BOULDER, CO---May 7, 2002 -- IBM today announced a new model of its 6400 line matrix printer, which prints at 2,000 lines-per-minute (lpm). Designed for industrial print applications, the IBM 6400 Model 020 is also supported by a new release of IBM's Printer Management Utility and improved drivers for Windows operating systems. The 6400 Model 020 prints at speeds up to 1,800 lpm in Data Processing (DP) mode -- a 60 percent improvement over IBM's 6400 Model 015 -- and up to 2,000 lpm in Draft Mode. With the high print speed of 1,800 lpm in DP mode, the most commonly used mode to print industrial applications, IBM is providing a logical alternative to older band printers. The Model 020 will also operate more efficiently and reliably with a lower cost of operation than band printers, which are still being used in many industrial environments. "This new model 6400 is clearly a complementary addition to IBM's already strong line of industrial printers," said Lou Sickenius, product manager, industrial segment, IBM Printing Systems. "It offers outstanding price performance that's hard to beat, and the flexibility to consolidate output from multiple printers in an industrial environment and print to a single 6400." The IBM 6400 Model 020 can be used on many systems including the iSeries, zSeries, pSeries, IBM S/390, AS/400, RS/6000, IBM PC and Netfinity servers, and IBM-compatible PCs and LANs. It can also be used with many non-IBM systems supporting ASCII serial/parallel interfaces. Enhancements beyond the Hardware To help meet the demanding needs of industrial printing, the new IBM's Printer Management Utility (PMU), which now also supports the entire IBM 6400 family, will improve operator efficiency and the ease of managing printers. Available for download at no charge from the IBM Web site, the utility enables e-mail real-time notifications to be automatically sent to appropriate operators alerting them of printer status that needs attention. Automatically locating printers on a network, the PMU can download printer settings to multiple printers and a virtual operator panel can be accessed for each printer.