Taking MFP Applications in the Office to the Next Level

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Introduction

This white paper has been prepared on behalf of Konica Minolta Business Technologies by Bissett Communications, publisher of THE MFP REPORT newsletter. It updates a previous white paper (“Leveraging the Office MFP Software Opportunity: A Technical and Marketing White Paper on Konica Minolta’s OpenAPI MFP Software Development Platform&rdquo released in March 2007. The initial white paper coincided with Konica Minolta’s announcement in Europe of OpenAPI, the company’s first Web services application environment designed to enable development of server-based applications that interact with networked Konica Minolta bizhub multifunction peripheral (MFP) devices in office environments.
Significant changes in the MFP marketplace and in Konica Minolta’s software technology have occurred since OpenAPI debuted, and more changes are expected in coming months. These changes warrant a more current assessment. In particular, this updated white paper coincides Konica Minolta’s release of its new bizhub Extended Solution Technology to selected software partners and sales companies. “bEST” encompasses, extends and supersedes the original OpenAPI platform in order to provide a richer set of programmable services and control panel presentation capabilities.
Meanwhile, the market for MFP software tools has expanded dramatically in terms of the number of participating MFP manufacturers, the level of interest among independent software vendors, the breadth of MFP manufacturers’ software tools and partnering programs, and the receptivity of customers and sales channels to MFP-related solutions and applications.
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