from computerworld
By BOB BREWIN


IBM introduced today what it called a "plug-and-print" wireless LAN adapter to support enterprise network printing on high-volume machines.
Mark Andrews, vice president of worldwide marketing for IBM printing systems, said the new Wi-Fi printing adapter shows how the IBM printer product line offers enterprise users wider choices than the line of printers introduced today by Dell Computer Corp. (see story).

Andrews dismissed Dell's printers as "entry-level" models focused on consumers and the low end of the enterprise market. IBM, which buys its printers from a number of vendors, including Hitachi Ltd. and Ricoh Co. Ltd., both based in Tokyo, offers an entry-level enterprise model priced at $639 with a maximum output of 45 pages per minute (ppm), or slighty more than double the 22 ppm of the Dell workgroup printers manufactured by Lexmark International Inc. in Lexington, Ky.

Those printers have a base price of $499.

But, Andrews said, the hardware cost of printers -- like PCs -- is only a small part of the overall cost of an enterprise printer, with larger, networked machines more cost-effective than a series of smaller machines scattered about offices.

Paul Preo, IBM's group line manager for workgroup printers, said the new Wi-Fi printer adapter, which is priced at $212, will make it easier for enterprises to hook up users to a networked printer. He said the Wi-Fi adapter will help companies "starved" for Ethernet ports connect network devices as well as organizations located in environments where it is difficult to install wired network printer connections.

Greg Davis, director of sales and marketing for the Dell printer group, declined to say whether his company plans to introduce wireless printers. But he did say Dell plans to expand its printer product line later this year.

While some analysts, such as Peter Kastner at Boston-based Aberdeen Group Inc., said they believe Dell can become "a material player" in a printer market dominated by rival Hewlett-Packard Co., others have their doubts.

Peter Grant, an analyst at Garner Dataquest in Stamford, Conn., said he views Dell as a late entry into a market "driven by research and development, intellectual property [patents] and installed base.

HP has more than 175 million printers installed worldwide, he said. It will be years before Dell makes any impact on HP. "If Dell is going to be a long-term player in the printing and imaging market, they need to acquire a printer vendor with the IP [intellectual property] that enables them to control production and pricing," he said.