IBM confounds rumours over printer unit

Despite rumours in the US to the contrary, IBM is beefing up its presence in the printer marketplace with the launch of a new range of laser models.

Despite rumours in the US to the contrary, IBM is beefing up its presence in the printer marketplace with the launch of a new range of laser models.

The IT giant has announced that it will be launching three high-end devices in the Infoprint 1000 series of network-enabled laser printers, and is looking to introduce further low-end models throughout the rest of the year.

The three machines, the Infoprint 1130, 1140 and 1145, print 30, 40, and 45 pages per minute respectively to a maximum 1200 dots per inch, and will be available from October priced at £1049, £1667 and £2429.

Big Blue had been tipped in US news reports to be considering off-loading the division due to the low margins it was witnessing in the peripherals market.

Nick Marsden, Europe, Middle East & Africa marketing director at IBM Printing Systems, said: "This announcement shows that IBM is committed to the printer market and, despite reports to the contrary, we have no plans to pull out. IT is a tough business right now, but that does not mean we will start cutting all our lower-margin offerings.

"These product releases are just the start of a new wave of units from IBM and resellers can expect more to follow over the next six months."

Each model has USB connectivity, and an Ethernet connection enables the printers to run across a company network.

Gartner analyst Malcolm Hancock said: "There have been many rumours that IBM will sell its printer business, but I think it is right to keep hold of it despite current margin pressures."