Gestetner Data Systems, the London-based laser printer arm of the office equipment company has two new laser printers, one particularly aimed at what Gestetner see as a hitherto untapped area in the UK printer market, that of the nine to 20 page per minute printer, which has a growth rate of around 150% projected into 1990. This is the finding of a Gestetner page printer survey which also notes that the Canon-dominated five to eight page per minute range with an expected revenue of UKP156m next year will grow by only 18%, while the high-speed printer market (over 150 page per minute printers) will not grow at all. Accordingly, the GLX1700 printer offers users 17 pages per minute driven by a Fujitsu engine at the relatively low cost of 1.7 pence per copy, with built-in disk drive so that tasks can be taken to the printer. It has a 1.5m page life-cycle and connects with all major computers and networking products. The GLX600 is the baby in the Gestetner family and connects to personal computers and IBM mainframes. Driven by a TEC engine, at six pages per minute it is slower than its Canon and Hewlett-Packard rivals, but managing director David Paddon contends that the average secretary is little concerned with this, preferring instead greater functionality: the GLX600, like the GLX1700, is intended as a platform product on which future variations can be based. Padden sees 1990 as a year characterised by price reductions, with desktop printers levelling off at UKP1,000, and PostScript printer prices falling more. It is in this context that the price-sensitive GLX600 and GLX1700 will be marketed. Gestetner has tentatively started addressing trade markets and talking to dealers, but is putting more faith in its direct selling and support methods to give it the edge. The GLX600 costs UKP1,400 and the GLX1700, UKP6,000.
