Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA plans investment in two businesses that it believes are key money makers: inkjet technology and personal computers and servers. And at CeBit it launched a slew of products in these to areas. Olivetti says the millions of dollars it has so far invested in inkjet technology will be used in products, like facsimile machines, cash registers and multifunctional devices, and Ernesto Musumeci, executive vice-president of the products division, said It continues a long line for the company, we already have the know-how. Olivetti said its revenues from inkjet technology had risen 123% from 1993 to 1994, to $238.3m. A rise of 65% is forecast for this year and Olivetti was agressively attempting to increase its market share. Last year, Olivetti had 10% share of the European facsimile machine market and a 9.2% share in printers; it wants to grow these to 13% and 12.2%, and said its share in the former market would have been larger had it been able to meet the phenomenal demand. To counteract shortfall in production, Olivetti is investing another $38m on staff and research and development in this field. Musumeci predicted that by the end of the year the company would have developed 600 by 600 dots per inch resolution, fast-drying and indelible ink, reduced costs to the end user, introduced higher numbers of nozzles, and general improved print quality. Planned products include integrated printer, copier and facsimile machine attached to phone lines, the first example of which, the OFX2200 and OFX3200 bubble inkjet machines, were launched at CeBIT. These machines can be used as either stand-alone desktop machines, or can be connected to personal computers via the parallel port. They can then be used as a printer, fax or scanner.
Print heads
Olivetti is also investing heavily, around $60m, in the Arnad factory, in northern Italy, which makes print heads. It will be churning out 10m print heads a year by the end of this year, and 15m some time during 1996. Olivetti also announced a selection of personal computer-type products and made a number of predictions about the desktop, portable and server markets. Olivetti says all three segments will be positioned with Pentium, multimedia capabilities and Windows95. It says it is squarely behind the concept of networking, endorsing the Microsoft Network and joining the personal computing working group that is developing Intel Corp’s ProShare. At CeBIT it launched the R7-400 line of Alpha AXP workstations, with models with processors running at 100MHz, 166MHz and 233MHz; entry-level Alpha AXP servers called the LAX 7200 line, designed as a workgroup server for networked environments; and added to the LSX 7500 line of mid-range servers with the LSX 7520; and the Systema line of Pentium-based network servers included machines capable of supporting multiprocessing. Less office-based equipment came in the form of the Lyra line of electronic file transfer and point of sale terminals that Olivetti says is customisable to suit various retail needs; and the CD 6200 cash dispenser. Products announced included the Suprema range of personal computers, which should be shipping in the fourth quarter. And a range of servers, also due in the fourth quarter, will be based on the forthcoming Intel P6, and will be a bi-endian, four-processor affair, with symmetric multiprocessing and high availability features based on SNX 200/400. It is also planning a personal computer with television tuner.
