MFP manufacturers traditionally divided MFPs into various segments.
The segments roughly divide the MFPs according to their speed in pages per
minute (ppm) and duty cycle/robustness. Despite this, many manufacturers are
beginning to avoid the segment definition for their products, as speed and
basic functionality alone are often not sufficient to differentiate the many
features that the devices are capable of. Two color MFPs of a similar speed
will be in the same segment, despite having potentially very different feature
sets, and therefore very different prices. From a marketing perspective, the
manufacturer of the more expensive MFP would want to differentiate their
product as much as possible to justify the price difference, and therefore the
segment definition is avoided.
Many MFP types, regardless of the category they fall in to, also
come in a "printer only" variety, which is the same model without the
scanner unit included. This is even the case with devices where the scanner
unit physically appears to be highly integrated into the product.
Today, Multifunction printers are available from just about all
printer manufacturers. They are designed for home, small business, enterprise
and commercial use. Naturally, the cost, usability, robustness, throughput,
output quality, etc. all vary with the various use cases. However, they all
generally do the same functions; Print, Scan, Fax, and Photocopy. In the
commercial/enterprise area, most MFP have used Laser Printer technology, while
in the personal, SOHO environments, Inkjet Printer technology has been used.
Typically Inkjet printers have struggled with delivering the performance and
color saturation demanded by enterprise/large business use. However, HP has
recently launched a business grade MFP using Inkjet technology.
In any case, instead of rigidly defined segments based on speed,
more general definitions based on intended target audience and capabilities are
now becoming much more common. While there is no formal definition, it is
common agreed amongst MFP manufacturers that the products fall roughly into the
following categories:
AIO
An AIO is a small desktop unit, designed for home or home office
use.
Generally the
features an AIO has focus on scan and print functionality for home use, and may
come with bundled software for organising photos, simple OCR and other uses of
interest to a home user. An AIO will always include the basic functions of
Print and Scan, with most also including Copy functionality and a lesser number
with Fax capabilities.
AIO devices are
usually not networked and are generally connected by USB or Parallel.
An interesting
note about AIO devices is that they often have features lacking in the larger
devices, due to their target towards home users. These functions include smart
card readers, direct connection to digital cameras (e.g. PictBridge technology)
and other similar uses.
The print engine
of most AIOs is based on either a home desktop inkjet printer, or a home
desktop laser printer. They may be black and white or colour capable.
On some AIOs,
like the Hewlett-Packard Photosmart C8180 printer, have a DVD burner and
Lightscribe functionality where the user could burn DVDs and create an image on
a special Lightscribe DVD or CD using special software like Roxio or Nero AG
Software Suite to create the image. To create a Lightscribe image, it takes
about 10–25 minutes to make.
SOHO MFP
A large desktop or small freestanding unit, designed for Small
Office/Home Office use. Often, the form factor of the MFP (desktop or
freestanding) depends on the options added, such as extra paper trays or so on.
Generally a SOHO
MFP will have basic Print, Copy, Scan and Fax functionality only, but towards
the larger end of the scale, may include simple document storage and retrieval,
basic authentication functions and so on, making the higher end of the
"SOHO" scale difficult to differentiate from the lower end of the
"Office" MFP scale.
SOHO MFPs are
usually networked, however may also be connected via USB or, less frequently,
parallel. SOHO MFPs may have basic finishing functionality such as duplexing,
stapling and holepunching, however this is rare. In general, document output
offset, sorting and collation are standard capabilities.
By comparison to
an AIO, a SOHO MFP is more likely to have an automatic document feeder, greater
fax capabilities and faster output performance. Most SOHO MFPs have their
history in low end black and white photocopiers, and the print engine is
therefore based around this type of technology.
Office MFP
A mid-sized freestanding unit, designed as a central office system.
These units are
usually the most fully featured type of MFP. They include the basic Print, Copy
and Scan functions with optional fax functionality as well as networked
document storage with security, authentication using common network user
credentials, ability to run custom software (often a manufacturer will supply a
Software Development Kit), advanced network scan destinations such as FTP,
WebDAV, Email, SMB and NFS stores, encryption for data transmission and so on.
Office MFPs
usually have moderately advanced finishing functions as options such as
duplexing, stapling, holepunching, offset modes and booklet creation.
Office MFPs are
almost always networked, however some have optional or standard (but
infrequently used) USB and parallel connections. Most Office MFPs have their
history in mid range photocopiers (both colour and black and white), and the
print engine is therefore based around this type of technology, however,
Hewlett-Packard recently introduced two Office MFPs based on fixed head Inkjet
technology.
Production
printing MFP
A large sized freestanding unit, designed as a central printing
device or reprographic department device.
These devices,
while far larger and more expensive than Office MFPs, generally do not have all
of the advanced network functionality of their smaller relations. They instead
concentrate on high speed, high quality output, and highly advanced finishing
functionality including book creation with cover insertion (including hot-glue
binding) and so on. Production Printing itself is often further divided into
"light" production printing and "heavy" production
printing, with the differentiating factor being the speed. A 100ppm device for
example, falls into the light Production Printing category by the standards of
most manufacturers.
Because of the
focus on printing, while most Production Printing MFPs have a scanner, it is
infrequently used and often only has very basic functionality.
There are a
variety of different print engines for Production Printing MFPs, however in the
"light" end of the Production Printing market, most are based on the
large Office MFPs, which themselves are based on photocopier technology as
described above.
Production
Printing MFPs may also be known as "Print on Demand" devices, or
"Digital presses". This latter term can also be used to refer to the
print controller controlling the MFP however.
