Small and medium-sized businesses have new options for business technology and related services, following a new product demonstration by Toshiba of Canada.
The company unveiled a suite of new products it says can improve efficiency, increase productivity and reduce environmental footprints.
Not only reduce, but in some cases, erase!
The new line-up features top of the line Portégé and Tecra laptops, LED displays and smart TVs, multi-function VoIP phone systems, and a multi-function printer that erases ink and recycles paper as part of the company’s eco-friendly green initiatives.
Toshiba’s line of Environmentally Conscious Products, or ECPs, includes the e-STUDIO printer that makes ink ‘disappear’, so that paper can be reused.
Toshiba’s new e-STUDIO306LP multi-functional printer (MFP) uses an erasable toner, so paper can be re-used up to five times.
In a unique process worthy of some spy novel, printed information on the page is made to ‘disappear’ by applying heat to the thermally sensitive toner, causing the colour to change and the printing to ‘disappear’.
In a quick hands-on demo conducted by Toshiba representatives, a typical office form with printing on one side was erased – but not after some notes written in pen were added to the page. The handwritten notes remained fully legible; the pre-printed form disappeared.
The printer works with the e-STUDIO RD30 paper reusing device, which can sort paper into reusable and un-reusable sheets simultaneously while removing toner, helping to reduce paper waste. The whole system is pricey, but advantageous for those businesses that can make full use of the features.
Some businesses will appreciate the disappearing messages, some will want to reinforce and more prominently display their messages; they can use high visibility digital displays and a new content creation and delivery system that Toshiba is now offering.
Businesses can put customized promotional content and marketing messages on eye-catching widescreen TVs, while maintaining control over content and one or more display screens simultaneously.
The digital signage and display solutions were developed by engineers at Toshiba of Canada so that businesses can incorporate images, videos, websites, news, weather and other content into their promotions, new products and event announcements using a cloud-based content management system that’s also used to plan, schedule, revise and update content online, as part of a monthly service package.
Digital signage is known as an ‘out-of-home’ advertising platform, but Toshiba showed ideas for using dynamic displays to enhance boardroom presentations, too.
Wireless laptops and smart TVs were combined to show how business presenters can stream content to a big screen, turning almost any meeting space into an advanced presentation room.
The Toshiba L73500UC Edge LED Smart TV, equipped with a wireless keyboard with touchpad, was connected to a laptop wirelessly during the demo, using the TV’s built-in Wi-Fi and Wi-Di support.
Available as 58- or 65-inch models the Smart TVs look very impressive, with controls to maximize image quality – video, photos, graphics and text – in almost any space; they include Edge Enhancer, Dynamic Gamma, Colour Master and Expert Mode Calibration Capability, and new UltraClear Dynamic Noise Reduction.
Toshiba also demonstrated a line of new portable computers, including Portégé ultrabooks, Tecra mobile workstations and more.
Depending on the model, Toshiba mobile PCs feature input accessories like detachable keyboards and digitizers for on screen notetaking; fingerprint recognition and other modules for business data and application security, full HD display screens as large as 15.6-inch, and large 500GB HDDs and up to 32GB of DDR3L RAM capacities.
From its value-priced Satellite series (less than $500) to its more fully featured Tecra workstations, starting at $2200, Toshiba has now or will very soon release it full new line-up of laptops.
One of the new laptops, an ultra-thin Portege, that Toshiba Canada is showing to small and medium business owners
Toshiba also showed its IPedge communication system, designed for businesses with up to 40 employees working on-site or remotely, part of a family of ‘voice-over-IP’ products that can be used by up to 2000 users at an enterprise level.
Such products and related services are available as part of Toshiba’s business computing leasing packages, now offered in multiple configurations that of course include hardware and software, but also maintenance and service monitoring, anti-theft tracking, cloud back ups and more services targeted to small and medium sized businesses.
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And, speaking of targeting small business, the facility in which Toshiba staged its product showcase does the same thing.
Workplace One offers small businesses a unique work environment in a shared office community, with customizable offices and services for use by entrepreneurs, professionals and anyone in between.
Its west-end Toronto located building (one of three locations in southern Ontario) offers a stylish bricks-and-mortar approach to virtual business operation, and any business meeting or presentation conducted here will have a professional image and aura.
Workplace One in Toronto offers office, meeting and presentation space to small business owners, entrepreneurs and other professionals who need access to a work environment.
Highly configurable, the Workplace One space design encourages collaboration among users, and it offers up a workspace energy that can’t be found in a home office, or other professional work environment.
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submitted by Lee Rickwood
