The 100ppm Epson WorkForce Enterprise WF-C20590 and its 75ppm sibling the WF-C17590 are designed to meet the speed and volume requirements of a departmental MFD without the high energy consumption or consumable requirements of equivalent laser models.
The Epson WorkForce Enterprise - scheduled to go on sale this winter, feature a fixed printhead said to be good for at least one million pages as well as enabling print speeds up to 100ppm.
The use of a micro-piezo printhead provides more consistent colour quality than the thermal inkjet technology used by other manufacturers, and that consistency is further improved by the electrostatic transport belt that keeps the paper flat during printing. Variable-sized droplets also help improve the output quality, and the maximum resolution is 600 x 2400dpi.
Electricity consumption is reduced by up to 96% compared with equivalent laser printers, according to Epson officials. Another comparison is that the 100ppm model uses 75% less power than a 50ppm laser. Furthermore, no warm-up time is required.
{loadposition stephen08}An optional finishing unit handles stacking and stapling with a maximum capacity of 4000 sheets, while a 3000-sheet bulk paper feeder boosts the total input capacity to 5350 sheets. Paper sizes up to SRA3 (320 x 450mm) can be accommodated.
One set of ink cartridges are good for around 50,000 pages.
The scanner's automatic document feed works at 60ipm simplex and 110ipm duplex.
The WorkForce Enterprise works with Epson Print Admin, Epson Device Admin, Document Capture Pro, and Epson's mobile print and scan apps.
PCL 5/6, PostScript 3, PDF, and ESC/P-Raster are all supported.
"The WorkForce Enterprise represents a true revolution in office printing. It is so much more than just a printer and in fact, due to its networking capabilities, now represents an integrated document management solution at the heart of any office's IT infrastructure," said Epson Australia business division general manager Craig Heckenberg.
"This printer also cuts the environmental impact of print by providing a low power solution, with fewer supplies, while delivering remarkably fast print speeds at high quality.
"Having far fewer parts than equivalent laser-based MFDs, the WorkForce Enterprise will deliver higher reliability and significantly increase printer uptime."
According to Epson, no parts other than ink cartridges should need to be replaced during the first 1 million pages of output.
Pricing has yet to be announced, but the WorkForce Enterprise will be available to buy outright or as part of a managed print services arrangement.