Xerox Totally Explained

Everything about Xerox totally explained

Xerox Corporation (name ) is a global document management company, which manufactures and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (moved from Stamford, Connecticut in October 2007), though its largest population of employees is based in and around Rochester, New York, the area in which the company was founded.

History

Xerox was founded in 1906 as "The Haloid Company", which originally manufactured photographic paper and equipment. The company subsequently changed its name to "Haloid Xerox" in 1958 and then simply "Xerox" in 1961 . The company came to prominence in 1959 with the introduction of the first plain paper photocopier using the process of xerography (electrophotography) developed by Chester Carlson, the Xerox 914 (External Link

). The 914 was so popular that by the end of 1961, Xerox had almost $60 million in revenue. By 1965, revenues leaped to over $500 million. Before releasing the 914, Xerox had also introduced the first xerographic printer, the "Copyflo" in 1955.
   The company expanded substantially throughout the 1960s, making millionaires of some long-suffering investors who had nursed the company through the slow research and development phase of the product. In 1960, the "Wilson Center for Research and Technology" was opened in Webster, New York, a research facility for xerography. In 1961, the company changed its name to "Xerox Corporation". Xerox common stock (XRX) was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1961 and on the Chicago Stock Exchange in 1990.
   In 1963, Xerox introduced the Xerox 813, the first desktop plain-paper copier, bringing Carlson's vision of a copier that could fit on anyone's office desk into a reality. Ten years later in 1973, a color copier followed. The laser printer was invented in 1969 by Xerox researcher Gary Starkweather by modifying a Xerox copier. This development resulted in the first commercially available laser printer, the Xerox 9700, being launched in 1977. Laser printing eventually became a multi billion dollar business for Xerox.
   In 1970, under company president Charles Peter McColough, Xerox opened the Xerox PARC (Xerox Palo Alto Research Center) research facility. The facility developed many modern computing methods such as the mouse and the graphical user interface. From these inventions, Xerox PARC created the Xerox Alto in 1973, a small minicomputer similar to a workstation and personal computer. The Alto was never commercially sold, as Xerox itself couldn't see the sales potential of it. In 1979, several Apple Computer employees, including Steve Jobs, visited Xerox PARC, interested in seeing their developments. Jobs and the others saw the commercial potential of the GUI and mouse, and began development of the Apple Lisa, which Apple introduced in 1983.
   Xerox later released a similar system to the Alto, the Xerox Star in 1981 as a workstation. It was the first commercial system to incorporate various technologies that today have become commonplace in personal computers, including a bit-mapped display, a window-based GUI, mouse, Ethernet networking, file servers, print servers and e-mail. The Xerox Star, despite its technological breakthroughs, didn't sell well due to its high price, costing $16,000 per unit. A typical Xerox Star-based office would have cost $100,000.
   In the mid 80s, Apple considered buying Xerox; however, a deal was never reached. Apple attempted to adapt the graphical user interface and mouse to a more affordable personal computer, aimed towards the business and education markets. The Apple Macintosh was released in 1984, and was the first personal computer to popularize the GUI and mouse amongst the public. In the late 1980s, Xerox sued Apple over their use of the graphical user interface. The Xerox case was dismissed because the three year statute of limitations had passed -- Xerox had waited too long to file a suit.
   The company was revived in the 1980s and 1990s, through improvement in quality design and realignment of its product line. Development of digital photocopiers in the 1990s and a revamp of the entire product range—essentially high-end laser printers with attached scanners which were able to be attached to computer networks—again gave Xerox a technical lead over its competitors. Xerox worked to turn its product into a service, providing a complete "document service" to companies including supply, maintenance, configuration, and user support. To reinforce this image, the company introduced a corporate signature, "The Document Company" above its main logo and introduced a red "digital X". The "digital X" symbolized the transition of documents between the paper and digital worlds.
   In 2000, Xerox acquired Tektronix color printing and imaging division in Wilsonville, Oregon, for US$925 million. This led to the current Xerox Phaser line of products as well as Xerox solid ink printing technology.
   In September 2004, Xerox celebrated the 45th anniversary of the Xerox 914. More than 200,000 units were made around the world between 1959 and 1976, the year production of the 914 was stopped. Today, the 914 is part of American history as an artifact in the Smithsonian Institution.
   Xerox's turnaround was largely led by Anne M. Mulcahy, who was appointed president in May 2000, CEO in August 2001 and chairman in January 2002. Mulcahy launched an aggressive turnaround plan that returned Xerox to full-year profitability by the end of 2002, along with decreasing debt, increasing cash, and continuing to invest in research and development.
   In November, 2006 Xerox completed the Acquisition of XMPie Press Release

Current products

Xerox today manufactures and sells a wide variety of office and production equipment including photo copiers, Xerox Phaser printers, multifunction printers, large-volume digital printers as well as workflow software under the brand strategy of FreeFlow. The impact of Xerox FreeFlow products on the graphic arts market and the print industry in general has grown exponentially since May 2006, largely as a result of the Xerox presence at IPEX 2006. Xerox also sells scanners and digital presses.
Xerox sells both color and black and white printers under the Xerox Phaser brand, with the color consumer model starting at US$299; the most expensive color model costs US$6,799.
Xerox also produces fax machines, professional printers, black and white copiers

, and several other products.
In addition, Xerox produces many printing and office supplies such as paper, in many forms; and markets software such as DocuShare Xerox MarketPort and FlowPort, offers consulting services, ECM Digital Repository Services and printing outsourcing.

Research and technology

Xerox operates research and technology centers globally in the United States, Canada and Europe. Its first research center was founded in Webster, N.Y., in 1960 to support Xerox's explosive growth as a technology leader. Xerox research is also conducted in collaboration with the Palo Alto Research Center, a Xerox subsidiary, and with Fuji Xerox research organizations in Japan and Palo Alto, Calif. Our scientists, researchers and engineers are constantly assessing and creating new ways to make our products better, our processes smoother, and our software sharper, all with the goal of making our customers' lives easier.
   The Xerox Research Center Webster has a broad charter to explore, incubate and innovate across the spectrum of devices, solutions and services. Internationally recognized for pioneering work in xerography, the Webster research laboratories were founded in 1960 and have provided the technical foundation and intellectual property protection for four generations of Xerox marking engines. More recently, the Xerox Research Center Webster has expanded its charter to encompass an integrated, end-to-end view of Xerox products, solutions and services technologies in collaboration with value-chain partners throughout the company.
   In Xerox Research Center Webster labs, world-class scientists investigate systems integration and design, solid ink technology, the control of complex imaging and printing systems, and the architectures and systems for advanced digital imaging and workflow technologies. Its researchers lead the drive to provide Xerox customers with affordable color products and with services and solutions that help them both simplify and get more value from their document-intensive business processes.
   Their work spans the entire scope of document production and services, starting with color theory and image generation and including image evaluation, image processing, marking processes, media handling, microsystems, embedded systems controls and device controls and value-adding workflows. They orchestrate these activities to develop future marking engine platforms that emphasize color, low cost of ownership, improved media latitude, and benchmark image quality. They reduce the cost and improve the performance of Xerox marking engines by using electronics and modern controls to replace costly precision mechanical parts while assuring strong performance. And their digital imaging and workflow technologies are transforming the commercial printing business with personalized printing that has the quality of National Geographic magazine at a cost that's affordable for print buyers and profitable for print providers.. Their digital imaging and workflow technologies are transforming the commercial printing business with personalized printing that has the quality of National Geographic magazine at a cost that's affordable for print buyers and profitable for print providers. Their work in services production has led to a revolution in lean document production, reducing waste and making the process as much as five times faster.
   Founded in 1993, Xerox Research Centre Europe guides Xerox research activities in Europe. The center coordinates research, engineering and the TeXnology Showroom, a customer showcase for Xerox research and a technology exchange forum. The center also develops connections within the wider European scientific community through collaborative projects and partnerships. XRCE focuses on creating innovative document technologies to support growth in Xerox content and document management services. Research is conducted in text and image processing, document structures and the study and understanding of work practices. Technology applications are developed which streamline document intensive processes, bridge the paper and digital worlds and ease the task of information management in multiple languages. The center's research competencies lie in natural language processing, machine learning, computer vision, information engineering, sociology and ethnography.
   Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) is Xerox's materials research center. Founded in 1974, XRCC involves in materials design, synthesis, characterization, evaluation and scale-up to deliver materials and processes that support higher-quality and lower-cost colour and monochrome products for both office and production markets. XRCC conducts fundamental and applied materials research in toners, inks, photoreceptors and specialty substrates to support xerographic and direct marking technologies. An example of its breakthrough research is a chemical toner called "EA Technology," which yields sharper image quality, higher reliability, reduced toner usage, faster warm-up time and environmentally friendly manufacturing process.
   PARC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox Corporation and an integral part of Xerox's strategy for long-term research investment. Founded in 1970 as a part of Xerox Research, PARC was incorporated in 2002 as an independent research business.
   As the birthplace of technologies such as laser printing, Ethernet, the graphical user interface, and ubiquitous computing, PARC has an established track record for transforming industries and creating commercial value. PARC has delivered lasting value to Xerox, for example, as laser printing became a multibillion-dollar business for Xerox. PARC also was the birthplace of Xerox's DocuPrint network printing software, the dual-beam lasers used in many Xerox products, and the scheduling software of the Xerox DocuColor iGen3 Digital Production Press.

Corporate structure

Although Xerox is a global brand, it maintains a joint venture, Fuji Xerox, with Japanese photographic firm Fuji Photo Film Co. to develop, produce and sell in the Asia-Pacific region. Fuji Photo Film Co. is currently the majority stakeholder, with 75% of the shareholding. Xerox India, formerly Modi Xerox, is Xerox's Indian subsidiary derived from a joint venture formed between Dr Bhupendra Kumar Modi and Rank Xerox in 1983. Xerox obtained a majority stake in 1999 and aims to buy out the remaining shareholders.
Xerox now sponsors the Factory Ducati Team in the World Superbike Championship, under the name of the "Xerox Ducati".

Rank Xerox

European operations, Rank Xerox, later extended to Asia and Africa, has been fully owned by Xerox Corporation since 1997. The Rank Xerox name was discontinued following the buyout.

Environmental Record

U.S. office workers print an average of 10,000 pages per year. According to Xerox, around 40 percent of the pages printed out by people are only viewed once before being thrown away. Xerox is making attempts at reducing that number with “erasable paper.” This new type of paper is embedded with chemicals that are sensitive to light. When different wavelengths of light touch its surface, the paper darkens, and this in turn gives the “printed text or image” look. The images stay on the paper for between 16 and 24 hours before dissolving, and this allows the paper to be used again in the future.
The average American emits 9.44 tons of carbon dioxide a year. To help offices realize their environmental impact, Xerox released the “sustainability calculator” in late March 2008. The calculator has been created as a method to measure “the environmental benefits so we can use that in our reports and marketing materials” says Patty Calkins, who is the vice president of environment, health, and safety at Xerox, as well as to optimize the office equipment.

Accounting irregularities

On April 11, 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Xerox. The complaint alleged Xerox deceived the public between 1997 and 2000 by employing several "accounting maneuvers," the most significant of which was a change in when Xerox recorded revenue from copy machine leases — recognizing a "sale" in the period a lease contract was signed, instead of recognizing revenue ratably over the entire length of the contract. At issue was when the revenue was recognized, not the validity of the revenue. Xerox's restatement only changed what year the revenue was stated.
   In response to the SEC's complaint, Xerox Corporation neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. It agreed to pay a $10 million penalty and to restate its financial results for the years 1997 through 2000. On June 5, 2003, six Xerox senior executives accused of securities fraud settled their issues with the SEC and neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. They agreed to pay $22 million in penalties, disgorgement, and interest.
   On January 29, 2003, the SEC filed a complaint against Xerox's auditors, KPMG, alleging four partners in the "Big Five" accounting firm permitted Xerox to "cook the books" to fill a $3 billion "gap" in revenue and $1.4 billion "gap" in pre-tax earnings. In April 2005 KPMG settled with the SEC by paying a US$22.48 million fine . As part of the settlement KPMG neither admits nor denies wrongdoing.
   During settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Xerox began to revamp itself once more. As a symbol of this transformation, the relative size of the word "Xerox" was increased in proportion to "The Document Company" on the corporate signature and the latter was dropped altogether in September 2004, along with the digital X. However, the digital X and "The Document Company" are still used by Fuji Xerox.

Trademark issues and name usage

The word "xerox" is commonly used as a synonym for "photocopy" (both as a noun and a verb) in many areas; for example,"I xeroxed the document and placed it on your desk." or "Please make a xeroxed copy of the articles and hand them out a week before the exam". Though both are common, the company doesn't condone such uses of its trademark, and is particularly concerned about the ongoing use of Xerox as a verb as this places the trademark in danger of being declared a generic word by the courts. The company is engaged in an ongoing advertising and media campaign to convince the public that Xerox shouldn't be used as a verb.
To this end, the company has written to publications that have used Xerox as a verb, and has also purchased print advertisements declaring that "you can't 'xerox' a document, but you can copy it on a Xerox Brand copying machine". (Note that xerox is functionally a verb in this sentence.) Xerox Corporation continues to protect its trademark diligently in most if not all trademark categories. Despite their efforts, many dictionaries continue to mention the use of "xerox" as a verb, including the Oxford English Dictionary. In 2008, Xerox changed its logo to a red sphere with a white X with three grey stripes. The change is meant to reflect less on the photo copying duties Xerox has carried out and instead to refocus on document management and solutions across the world for companies.

Further Information

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