Xerox Logo — Xerox Corporation is the world’s largest supplier of photocopiers of toner (dry ink) and accessories. Its headquarters are in Stamford , Connecticut , although most of the company is located near Rochester , New York , where it was founded. So identifies with his product that the term “xerox” is often used to refer to photocopiers also from other brands, and English is used as a verb to mean “making photocopies”.
Originally called Haloid and beginning as a manufacturer of paper and photographic equipment, the company became known in 1959 with the introduction of the first photocopier in one piece using the method of xerography , the Xerox 914 . Just the name “Xerox”, determined by its inventor Chester Carlson , differentiated market their technology copied in ” dry “(χερός in Greek). By then the copied ” wet “was the most widely used in industry.
The company expanded substantially during the 60’s , making millionaires of some investors who had painfully sustained the company during the slow phase of research and product development. In many ways, this period was similar to the early years of Microsoft . The progress of the introduction of this new industry allowed the company to open the research center Xerox PARC in Palo Alto , California in 1970 to develop technology. In the PARC emerged such things as printers laser, the protocol Ethernet , the mouse or laser .
Xerox changed its business model in the 70 and 80 when the patent expirations eliminated the exclusivity of copying technology and diversification plans did not work. Many technologies developed primarily in the Xerox Parc was ignored and became products of other companies, such as Ethernet , the interface WIMP , and personal computers. Plans to enter the PC market were destroyed by bad timing (for example, to launch a CP / M of 8 bits , the Xerox 820 , when IBM readied its most advanced PC). Similarly, Xerox developed a line of advanced typewriters just as they began to lose ground in the process of text -based computers. Xerox invented laser printing , which became a multimillion dollar business for the company that still continues. Meanwhile, the manufacturing costs of the company were much higher than their Japanese competitors, the quality of design and manufacturing were questionable, and its internal culture had become problematic.
The company was revived in the 80 and 90, improving the quality of their designs and redesigning their product line. The development of digital copiers in the 90 to redo their product range (essentially built laser printers with scanners that could be linked to computer networks) again gave Xerox a technical advantage over its competitors. Xerox worked to turn your product into a service, providing everything a “document service” to other companies, including supply, maintenance, configuration and user support. To reinforce this image, the company introduced a corporate signature, “The Document Company ®” logo on its main and introduced a “digital X ®” red. The “digital X” symbolized the transition of documents between the paper world and the digital. In 2005, to emphasize its strength and leadership in document services, the company abandoned the “digital X” and changed the corporate signature to include mentions of technology services and consulting. To improve its position in the office printing market, bought the printing division of Tektronix in 2000 .
Today, Xerox’s main markets include office environments large and small, commercial printing clients and production companies, graphic arts and creative services, public sector operations, and industries such as health, education and financial services. Xerox sells a wide range of document technology, including digital color printing high-end as Xerox iGen3 Digital Production Press and DocuColor systems, technology of black and white printing high-end as Xerox Nuvera and DocuTech, office multifunction printers as WorkCentre Pro family, and network printers Phaser color and black and white. The Xerox consulting services help companies to redesign intensive document processes, and outsourcing services will help produce and manage documents, freeing them to concentrate on their core business. Xerox also sells software such as DocuShare and FlowPort . The business of producing high-end printing is approximately five billion dollars for Xerox, as their systems are used by enterprises and commercial printers to create personalized letters, full color books, insurance policies, bills, posters, etc.