The Communication Supplies Consulting Service (US & Europe) provides vendors with information and advice related to supplies used by a wide range of electronic imaging devices including copiers, printers, fax machines and multifunction devices. Included are forecasts for media including cut size papers, continuous-forms, roll products, specialty media and associated marking materials; toner, inks, ribbons, photoreceptors, and cartridges.

Through inquiry, the service can also provide customized forecasts in prints, pages, tons, and revenue by imaging technology, operating environment, coated and uncoated demand, and demand by color and monochrome devices. These are critical to developing strategic plans to capture additional market share.

Scanning is a pervasive technology that has been experiencing solid growth in many segments for a number of years, with promising forecasts for the next 3-5 years. With concerted efforts and incentives to convert paper documents and processes to digital formats, single function scanners are one of the bright spots in the equipment hardware arena. At the lower end of the scanning spectrum, consumer flatbed scanners continue to battle against all-in-ones for the attention of the mass market. All categories will be challenged to continue adding new features and capabilities as they strive to compete with multifunctional devices. IST offers:

• Ongoing market advice and analysis to make short and long-term strategy decisions in scanning
• Forecasts and research that segment the scanning market in several ways for cross-referencing, based on target audience and scanner type
  • Segmentations continually evolve to reflect market changes
• Additional coverage of the future of mobile, network and distributed scanning market dynamics, and scan-function usage of multifunctional devices