Genicom ships Digital-brand printer

Genicom has released the first Digital-branded printer since acquiring the Digital Printing Systems Business last August. However, the Compaq-Digital merger announcement leaves the future of units sold under the Digital name a tad uncertain.

The Digital LN15 (about £1,290 + VAT in a LAN-enabled version) is a 14ppm unit aimed at LANs, typically running in traditional Digital stronghold companies.

"You'd be surprised if you saw the size of the Digital printer installed base," said Malcolm Lees, European marketing manager at Genicom. "VAX and VMS are in most people's minds as the forefront of Digital technology but they made printers for 15 to 20 years. The Digital brand is still very strong and commands great loyalty."

Lees said Genicom would roll out new lines of page, laser and line-matrix printers in the coming months while maintaining the Genicom brand primarily for IBM environments.

Lees declined to comment on the implications of the pending merger between Compaq and Digital, except to note that Genicom has a "multi-year" agreement that allows it to use the Digital name on printer products. Compaq attempted to set up in the laser printer business six years ago but pulled out quickly after disappointing sales and reliability issues.