Canon teams up with Microsoft and Adobe

Canon imageRunner will offer integration with Microsoft and Adobe software

Canon announced new partnerships with Adobe and Microsoft at the launch of its next-generation imageRunner Advance print platform at an event in Barcelona.

The company has teamed up in recent years with several software firms, such as eCopy, Iris and NT-Ware, but the new alliances will allow customers to integrate the new imageRunner printing and scanning devices with their most popular applications.

"The day of one firm delivering everything a customer desires is in the past, " said Canon services and support director Iain Maxwell. "By combining we can offer customers more."

ImageRunner Advance will let users scan paper documents directly to Microsoft SharePoint by using buttons on the multifunction device (MFD) interface.

Meanwhile, Canon will support the latest capabilities in Adobe Postscript 3, LiveCycle Rights Management ES and PDF file formats, in an extension of a partnership formed between the two firms in 2005.

Integration of Adobe PDF technology, including PDF Reader Extensions and Optimise PDF for Web, will allow Canon users to turn paper documents into policy-protected PDFs.

Integration with LiveCycle Rights Management ES will allow imageRunner users to apply document security policies to scanned documents, such as one that will not allow any other users to print or copy scanned documents.

Canon claimed that integration with the Postscript 3 programming language will allow organisations to achieve greater document control.

The partnerships have allowed Canon to bring a new range of capabilities to its own printing software, iW360, including the ability to easily merge different documents with a Document Binder.

"The upgrade in software was enabled by the collaboration with market standards like Microsoft and Adobe," said Maxwell.

The two alliances follow closely on the heels of Canon's announcement with HP on Monday, under which HP customers will gain access to Canon MFD technologies and Canon customers will be supplied with HP enterprise IT integration and workflow capabilities. EDS, acquired by HP last year, will offer workflow software and services.

The end result for customers is a more controlled printing environment, according to Canon, and the company's most senior European executives expanded on the importance of the agreements at the Barcelona event.

"The partnership between HP and Canon will provide a strong offering to the market, with Canon able to offer superior systems with HP business services," said Antonio Recio, head of Canon Business Solutions.

Gary Horsfall, global sales and professional services director at Canon, added: "The real winner is the customer, because the two firms will not be in such competition. They will get the best of Canon's technology and the best network and services from HP."