By Jamie Bsales, Associate Editor, October 9, 2009

At the Canon Integrated Solutions Showcase held last month in Las Vegas, attendees got a sneak peek at the first imageRUNNER ADVANCE models—products Canon executives characterized as the company’s most important introductions since the original imageRUNNER line debuted 10 years ago. True to the “Integrated Solutions” phrase in the name of the event, the imageRUNNER ADVANCE series is about more than improved hardware: The line brings with it a spate of new or enhanced software offerings that put the machines at the center of a company’s workflow.

More Than MEAP

As expected, all of the announced and upcoming models in the imageRUNNER ADVANCE series support MEAP, Canon’s platform for running a host of embedded applications directly from the control panel of a compatible device. Less expected was the announcement of particular SKUs, called Solution Models, that include a trio of productivity-enhancing workflow software called Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE Essentials (customers can still order base model SKUs that don’t include the software). That suite is made up of imageRUNNER ADVANCE Desktop, a PC-resident application for accessing and working with files stored on the device's hard drive from a networked desktop PC; an updated version of Canon’s Workflow Composer, which lets administrators create custom workflows and push them out to the devices as one-touch control-panel buttons; and imageRUNNER ADVANCE Tracker, a tool that lets users track device use by user or by function.

“With imageRUNNER ADVANCE, Canon is making knowledge workers more productive in the day-to-day work they have to get done,” said Dennis Amorosano, senior director, Solutions Marketing and Business Support. “People are the most important element of an organization, and these tools allow them to focus on more strategic tasks for the business, rather than on trying to get the technology to work.”

Original News : Canon