Inc. Sourcebook Annual Product Guide
Presentation Technologies: Creating A Professional Look
This year has brought a wealth of new camcorders, projectors, and other high-tech tools that make it easy to create and deliver media-rich presentations.
The Panasonic PV-GS200 uses 3 CCDs and a 10X Leica Dicamor, 12 element multicoated lens to produce professional-quality video, yet measures only 3 x 5 x 2 3/4 inches, and costs less than $1,000. The PV-GS200 includes useful features such as a manual focus ring, an external mike input, a remote control with narration mike, and a built-in flash. An SD card stores 2.5 megapixel stills -- fine for use in videos and presentations.
Want to produce your own HDTV content? The new 3-CCD Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder captures both high-resolution 1080i HDV video and standard DV content for less than $3,700. The HDR-FX1 features a 12X optical Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar optical zoom and a full range of manual controls. The unit also records standard digital video content.
You can edit the spectacular HDV video on a standard G5 Mac with Apple's Final Cut Pro HD ($999). This powerful software not only provides broadcast quality HD editing, compositing, titling, effects and audio capabilities -- it lets you play back your masterpiece in full HD on any Apple Cinema display. Adobe will offer similar capabilities for Windows users with its powerful Premier Pro 1.5 software ($699), and a free HDV plug-in.
Pro Videos
The new Visual Communicator Studio from Serious Magic makes it possible to create news format videos for training, sales, and other communications. This easy-to-use program for Windows PCs provides high-end features that enable you to combine live video, graphics, and other resources into a top-notch presentation. It also enables you to distribute your presentation via e-mail, Web site, live Internet streaming, or on CD, DVD, or videotape. Visual Communicator's signature V-Screen uses a green backdrop (included) to key in backgrounds and graphics behind the speaker, just like on CNN or the Weather Channel. Visual Communicator is available in several versions, with costs ranging from $199 to $695, depending on the quality of output and the range of effects required.
Projecting Success
Versatile new projectors can get the job done on the road, in the office, or at home. The Casio XJ-350 (less than $4,000) delivers 2200 ANSI lumens of brightness -- enough for even the largest conference room. The superportable native XGA (1024 x 768) unit weighs only 3.9 lbs. and measures just 9 x 7 x 2 inches -- small enough to fit in the accessory compartment of many laptop computer cases. Based on Digital Light Projection (DLP) technology from Texas Instruments, the XJ-350 delivers a superior DVD reproduction, with a maximum contrast ratio of 1000:1. DLP's inherent burn resistance also makes this unit a winner for both slide shows and video game use.
Among the best of the LCD-based portables, Epson's new 3.9-lb. PowerLite 745c delivers 2500 ANSI lumens with native XGA resolution, in a tidy 7.6 x 10.9 x 2.7-inch package. The 745c features integrated 802.11g WiFi connectivity for wireless presentations, a contrast ratio of 400:1, and costs less than $2,900.Sidebar: Cassiopeia ProTM -- Presentation Systems for the Mobile Professional
Casio's presentation systems are loaded with exclusive technologies that will make your presentations shine.
One of the two projectors in the line, the Casio XJ-450, features an exclusive automatic horizontal and vertical keystone correction that allows it to project undistorted images onto a screen from virtually any position in the room, with just a touch of a button. Now you can stop worrying about where in the room to place the projector -- there's more than one prime location with the XJ-450.
The Casio YC-400 Multifunction Camera System with a 4-megapixel CCD can project whiteboard contents and 3-dimensional objects. The Casio YC-400 Multifunction Camera System with a 4-megapixel CCD can project whiteboard contents and 3-dimensional objects. It can also be used as a digital scanner and a standalone digital camera.
To find out more, visit www.casioprojector.com.
Software: Powerful Programs Designed For Ease-of-Use
Software suites that are easy to learn and integrate smoothly with your frequently used programs will enable you to achieve greater productivity.
Among the popular sales management applications are ACT! and GoldMine. Best Software's latest releases include ACT! 2005, and SalesLogix 6.2 a customer relationship management (CRM) suite with increased customization options. ACT! 2005 (less than $230) features enhanced database synchronization, the ability to track more opportunity information, and a single-click export to Microsoft Excel.
FrontRange Solutions has packed significant power into GoldMine 6.5 (sub-$180). The application provides professionals and businesses with automated processes and workgroup tools. Its Lead Analysis enables you to quickly forecast sales, while you manage, track, and measure revenues. The optional package, Integration Services for Microsoft Outlook, costs $19.95. The new Mobile Edition provides real-time contact management for traveling professionals and is available for use with both GoldMine and the GoldMine Corporate Edition.
Avidian Technologies recently introduced Prophet 2004 (sub-$200), a sales management application that integrates fully with Microsoft Outlook. For example, you can create appointments and tasks from e-mails, and manage sales opportunities directly within Outlook 2000 and Windows XP. A Server Edition is also available.
Picture Power
While there are several good graphics programs in the market, few offer the combination of high-level design tools necessary for achieving a professional look, as well as an easy learning curve. The award-winning CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 provides three essential applications: illustration (CorelDRAW), image editing (Photo-Paint), and animation (R.A.V.E) -- all with a common user interface. The sub-$400 suite includes high-quality clip art images, while intelligent export filters make it simple to create stunning graphics and animations that export seamlessly into PowerPoint or any slide show.
Patent application can be cumbersome, but PatentEase ($349) can take the tedium and high attorney or agent fees out of the equation. The program, which is compatible with Windows 98, Me, 2000, NT, and XP, simplifies the patent application process by leading the user through a step-by-step process to input data, merge-in drawings, and generate the legal claims -- often the most difficult and critical step. The software helps the user generate a properly formatted, full utility patent application for submitting to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Virtual Meetings
Web conferencing services such as WebEx and Microsoft Office Live Meeting, allow users to conduct meetings with dispersed groups using rich media content and interactive technologies. The costs vary according to size, length of meeting, and serves deployed, but recently, Citrix introduced flat-fee subscription-based pricing. Its GoToMeeting enables presenters to share PowerPoint slides, financial spreadsheets, or any other PC application with remote participants in real-time. AES encryption (128-bit end-to-end) is used for security and online meeting confidentiality.
Meetrix recently released an upgrade of its flagship product, Freedom Office 3.0. In addition to support for motion video (30 frames per second) and full duplex audio, it features enhanced security using public and private key encryption, flexibility for unnamed guest participation, and enhanced administrative reporting.
Avacaster provides standard meeting support as well as features such as polls and quizzes, and an intuitive administrator interface that make it ideal for presentations, training, and sales incentive meetings.
Sidebar: Professional Results with CorelDRAW(R) Graphics Suite 12!
Create or adapt design projects in-house and get professional results with CorelDRAW(R) Graphics Suite 12!
Now you can ensure a polished look and feel across all your design projects, whether you contract them out to an agency or work on them yourself. With CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12, you get three powerful applications for page layout and illustration, image editing and motion graphics, so you can save both time and money. Quickly and easily produce your own communication material, including business cards, stationery, logos, brochures, newsletters, ads and annual reports. Plus, enhance digital photos, and create animations for presentations and Web sites. Design like a pro with CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 -- the creative design agency in a box! For more information, visit www.corel.com/inc.
Hardware: Technology for the Bottom Line
The genius of engineers and product marketers has produced a bumper crop of office machines that makes it easier and less expensive for businesses to run more efficiently.
It has been a great year for storage -- prices and size plummeted, while capacity and ease-of-use have increased dramatically. The new Maxtor OneTouch II hard drives with Retrospect Express, for example, offer operation with one button automated backup as soon as they are installed. The fast USB 2.0/FireWire drives, which are available with capacities of 250 GB (around $330) and 300 GB (less than $380), offer system recovery to specified point in time, open file backup, and automatic saves of file versions.
Personal storage has also reached new heights, exemplified by the 1 GB, one ounce, Imation USB 2.0 Swivel Flash Drive (under $290). This stylish, miniature device is equipped with a fast USB 2.0, and can back up thousands of documents in about 30 seconds. Swivel Drives work with Mac, Linux, and Window OS, but their password protection software is compatible only with Windows.
Hard Copy Heroes
High quality letters, presentation handouts, and proposals get results. New low-cost color laser printers provide the most cost-effective way to upgrade your hard copy. The Konica Minolta magicolor 2300W (less than $500) is a good choice for use as a dedicated printer for an executive office. It delivers crisp laser text for letters and 2400 x 600 dpi resolution for color printouts. The magicolor 2300 DL, with an Ethernet interface, costs about $100 more, and provides the same high-quality, low-cost output for workgroup use.
Multipurpose inkjet machines from HP , Epson, and Brother, pack a lot of functionality into a small space. The new Canon PIXMA MP780 Photo All-In-One, for example, can print or copy up to 25 pages per minute in black, and photo quality 4 x 6-inch color prints, in about 36 seconds. The sub-$200 unit features a 2400 dpi scanner with 48-bit color depth, a high speed fax, and an integrated 35-page auto document feeder.
Super-Accurate Scans
For high quality scanning of everything from slides to old photographs, a semi-pro scanner like the Epson Perfection 4870 Pro is an excellent choice. The sub-$600 unit, with its FireWire (1394) and USB 2.0 interfaces, rapidly produces razor-sharp 4800 x 9600 dpi scans. Its pro-level software bundle, including Digital Ice and Monaco EZcolor 2.5, makes it easy to eliminate dust and scratches, restore old photos, and calibrate your system for accurate scans and prints. We especially liked the 4870's ability to simultaneously scan multiple 35 mm slides, and produce superior results, even with transparencies of varying density. Many growing businesses spend thousands of dollars on firewalls, security systems and other safeguards, but toss out bushels of documents and discs containing key business and financial information. The Fellowes PS70-2CD (less than $225) can shred 15 sheets of paper per pass, and protects sensitive data stored on CDs by shredding discs in just a few seconds. The PS70-2CD is quieter than previous units we've tried, and includes a 7 gallon wastebasket which can easily be emptied without removing the shredder mechanism.Sidebar: Take Printing to the Extreme
Heads up to all small and mid-size businesses...KONICA MINOLTA has designed a high-speed, network color laser printer with you in mind. The new magicolor(R) 5430 DL www.buymagicolor.com has extreme speed, printing color and black-&-white pages at 21 ppm. From set up to every day operation, it's as easy to use as your typical black-&-white office printer. The magicolor 5430 DL also has high-speed Ethernet and USB interfaces and is compatible with Windows and Macintosh operating systems. All of these features add up to high productivity at a very low price -- just $999.
For more information, call 1-800-523-2696 or visit www.buymagicolor.com.
Networking and Communications: Staying in Touch
New wireless, mobile, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions have increased the communications power of growing businesses, while reducing costs and the need for technical support.
With high speed Internet access as widely available as mini-bars, units such as the new 3Com OfficeConnect Wireless 54Mbps 11g Travel Router ($90) let mobile execs create an instant wireless network inside a hotel room, conference center, or remote office. It supports up to 16 simultaneous users, and serves as a secure 802.11g wireless router with a powerful firewall and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). Similar units include the palm-size WGR101 from NetGear ($100).
In a wireless world, it seems only natural that conference-style speakerphones should also go unplugged. The Max Wireless from pro audioconferencing vendor ClearOne, is a full-duplex speakerphone (aka Flying Saucer) with a wireless range of about 150 feet from its wired base station. The sub-$700 unit produces excellent quality sound, and uses frequency-hopping, digital spread spectrum technology to provide interference free, secure wireless phone communication.
Phones of the Future
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) includes services that provide phone connectivity over the Internet, and systems that provide enhanced phone services over local area networks (LAN), the Internet, and other digital networks.
Users of consumer and business IP broadband phone services such as Vonage, use standard phones or a computer phone frequently referred to as "soft phone," to place calls over DSL or cable modem connections via the Internet. These services can produce real savings for small businesses. The Vonage Small Business Unlimited, for example, costs about $50 per month for unlimited local and long distance calls in the US and Canada, and includes a separate fax line.
VoIP systems for business can increase productivity and decrease the cost of communication. In this fast moving field, it is important to select vendors who support industry standards, such as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), which mandates interoperability between devices from a variety of manufacturers. Zultys MX250 is a good example of an affordable, fully converged, open standards-based phone system for SMBs. The MX250 combines an iPBX, voice-mail server, voice gateway, Internet gateway, and other functions in a single, easy-to-manage system that supports from 5 to 250 users, with prices starting around $5,000.
Service with a Smile
A great example of the new breed of data appliances designed for small businesses is the IT-100 from EmergeCore Networks. This versatile unit provides secure wired and wireless connectivity for PCs and PDAs, and functions as a Web, file, and e-mail server. The sub-$1,400 Linux-based IT-100 is easy to set up and manage. One of our senior managers, who sometimes has trouble picking up his own e-mail, was able to create a virtual business network and website in a single afternoon. Similar units include the low cost ($800) Axentra OfficeSeries S-200.
Sidebar: Zultys -- The Intelligent Solution for Business VoIP
Zultys Technologies is a premier manufacturer of communications equipment for businesses and enterprises, providing solutions that increase worker productivity and scale for future growth. All Zultys products are based entirely on open standards, ensuring ease of deployment and management while maintaining complete interoperability. Zultys is a pioneer in the development of products that capitalize on the benefits of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol).
The MX250 and MX1200 IP PBXs fully integrate voice, data, video, and fax-all in a single 2U box. Zultys also produces several award-winning IP telephones, integrating powerful data and telephony features for businesses and for remote workers.
Zultys is committed to manufacturing innovative products that deliver superior communication functionality and tangible business value.
For more information, visit www.zultys.com/inc.
