Like a growing number of printers, the Pro5500 is web-enabled through a series of SmartSolutions that can be installed via the Lexmark web site. These provide PC-free access to a variety of online services ranging from RSS feeds through to MapQuest maps and photo services such as Photobucket. Depending on the function, content is displayed on the responsive 4.3in touchscreen or printed. Scanning directly to Box, Evernote and other services is also supported. We tried Scan to Box and while the file arrived in the right place, the SmartSolution consistently hung at the end of the process and the only way we found to recover was to put the Pro550 to sleep via the power button.

The other side of SmartSolutions condenses multi-step processes into one-touch operations, such as ‘Copy and Send to Computer’. Some involve emailing documents and if you make a mistake when setting up the account details, there are no diagnostic messages, just a failure notice. Lexmark told us it plans to address this in future models.

Copying gave good results with no banding and very narrow margins from full-bleed originals. We were also satisfied with the scan results. The one-pass duplex ADF is a plus and combines well with duplex output on heavier paper (like 100gsm). The downside is that copying one double-sided sheet takes just over a minute.

As inkjets go, the Pro5500 is subjectively on the noisy side and we wouldn’t want it right next to our desk. The first page out time for our business document was 14 seconds. Page two took another 7 seconds. As usual with inkjets, that’s well below the claimed ‘up to 14 ppm’ and duplexed output more than doubled the time to 45 seconds. The quality of text and graphics output was good, and the ink is water- and highlighter-resistant. Unusually, we had to clean the print head shortly after installing the printer, but Lexmark says this is sometimes necessary.

Special features:

• Wi-Fi, Ethernet and USB
• Fax
• Memory card support

Pros: Web connectivity, duplex scan and print.
Cons: Bulky, noisy.
Verdict: 7/10

Available from Lexmark, retailing for $499.

HP today expanded its all-in-one desktop PC portfolio with business and
consumer designs that deliver multimedia-rich performance, trusted reliability
and enhanced security in a small footprint.

The new all-in-ones are designed as cost-, space- and energy-efficient
alternatives to a traditional desktop and monitor combination for consumers and
businesses, including government, healthcare, education and retail customers.
The new lineup also includes touch-enabled solutions for businesses, building on
30 years of touch-technology innovation for convenient and intuitive
computing.

“Customers have been asking for all-in-one PC designs that do not compromise
on performance, reliability or security,” said Emilio Ghilardi, vice president,
PC Division, Americas, HP. “With these sleek, elegant designs and powerful
options, HP continues to innovate to meet the needs of a growing
marketplace.”

Products announced today are:

• HP Compaq Elite 8300 All-in-One, HP’s highest-quality all-in-one business
  PC, featuring security and management features with optional touch capability
• HP Compaq Pro 6300 All-in-One, offering the optimal combination of
  productivity, performance and serviceability needed to satisfy most everyday
  business and public sector computing requirements
• HP ENVY 23 All-in-One, an ideal PC for consumers who demand a sleek design
  and enhanced performance
• HP Pavilion 23 All-in-One, offering essential features and processing power
  for everyday computing tasks

“All-in-one PCs are expected to grow in popularity, accounting for 27
percent⁽¹⁾ of worldwide desktop PC sales by 2016,” said Danielle
Levitas, group vice president, IDC. “In a recent commercial PC buyer study in
the United States, IDC found that the purchase intent for all-in-ones was up
across the range of small to large businesses. This trend puts vendors with a
broad offering of all-in-one products and options—like HP—in a very good
position to meet that growing commercial demand.”

Smart designs for accelerated business efficiency

The HP
Compaq Elite 8300 All-in-One Business PC, HP’s most powerful and
multimedia-rich all-in-one PC, provides demanding enterprise users with proven
performance and the option for intuitive touch experiences. An attractive,
space-efficient solution ideal for customer-facing work areas, kiosks and more,
the PC features a 23-inch diagonal, full high-definition (HD)⁽²⁾
display with an optional built-in 2-megapixel (MP) webcam and dual microphone
array. SRS Premium Sound PRO™ also comes standard for high-frequency definition
in a variety of listening environments.

Powered by third- and second-generation Intel® Core™ vPro™
processors^(3,4) that provide outstanding performance, the HP Compaq
Elite 8300 All-in-One offers Intel HD Graphics or a choice of discrete graphics
to enhance imagery and multimedia capabilities. Intel Smart Response Technology
disk cache solution⁽⁵⁾ also delivers a level of performance normally
associated with solid state drives, while retaining the data-storage capacity of
today’s large hard disk drives.

With its added touch functionality, the HP Compaq Elite 8300 Touch All-in-One
employs multitouch, optical technology for interactive healthcare, retail and
other applications. The multitouch technology recognizes simultaneous input from
two fingers to enable the use of gestures, and the onboard suite of HP
touch-enabled software provides interaction with files, media and productivity
applications.

The HP Compaq Elite 8300 Touch All-in-One provides a solution for healthcare
patients to conveniently enter personal data and for students to stay engaged.
Both of the space-saving HP Compaq Elite 8300 models also feature
VESA-compatible mounting,⁽⁶⁾ which allows retail business to save
valuable floor space and lets manufacturing facilities deploy systems in easily
accessible areas without cluttering work space.

The HP
Compaq Pro 6300 All-in-One Business PC is a mainstream business-class
all-in-one designed for reliable and consistent computing. The non-touch PC
sports third- and second-generation Intel Core processors⁽³⁾ with
optional discrete graphics for solid performance and simple manageability for
growing business environments, including government organizations. It offers a
21.5-inch diagonal, full HD,⁽²⁾ LED-backlit display, internal stereo
speakers and optional 2MP webcam.

The new business all-in-ones include multilayered client security features
that safeguard data, devices and user identities. Simple, centralized deployment
through HP ProtectTools⁽⁷⁾ delivers defense features, such as
hard-drive encryption, HP Face Recognition, HP Disk Sanitizer and HP File
Sanitizer.⁽⁸⁾ HP BIOS Protection⁽⁹⁾ offers hardware-level
defense against virus attacks and other security threats.

Each of the announced desktops is preinstalled with Microsoft® Windows®.
Microsoft also recognized HP as the 2012 Communications Market Acceleration
Partner of the Year, in celebration of the company’s advanced sales and
deployment of Microsoft Lync, which provides instant access to applications for
collaboration.⁽¹⁰⁾

The business desktops also offer a choice of available tools with HP Client
Management and include the new HP Premier Image,⁽¹¹⁾ which features a
full suite of business software and antivirus protection, while eliminating
trial-ware and other distractions. Globally consistent SKUs further simplify
enterprise deployment and management, while a multitiered testing process of
more than 115,000 hours helps ensure a lasting investment.

Stylish, affordable all-in-one PCs for every consumer

The HP ENVY 23 and HP Pavilion 23 All-in-One PCs combine elegant design with
robust performance. Both offer full 1080p HD⁽²⁾ 23-inch diagonal
displays, multicore processors, advanced graphics and up to 2 terabytes (TB) of
storage to accommodate the demands of any user.

The HP ENVY 23 All-in-One PC offers an elegant, free-standing display with
edge-to-edge glass that can be wall-mounted.⁽⁶⁾ Engineered for an
enriched entertainment experience, the HP ENVY 23 comes standard with Beats
Audio™ and offers optional HDMI-in port, Blu-ray disc drive and TV
tuner.^{(12, 13)}

The HP Pavilion 23 All-in-One PC features a slim and elegant easel design and
provides a choice of Intel or AMD processors that deliver exceptional
performance at an affordable price.

Both PCs offer wireless capabilities and exclusive features such as the HP
TrueVision HD Webcam, HP
Magic Canvas and HP LinkUp for the latest
in connected entertainment and convenience.  HP Magic Canvas software enables
users to expand the desktop horizontally to accommodate photos, videos and
applications. Microsoft Windows desktop shortcuts, task bar and start menu can
all be accessed through the HP Magic Canvas, so users can use entertainment and
work applications in the same place.

Pricing and availability⁽¹⁴⁾

• The HP Compaq Elite 8300 All-in-One Business PC starts at $879 and is
  expected to be available on Sept. 10. The HP Compaq Elite 8300 Touch All-in-One
  starts at $929 and is expected to be available on Sept. 10.
• The HP Compaq Pro 6300 All-in-One Business PC starts at $799 and is expected
  to be available on Sept. 3.
• The HP ENVY 23 All-in-One starts at $949.99 and is expected to be available
  at HP
  Home & Home Office on Aug. 2 and select retailers nationwide on Aug. 5.
• The HP Pavilion 23 All-in-One starts at $649.99 and is expected to be
  available at HP
  Home & Home Office on Aug. 2 and select retailers nationwide on Aug. 5.

HP Empowers Small and Medium-size Businesses to Thrive in a Mobile World

New solutions, services and programs simplify, secure and optimize IT to support a growing mobile workforce

PALO ALTO, Calif., –
HP today announced new offerings to help small and medium-size businesses (SMBs)
prepare their technology infrastructures for a growing mobile workforce.  With more than 1.1
billion mobile appliances in use worldwide,⁽¹⁾ organizations of all sizes are challenged by the need

to access, manage and secure mobile devices and the data generated by them. HP Converged
Infrastructure provides the ideal platform for secure continuous access to
data and applications. With partner solutions from Citrix, Microsoft and VMware,
HP also delivers improved employee accessibility and productivity as the
requirements for mobility continue to grow.

New offerings from HP include technology solutions and services, as well as financing and training
programs that enable resource-challenged SMBs to simplify IT while enhancing
collaboration in an increasingly mobile world.

Predefined solutions secure, simplify mobile access
According to Gartner research, by 2016, at least 50 percent of business email users will rely
primarily on a tablet or mobile client instead of a traditional desktop.⁽²⁾ The trend to use devices to access email and other
business data requires SMBs to prepare their infrastructures to support increased mobility.

New HP solutions and services enable organizations to:

• Improve security with HP Client
  Virtualization SMB virtual desktop solution. The solution includes reference
  architectures—such as HP ProLiant Generation 8 (Gen8) servers and client
  virtualization software from Citrix, Microsoft or VMware—that protects company
  data by storing user profiles and data on a centralized server. This enables
  SMBs to provide secure access to applications from thin clients, laptops,
  tablets and smartphones. Information remains protected on the server even if the
  device is lost.
• Reduce risk and complexity of client virtualization projects with HP
  Client Virtualization, Analysis and Modeling, a prepackaged service that
  analyzes the existing IT environment to simplify and speed deployment of
  virtualization for medium-size organizations and help them embrace mobile
  technology.
• Simplify adoption of mobile technology with HP
  Transformation Experience Workshop for Mobility, a service that aligns
  business and IT stakeholders to ensure employees have access to data while
  upholding security requirements.
• Increase uptime for a growing mobile workforce with HP
  Business Protection Solutions, preconfigured reference architectures based
  on HP
  Converged Infrastructure and best practices in data protection, network
  security and disaster recovery. These customized solutions guide SMBs in the
  design of a risk-mitigation program to ensure continued accessibility to company
  data from a mobile device .

Collaboration tools improve productivity for mobile workforce
To support the acceleration of mobile devices, HP and its partners are helping SMBs improve
employee productivity and drive business efficiency.

• Improves collaboration with HP
  Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C) Solutions with Microsoft
  Lync, an integrated hardware and software solution that enables SMBs to
  securely video conference, share information on desktops and collaborate to
  improve productivity. The comprehensive UC&C solution includes Microsoft
  Lync software, HP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones, HP networking and
  HP ProLiant Gen8 servers, storage and services.

Simplified infrastructure for SMBs embracing mobility
Small and medium-size organizations need simple, reliable and economical computing to support growing
data and new applications across wired and wireless environments. New solutions
based on HP Converged Infrastructure help companies to:

• Simplify network management with the expanded HP
  Multi-Service Router (MSR) Series, an all-in-one, customizable platform that
  allows clients to streamline deployment of networks by integrating security and
  wired and wireless networking features into one device.
• Reduce power costs with the HP
  1910 8G Switch Series, which features energy-saving Power over Internet
  (PoE) technology to deliver simple, reliable and cost-effective network access
  for rich-media applications, such as voice and video.
• Address the explosion of unstructured data from a growing mobile workforce
  with increased capacity and simplified management featured with HP X5000 Storage. This highly available
  clustered network attached storage (NAS) platform reduces IT administration time
  for SMBs by ensuring users have access to file data from their mobile
  devices.

Increased support for SMBs and channel partners
HP provides SMBs and channel
partners with a broad range of programs to drive growth, create new revenue
streams and ensure collaboration. Enhanced programs provide:

• Favorable financing options with the HP
  Even Better Than Zero program, which allows companies to lease HP equipment
  at a less-than-zero implicit lease rate while offering a fair-market-value
  purchase option, available through HP Financial
  Services.
• Improved business skills for small-business owners through HP Learning
  Initiative for Entrepreneurs (HP LIFE) e-Learning. The new cloud-based
  platform, hosted on HP
  Converged Cloud infrastructure, offers free information and courses to help
  SMBs establish or grow their businesses. HP LIFE has helped establish or expand
  more than 19,700 businesses and helped create 43,000 jobs worldwide since
  2007.⁽³⁾

Availability
The HP Client Virtualization SMB Reference Architecture for Microsoft VDI is
scheduled to be available in September. All other solutions and services are
available now through HP and worldwide channel partners.

When Elizabeth Jones started to work at the University of Florida, gasoline was 25 cents a gallon, Harry S. Truman was in the White House and one of the most popular shows on TV was “I Love Lucy.”

Here’s one more thing to put things in perspective: Construction on Century Tower wouldn’t begin until the following year.

Known affectionately as “Miss Betty,” Jones became a UF employee in September 1952, and she’s still on the job, now as a receptionist at the UF Information Technology office in Turlington Hall.

No one has worked at UF longer.

Jones has seen plenty of change in the past six decades, but her devotion to students and to UF hasn’t wavered.

“I love the young people and I love my university,” she said, adding that she has no plans to step down any time soon.

Jones celebrates her 60^th anniversary at UF; Queen Elizabeth celebrates 60 years on the British throne. Coincidence? You decide.

Summary

Commentary–From aerospace and defense contractors to financial services and healthcare providers, businesses are starting to realize the bottom line benefit to getting their output under control. They are doing this through Managed Print Services (MPS) – a defined and mature strategy designed to help manage the volume of documents flowing through the organization and minimize the costs associated with printing, sharing and updating them.

Often overlooked, print is an infrastructure just as important as facilities, telecommunications and IT networks, and the long-term results of a successful MPS partnership includes enhanced productivity, increased compliance and improved environmental sustainability, to name a few.

How do you know if your business should explore an MPS relationship? Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Will this effort truly deliver a defined and hard dollar return on investment? Gartner says yes. According to their research, enterprises can save up to 30 percent on printing services by selecting the right partner.

2. Are you benefiting from your current investments? Consider what went into the decision-making process for your company’s current output environment – including the current fleet of multi-vendor copiers, printers and other hardware. Is it still delivering what you need? Could it do more – like scanning and imaging for easy access to documents? You should assess the environment and also help transform key document driven business processes.

3. Can your technology keep up? As a business changes and evolves, so must its output solution. If the current technology is unable to keep up with the demand from additional employees and increased usage, it is merely a drain on your financial and human resources. Or, if your current strategy does not provide flexibility as the total employee population fluctuates up or down, you have an opportunity for improvement.  What’s more, while the economic environment may mean you need to hold onto your technology assets for a longer period of time, MPS might be able to reduce costs by combining the right technology with software, services, and proven best practices so your business can streamline workflow, eliminate time consuming manual tasks, speed up access to critical information and reduce operational costs.

4. Does your print infrastructure support other company objectives? Implementing MPS not only tackles cost and productivity goals, but it can be a sustainable business practice too. By decreasing the number of output devices from 10,000 to 3,500, KeyCorp’s MPS strategy also addresses a corporate commitment to reduce paper consumption, decrease power usage and eliminate several tons of landfill waste.  How? By strategically rationalizing the ratio of output devices to your employee population, you will reduce energy usage – leading to reduced carbon production and greenhouse gases. Eliminating unnecessary output may help save a significant amount of fresh water and trees via the reduction in the paper and pulp manufacturing process.

5. Does downtime cost you? One of the fundamental challenges when assessing printing expenses is determining what is being spent and where. When your IT department is constantly fixing hardware while employees are unable to effectively print, scan and handle documents, all departments suffer. What’s more, printing costs are often buried in various department budgets and each employee likely has a personalized work process that may not be optimal to reducing overall printing costs. Providers utilizing Lean Six Sigma or other proven methodologies unlock the potential to save up to 30 percent of total document costs by identifying ways to eliminate errors and unnecessary steps.  By leveraging intelligent network-based tools to monitor all devices, proactive management strategies can be implemented to help avoid unnecessary downtime.  It is reasonable to expect your employees to have access to output as needed – 100 percent of the time.

6. Do you have more important things to focus on than print? Most businesses do not have the print management knowledge internally to handle local, national and even global print solutions without outside help. An MPS partner brings the expertise to manage, upgrade and improve millions of devices, while empowering the workforce to embrace productivity and operational changes through effective change management programs. By assessing digital and paper document volume, related work processes and the technology that supports it, you can develop a plan that achieves the right formula for existing employee work habits, daily volume and organizational readiness for implementing new strategies.

While MPS is not a new solution, it is one that can maximize short-term cost savings, while adding value that will prime your business for growth in the future. The first step is to see your print infrastructure as a means of leveraging new sources of value.

biography
Jim Joyce is a senior vice president for Xerox Managed Print Services.

A new scanning technology, HP TopShot Scanning, captures six images of a
document or 3D object and combines them to create one high-quality image
suitable for print or Web. The first printer with this technology, the HP
TopShot Laserjet Pro M275, retails for$349.  From May 1 thru June 114th, it is on rebate for $299.

The new HP Officejet Pro 8600 e-All-in-One series and the HP Officejet Pro
ePrinter are meant to offer professional quality color documents at a 50 percent
lower cost per page than laser printers. These inkjet printers are also equipped
with ePrint, which lets you print from mobile devices by sending an email to the
printer. The 8600 All-in-One series will start at $199. Two of the current
Officejet models made PCWorld’s “Top 5″ inkjets list.

ePrint is also getting better with Wireless Direct. Now you’ll
be able to connect to a printer from a mobile device directly over peer-to-peer
Wi-Fi, without having to go through the Internet. Mobile ePrint Home and Biz
apps are available for Apple iOS, Android, and Symbian smartphones and tablets.
The ePrint Mobile Driver for PCs is supposed to make it easy to send a document
to a registered ePrint device with a “File and Print” option. And the ePrint app
for BlackBerry is getting options to print to ePrint-enabled service providers,
HP Enterprise service providers, and HP Public Print services providers.

On the scanning side, the HP Printer Control mobile app for iOS devices can
take scans from an ePrint-enabled multifunction printer and upload them to
Facebook or Google Docs, or let you scan them to an email.

In addition, HP announced new Print apps aimed at
business. Print apps are designed to give you access to pre-formatted content
you can either download directly to your printer and print without the need for
a computer, or scan directly to Internet storage. The new HP Business Apps
includes Stamps.com Web postage, apps from Shoeboxed for scanning business cards
and receipts, as well as apps from Google Docs and Box.net.

Many enterprise-level technologies are now being made available to SMBs via
HP’s recent acquisition of Printelligent. HP will begin rolling out its HP
Partner Managed Print Services over the next year.

HP is also offering a Smart Marketing Suite to address inefficiencies in
marketing. It consists of software and services, developed with Omnicom Group,
that optimize and automate marketing workflows.

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 17, 2012

HP today announced enhancements to its customer relationship management (CRM)
services that help clients engage in conversations with customers and
influencers through social media channels, gaining valuable insights that drive
business growth.

Facebook, Twitter and other social networks have changed consumer behavior
while adding a layer of complexity to the company-customer relationship.
Traditional CRM programs and architectures, designed prior to the emergence of
social networks, hinder organizations from leveraging these outlets to develop
strategies and create a framework for expansion.

The new HP
Social Enterprise Services help organizations quickly implement a social CRM
program to improve communications and engagement with customers, while also
helping them to better understand those customers. By leveraging advanced
analytics from HP Labs, the
company’s central research arm, as well as Vertica and Autonomy, both HP
companies, for structured and unstructured data, the service also improves
contact center performance and support clients’ top-line growth.

HP Social Enterprise Services incorporate social media channels into existing
contact center channels to provide organizations with a holistic view of their
customers. By integrating social media strategy, process, information,
analytics, technology and high-performance contact center teams, organizations
can rapidly deliver new products and services that are aligned with customer
requirements, establishing a solid competitive advantage.

“Leading companies, particularly in business-to-consumer industries, have
recognized the importance of tapping into customer-to-customer communications
and engaging in these social conversations,” said Joe Outlaw, principal contact
center analyst, Frost & Sullivan. “Drawing on its strong analytics
capabilities and deep CRM experience, HP has created a uniquely powerful social
CRM service. This service offers companies a full set of tools and methodologies
designed for rapid start-up and seamless broadening and deepening of social CRM
programs as strategies dictate.”

Part of HP
Customer Engagement Management, HP Social Enterprise Services provide two
service models: HP Agent Services to engage with customers in social media
channels and HP Social Media Analysis to mine the social web for information and
insights on customers. Key features include:

• Listening Service – monitors a client brand or product in social media
  channels to identify new engagement opportunities.
• Analysis Service – leverages various analytics to gain insight into client,
  competitor and industry trends to refine the company’s social media strategy.
• Routing Service – directs engagement opportunities to internal stakeholders,
  such as customer service, marketing, sales and product development for prompt
  action.
• Engagement Service – leverages insights derived from analytics to rapidly
  respond to customer inquiries and comments in social media channels.
• Reporting Service – provides daily snapshots, weekly summaries and monthly
  reports of insights, analysis and opportunities to measure program success.

When bundled, HP Agent Services and HP Social Media Analysis allow clients to
manage customer relationships more effectively by keeping pace with social media
and analytical technologies.

“Social media has become a game changer in company-customer interactions, and
it needs to be integrated into an organization’s contact center,” said Danila
Meirlaen, vice president, Business Process Outsourcing, HP. “HP Social
Enterprise Services take customer relations to a new level with analytic tools
that make it easy to engage with customers via social networks, turning those
interactions into positive outcomes for both the customer and organization.”

Depending on the client’s specific needs, the HP Social Enterprise Services
framework is designed to leverage other pan-HP tools such as the HP Social
Intelligence Solution and proprietary assets from HP Labs.

Pricing and availability
HP Social Enterprise Services
are now available worldwide. Pricing for HP Agent Services varies depending on
client need. Pricing for Social Media Analysis Services is subscription based
and depends on the volume of services selected.

More information is available at www.hp.com/enterprise/crm.

HP’s premier client event, HP Discover, takes place June 4-7 in
Las Vegas.

About HP
HP creates new possibilities for technology to
have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The
world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal
computing, software,
services and IT
infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE:
HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

HP today announced it has acquired Hiflex Software GmbH, a privately held global software solutions provider specializing in web-to-print and management information systems solutions for printing services. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1991, Hiflex is headquartered in Aachen, Germany. Following the acquisition, Hiflex will continue to evolve its offerings and service its current customers.

“HP wants to break the traditional barriers of how and where business customers print, making it easy for them to produce custom or personalized materials anywhere, anytime,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “Hiflex’s technology provides a powerful platform to deliver on this goal as part of our overall cloud printing strategy.”

Technologies from Hiflex will enable continued innovation across HP’s imaging and printing offerings and will extend the company’s portfolio of cloud-based technologies and solutions. HP also remains committed to supporting a broad range of partner solutions, giving customers maximum choice and flexibility.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 22, 2011
——————————————————————————–

The holidays came early for families and staff at Ronald McDonald House in Rochester, Minn., when HP announced it had provided new HP TouchSmart PCs and HP Compaq Pro All-in-one PCs.

HP TouchSmart 9300 Elite Business PCs were unveiled in every Ronald McDonald House guest room, while HP Compaq 6000 Pro All-in-One Business PCs now power the staff at Ronald McDonald House.

The Ronald McDonald House team will integrate its new technologies to enhance family communications. An HP TouchSmart screen will replace a hallway whiteboard that currently lists scheduled outings, activities and crafts.

In addition, in the privacy of their own guest room, parents can use the HP TouchSmart PC to log in to their child’s patient account at the Mayo Clinic. This enables them to keep up to date on appointments and lab results, day or night.

“Ill children and families come to us from around the world. They are going through tough times,” said Linda Bonow, executive director, Ronald McDonald House. “It’s wonderful to see a child’s eyes light up because they are able to see a funny face on a family member who is thousands of miles away. With the big TouchSmart screen, it’s like they are right there in the room with them, face to face and heart to heart.”

Enabling children to connect with loved ones, access information privately

The Ronald McDonald House in Rochester provides a “home away from home” and offers support to families seeking medical care for their children. The House is home to 42 families each night, and nearly 1,000 annually.

Previously, children and their families had to share five desktops in a public area during their stay. Now, with an HP TouchSmart 9300 Elite Business PC in each room, children and their families have a personal information and communication hub for the duration of their stay.

The built-in, adjustable webcam on the HP TouchSmart PC enables families to communicate “face to face” or send a video message to friends and loved ones.(1) Families also can use the HP TouchSmart PC’s browser to access information about a new diagnosis, use entertainment features such as TV, or connect with social networks in a natural, intuitive way.

The simple touch interface enables even the youngest children to play games and helps older kids do homework with a tap of a finger. For those with neurological disorders, the touchscreen is much easier to use than a keyboard and mouse.

Working parents also appreciate having a PC in the room so they can catch up while their child is asleep. Many families have only one PC, and now other family members can keep that PC at home so everyone can stay connected.

Family care gets a makeover with new technology

HP deployed the HP Compaq 6000 Pro All-in-One Business PC for the staff at Ronald McDonald House, delivering powerful performance, high-definition (HD) visuals and energy-saving features. Its one-cord design ensured easy, out-of-the-box setup and serviceability, removed previous cable clutter and provides a more functional workspace for the Ronald McDonald House team.

The most popular staff feature of the HP 6000 is the 21.5-inch diagonal, full HD, LED backlit, HP BrightView LCD screen, which offers crisp videoconferencing for face-to-face communications.

“Technology is a powerful tool that can provide information and reassurance, which makes a huge difference for both patients and caregivers,” said John Snaider, vice president and general manager, PC Regional Business Unit – Americas, HP. “HP is providing technology that connects Ronald McDonald House staff, patients and those that care about them.”

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.