07-02-2012
Kodak increases focus and commitment in the Middle East offering a free extended manufacturer warranty on document scanners
•Provided exclusively through Forefront Technologies
•“Three for free” year warranty reduces end-user costs and guarantees uninterrupted performance on workgroup and departmental equipment
Dubai February 7, 2012 – To ensure its customers realise the very best document imaging quality, guaranteed uninterrupted performance and fast response to service and support needs, Kodak today announced that it is now offering a free, three year manufacturer warranty in the Middle East on select personal, workgroup and departmental document scanners.
Delivered exclusively through its value added distributor, Forefront Technologies, highly trained certified engineers will provide Kodak Service and Support locally to customers. The service includes:
•36 months Advanced Unit Replacement (AUR) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the Kodak ScanMate i920, Kodak ScanMate i1120, Kodak i2400, Kodak i2600, Kodak i2800, Kodak i1405 as well as the A4 and A3 flatbed accessories. This means next business day replacement if an issue is diagnosed in the field which cannot be addressed and solved immediately.
•36 months parts warranty in all other Middle East markets Kodak operates in such as Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Yemen. This covers the Kodak ScanMate i920, Kodak ScanMate i1120, Kodak i2400, Kodak i2600, Kodak i2800, Kodak i1220, Kodak i1320, Kodak i1405 as well as the A4 and A3 flatbed accessories.
Effective today and applicable to purchases through Forefront Technologies only, this means that Kodak has significantly raised the bar in terms of warranty provided on imaging technology as all other manufacturers in the region just offer a one-year warranty as standard, with additional coverage charged as extra.
David Whitton, Kodak’s regional sales director for the Middle East and Africa, says, “This is another first for Kodak in the Middle East as no other manufacturer provides the level of cover we do. Our new extended, free warranty obviously lowers operational costs for customers, provides piece of mind, with Forefront Technologies providing parts and warehousing locally to offer immediate response to service and support needs. This ensures solutions are always up and running, customers have the best possible user experience, thereby making Kodak a very compelling answer for reliable, cost effective document digitisation.”
With warehousing and offices in UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Forefront Technologies has become Kodak’s lead partner in the delivery of service and support in the Middle East – a market where Kodak is making considerable investment and focus to energise sales effort, build presence, and visibility. It is growing its pre-sales and technical staff team, investing more in key trade shows such as GITEX, with a range of localised new products slated to launch in 1H 2012.
Georges Karam, Forefront Technologies’ managing director, says, “With an acknowledged reputation as a leading distributor of document imaging and storage products with a strong network of over 500 channel partners in the Middle East, we’ve become Kodak’s biggest partner by investing in the relationship to train staff and provide warehousing and logistical facilities from which to serve clients. The new warranty we’re delivering is an exciting development to help drive sales in 2012 and make sure that customers capitalise on all the obvious benefits of electronic document management solutions to improve organisational productivity and efficiency, and streamline information sharing.”
For further information, please visit kodak.com
Posted: Feb 6th, 2012
Kodak and Heraeus Demonstrate First Use of PEDOT in Projected Capacitive Touch Screens
(Nanowerk News) Eastman Kodak Co. and the Conductive Polymers Division of Heraeus Precious Metals GmbH & Co. KG, have achieved a major technological advance in the development of transparent conductive films for projected capacitive touch screens.
The companies jointly announced they have created a projected capacitive touch screen with Kodak HCF-225 Film/ESTAR™ Base as the transparent conductive component featuring completely invisible patterns, marking a change in the manufacturing of touch screen displays for handsets and tablet devices.
The announcement was made in advance of the FlexTech Alliance 2012 Flexible Electronics & Displays Conference & Exhibition in Phoenix, AZ, where a 3.5" touch screen panel for use in cellular handsets will be demonstrated at Heraeus booth #31.
The invisible patterning process utilizes Heraeus component technologies, whereby a conductive pattern is screen printed onto Kodak HCF-225 Film/ESTAR™ Base using Clevios™ SET S – a masking polymer. Clevios™ Etch is then used to create the non-conductive areas. After the process is completed, the masking polymer that protected the conductive pattern is removed.
The result is a touch screen manufactured according to standard industry practices that provides improved touch performance, flexibility, stability, transparency, reduced haze and neutral color profile – as a cost-effective alternative to patterned indium tin oxide (ITO) films.
"Today's PEDOT films are up to 100 times more conductive than they were 10 years ago," said John Bayley, European Sales & Marketing Manager for Heraeus Precious Metals GmbH & Co. KG's Conductive Polymers Division. "Polymer systems have the advantage over ITO films, which are known to be brittle. The revolutionary films from Kodak bring flexibility and functionality for device designers."
"Further, the new Clevios™ Etch technology from Heraeus enables conductive lines to be patterned as invisible traces, and this feature has been effectively demonstrated in the projected capacitive design and in LED displays on curved substrates," Bayley said.
"The advent of invisible patterning technology enables PEDOT-based films to satisfy the design goals of smart phone and tablet makers in markets that require very high optical clarity and multi-touch response," said Dr. Stephan Kirchmeyer, Head of the Functional Coatings Business Unit from Heraeus Conductive Polymers Division. "The market can now access a complete system that provides patterned transparent conductive films with enhanced performance at lower cost compared with current material sets and processes."
"Kodak and Heraeus have developed a highly conductive Clevios™ PEDOT:PSS formulation that when coated on Kodak's ESTARTM film base makes highly transparent conductive and flexible films that offer great utility in many markets where either touch capabilities or light, flexible, conductive films add value and create design flexibility," said Brian Marks, General Manager, Functional Printing, Eastman Kodak Company. He added that the advantages of this technology in manufacturing are significant.
"The cost and performance of this new technology opens the door to the production of a new generation of touch screens built for electronic devices using high volume web coating manufacturing processes," Marks said. "It is positioned to utilize in-line patterning processes creating substantial cost advantages compared to the sputtering and patterning techniques required in the manufacture of ITO films."
Dr. Kirchmeyer predicted that "in the near future we will see touch screens in almost every electronic device. "As the performance of these devices continues to advance and the cost continues to fall, they are poised to change the way that people interact with a whole array of devices," Dr. Kirchmyer said. "Just about any technology in which a person needs to interact with an electronic or a mechanical device could gain a real advantage by adopting touch screen technology.
"This growth will require a touch screen technology that is both more advanced and more economical. With the new highly conductive Clevios™ technology on Kodak's films we have taken a big step forward," Dr. Kirchmeyer said."
About Kodak
As the world's foremost imaging innovator, Kodak helps consumers, businesses, and creative professionals unleash the power of pictures and printing to enrich their lives and businesses. Kodak's Industrial Materials Group offers a portfolio of functional films that enable customers in the electronic, optical and related industrial markets bring tomorrow's ideas to market today. For more information, visit kodak.com
About Heraeus
Heraeus, the precious metals and technology group headquartered in Hanau, Germany, is a global, private company with 160 years of tradition. Our fields of competence include precious metals, materials and technologies; sensors; biomaterials; and medical products, as well as dental products, quartz glass, and specialty light sources. With product revenues of €4.1 billion and precious metals trading revenues of €17.9 billion, as well as more than 12,900 employees in over 120 subsidiaries worldwide, Heraeus holds a leading position in its global markets.
Source: Kodak/Heraeus (press release)
The financial future of tens of thousands of past and present employees in Britain has been thrown into doubt after it emerged the scheme was in deficit.The UK’s Pension Protection Fund will not step in unless the British arm of Kodak also files for bankruptcy.
Experts say the scheme’s trustees could launch the claim against the US parent. The British scheme is already listed in the US as the largest potential claimant against the US group. No sum is specified.
But the fund will not necessarily be at the front of the queue to claw money back. The pension trustees have a representative on the committee of creditors in the American bankruptcy process.
An insolvency expert last night said the UK trustees would ‘struggle to get their unsecured claim prioritised, as US courts typically protect US creditors’.
At the end of 2010, Kodak’s UK pension scheme had a shortfall of £576.5million, and the US company promised to pay £536million into the scheme over the next decade. But Eastman Kodak’s collapse throws into question the future of the scheme’s funding, and the resulting claim by the UK trustees could be much higher, as deficits have grown in recent months. If Kodak US cannot make up the deficit, the regulator could demand that the British company steps in. Forcing Kodak of the UK to pay down the deficit more quickly than planned would risk pushing the British firm under. Kodak refused to issue further comment.
Source: thisismoney.co.uk
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. were among those named to the committee that will represent Eastman Kodak Co. creditors during the imaging company’s bankruptcy case.
The seven members of the unsecured creditors committee, which also includes Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., were announced today in New York by the U.S. Trustee, an arm of the Justice Department that monitors bankruptcy proceedings.
Kodak, based in Rochester, New York, filed for bankruptcy Jan. 19, listing assets of $5.1 billion and debt of $6.8 billion.
Wal-Mart has a claim against Kodak for about $11.4 million, according to court papers. Bank of New York Mellon Corp., which wasn’t named to the committee, was listed as Kodak’s biggest unsecured creditor as trustee for about $670 million in notes when Kodak filed for bankruptcy.
The PBGC said Jan. 19 that it would “actively participate” in Kodak’s bankruptcy to protect pension plans. Kodak sponsors two traditional pension plans that cover almost 63,000 people. The plans are 86 percent funded, with about $4.9 billion in assets to cover about $5.6 billion in benefits, the PBGC said.
The case is In re Eastman Kodak Co., 12-10202, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
22-01-2012
Kodak gets 2013 deadline to reorganize
Girded by a $950 million financing deal with Citigroup Inc., the photography pioneer aims to keep operating normally during bankruptcy while it peddles a trove of digital-imaging patents.
After years of mammoth cost-cutting and turnaround efforts, Kodak ran short of cash and sought protection from its creditors Thursday. It is required under its bankruptcy financing terms to produce a reorganization plan by Feb. 15, 2013.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper in New York gave Kodak permission to borrow an initial $650 million from Citigroup.
He also set a June 30 deadline for Kodak to seek his approval of bidding procedures for the sale of 1,100 patents that analysts estimate could fetch at least $2 billion. No buyers have emerged since Kodak started shopping them around in July.
Through negotiations and lawsuits, Kodak has already collected $1.9 billion in patent licensing fees and royalties since 2008. Last week, it intensified efforts to defend its intellectual property by filing patent-infringement lawsuits against Apple Inc., HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics and Fujifilm Corp.
Kodak is also pursuing another high-stakes dispute before the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., against Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. over image-preview technology it patented in 2002.
Kodak has said it hopes to garner $1 billion from the two-year-old claim. But the commission, a U.S. arbiter for trade disputes, recently put off its decision until September.
Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Kodak turned photography into a mass commodity at the dawn of the 20th century and was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. It was brought down first by Japanese competition and then an inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology.
"They're a company that knows more about imaging than anyone else in the world," said Robert Burley, a photography professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. "But I think they lost their ability in their corporate structure to turn those innovations into real-world applications and get them on the market fast.
"There were just too many fronts to deal with, too many battles all at the same time."
In its Chapter 11 filing, Kodak said its nearly decade-long overhaul has been undermined since 2008 by a sluggish economy and high restructuring costs. Its payroll has plunged below 19,000 from 70,000 in 2002, and it hasn't had a profitable year since 2007.
"At the same time as we have created our digital business, we have also already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing our workforce by 47,000 since 2003," CEO Antonio Perez said.
"Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetizing non-core (intellectual-property) assets," Perez said in a statement.
Kodak's stock edged up to 32 cents in over-the-counter trading Friday afternoon. The bankruptcy filing prompted the New York Stock Exchange to delist the securities.
Source: hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-20-Kodak%20Bankruptcy/id-fa42ebfb76424f10b02d1fcb8ae8ec17
9-01-2012
Chapter11:
Eastman Kodak Company is supposedly getting ready to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of this month or early February.
New York Stock Exchange listing:
Kodak is at risk of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) because Kodak (NYSE:EK) shares fall below $1 and the NYSE has given Kodak six months in which to rectify matters.
Selling pattents:
The four most likely buyers for the patents are the makers of smart phone technologies including:
Apple (AAPL), Rim (RIMM), Google (GOOG) and HTC.
Apple and RIM are facing a court order to pay at least $1 billion in licensing fees to Kodak for image preview technology Kodak owns patents on. It would make sense for them both to be the most likely buyers of the patents since they are already in effect using utilizing them.
Google and HTC could benefit from the patents as they may be looking to increase their defensive patents against their competitors. Other major companies that use Kodak’s patents include: LG (LG), Panasonic (PC), Nokia (NOK), Olympus (OCPNF.PK), Samsung (SSNLF.PK), Sanyo (SANYF.PK), Sharp (SHCAF.PK), Sony (SNE), and Sony Ericsson. Kodak has licensed digital imaging technology to approximately 30 companies, including such leading mobile-device companies as LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson, all of which are royalty bearing to Kodak. Whether these licensees might be interested in purchasing Kodak’s patents is unknown, but if they are already paying licensing fees, and they know their competitors are paying the same licensing fees, it makes business sense to consider the purchase.
Words from former Kodak Spokesman Paul Allen, offering his own analysis and opinions about what made the company great in the first place.
Allen believes the best course for Kodak would be to remove the so-called poison pill, a provision designed to block any hostile takeover.
He says a friendly takeover would be preferable to a bankruptcy filing because he believes it would allow the company to get top dollar for its assets, and preserve the brand. Allen fears that current management could be trying to protect its own severance packages if it files for bankruptcy protection.
“Kodak needs to find a friendly buyer and lift the poison pill they have in place” Allen says. “A friendly buyer could provide the resources they need to continue those businesses that are viable going forward, and to get top dollar for the company's technology and intellectual property.” Allen says “A bankruptcy cannot provide any of these resources. It can only provide protection from their creditors and a nice severance package for executives.”
Quoted from: technologyspectator.com.au/emerging-tech/social-media/kodaks-missed-facebook-opportunity
