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On September 17, Katun Corporation announced the launch of its first line of A3 MFPs. The new series, named Arivia, comprises 11 toner-based A3 models spread across four engine families. Six of the devices are color and five are mono, spanning the range from 25-65 ppm.
Katun is no newcomer to this industry, however. Its previous focus has been manufacturing and selling OEM compatible imaging supplies for the past 45 years. The company has a formidable reputation in that space as a leading provider despite remaining family owned—the company boasts a strong network of over 8,000 resellers, all of which are committed to the Katun brand. This fact alone is expected to give Katun a head start over other entrants to this mature market as the channel looks to differentiate.
At first glance, the devices appear to be competitive and offer a broad range of options, accessories, and connections to major independent software vendor (ISV) solutions. Katun’s promises around reliability, profitability, and serviceability—the value proposition, in short—have yet to be proven but certainly make industry experts want to dive in deeper.
| Source: Katun Corporation |
Along with the device launch came a brand relaunch and word of a partner program, too. The new identity collates the various sub-brands of Katun (including Katun Performance, Arivia, Business Color, Access, Business ink and ecoKAP) under one umbrella, representing the company values of goodness, courage, commitment, and honesty.
The katalyst partner program, a name that symbolizes an agent that provokes change or action, promises to make success simpler for Katun’s partners. Impact Networking is, in the eyes of Katun, an agent of change, as it became the first reseller of the Arivia series. One of 18 mega dealers (over $100 million in annual revenue) in the United States, Impact sees strong year-over-year growth thanks in large part to its managed IT services practice.
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
Many of us get bored by product announcements. This was different, as it came from an aftermarket player—one of the best, in fact. The sum of the parts is a complete package for partners to go to market with: Katun now has a channel, the hardware, the supplies, and the solutions. As the print industry has matured, succumbed to digitization, and accepted hybrid work, change has to happen so clients remain happy with their workplace technology and resellers can thrive. The value proposition is promising, and the market is open for alternatives with a proven record.
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