Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) has introduced the first in its new line of standalone digital monochrome laser printers, the flagship 40 ppm e-STUDIO 40P.

Building on the success of its full-featured e-STUDIO MFPs (multifunction products), Toshiba will unveil a series of desktop and high-speed network printers in the 16-40 ppm range over the next few months. By expanding into the growing printer market, TABS is poised to offer complete office systems to its customers.

"The popularity of the Internet and e-mail has resulted in a rising tide of print volumes," says Rick Taylor, senior vice president, sales, marketing and business operations, TABS. "Our new line of laser printers is designed to meet the demands of today's offices for high quality and reliability."

The e-STUDIO 40P touts a 350 MHz processor that can print complex documents "in record time."

All of the e-STUDIO monochrome laser printer models come standard with letter/legal printing at 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution and PostScript3 Level and PLC6 printing. Accessories and options include: additional paper supplies, duplexing, additional paper output capacity and document stapling.

Designed to be a shared networked printer in a large workgroup setting, the e-STUDIO 40P comes with 32MB standard RAAM, upgradeable to 384MB. An optional 5GB hard disk drive is available.

The printer comes standard with a built-in 10/100Mbit network interface to streamline the network-connectivity process and ships with MarkVision network management software. A standard USB connection provides laptop and PDA users added convenience.

Designed for high-volume printing, the e-STUDIO 40P has a total paper capacity of 4,100 pages and comes standard with two 500-sheet paper cassettes and a 100-sheet bypass.

An optional StapleSmart finisher lets users staple documents during the printing process, much like a more advanced digital copier. An Output Expander option gives users even greater flexibility when printing large quantities of documents.