The so-called Hydra machine, a photocopier that operates as a store-and-forward facsimile server, in development at Xerox Corp, is closer than anyone imagined: Xerox told the annual meeting that the thing will be launched this year. The Hydra will include scanner, copier, printer and facsimile machine, and will store documents in digital form, so that users will be able to manipulate them on their personal computer screens before printing them – or sending them elsewhere by facsimile. That will be announced later in the year, but as a curtain-raiser, Xerox tomorrow plans to launch four models of a copier-fax machine that will also have some editing capabilities.
