Xerox Signs 3M To Produce Prototype `Electronic Paper'

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Xerox, the world's biggest copier maker, said it has named Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing to produce electronic paper, a big step in Xerox's drive to bring its inventions to commercial markets.

Financial terms weren't disclosed. 3M, whose thousands of products include optical films used in flat-panel computer displays, will make plastic that composes microscopic beads and flat material for the paper. Xerox and 3M didn't say exactly when they'd make the product commercially available, though it won't be within the next year and will be within the next decade.

The agreement highlights efforts led by Chief Executive Rick Thoman to keep and sell inventions from Xerox, once infamous for giving away products created at its Palo Alto Research Center, such as the computer mouse. By signing a manufacturer, Xerox is showing it isn't going to let such technology out of its grasp again, analysts said.

"I knew they had this in the lab. To find out they've actually made a commercial deal before someone stole it out from under them makes me ecstatic. They've finally figured out how to do this," said Amy Wohl, president of Wohl Associates, a Narberth, Pa.-based consulting firm.

Electronic paper works like this: The material is composed of tiny white and black beads in a plastic sheath that's the thickness of a manila folder. The microscopic beads can show one color, such as black or blue, or another, such as white. Voltage is then used to move the microscopic beads into place through a kind of pen or other device.

The pen loads information much like a laser printer would print - whether it be sports scores or stock prices on an electronic newspaper or figures on meeting-room whiteboards controlled through a computer interface.

Images could be wiped clean and reworked almost instantly with a new signal.

Xerox also envisions using the technology for textbooks and magazines. It's tested e-paper using a prototype at PARC and needs St. Paul-based 3M to make sure the material can be produced on a commercial scale.

"The possibilities are incredible, but as with any new technology you don't know what's going to happen," said Wohl.

"The potential size of the market is astronomical. If it's truly a breakthrough, it could change things in a fundamental way."

The cost would likely be more than paper but far less than a computer monitor.

Because it's reusable and doesn't require back light as a computer monitor does, it will also save trees and electricity, said Bob Sprague, manager of Xerox PARC's Document Hardware Lab.

3M, the biggest maker of office transparencies, has expertise in making such plastic coatings and sheeting, said Steve Webster, director of 3M's display materials technology center.