Monday, March 1, 2010, 2:56pm PST | Modified: July 23, 2010, 11:25 AM

New improved Greenprint lands city contract

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Hayden Hamilton, GreenPrint CEO

GreenPrint Technologies, the Portland-based company that became a media darling for its software that solved the problem of wasted printing pages, finalized a 4-year contract last week with the City of Portland that illustrates how the company has matured over the years.

Founded in 2005 by a young CEO, Hayden Hamilton, GreenPrint started getting national attention in 2007 when the company, which makes software that allows a person to print from Web pages, Adobe files, e-mails and other sources while eliminating unnecessary pages, inked a distribution deal with Xerox Corp.

“The early product got so much media attention there was a big spotlight on the company in the early stages,” said Kent Dunn who joined the company six months ago as vice president of sales.

But while GreenPrint had essentially developed a product for home users, the company quickly discovered its product wasn’t ready to meet the needs of the Fortune 500 companies that knocked on its door.

“We weren’t able to address the needs of those big companies,” Dunn said. “But they were patient.”

Case in point is the City of Portland.

“The city engaged with GreenPrint probably in about 2007,” said Skip Newberry, economic development policy adviser to Portland Mayor Sam Adams. “The city bought some of the home premium product only to find that it wasn’t intended for office environment.”

In response to such feedback, GreenPrint , which employs a 25-employee development team in Bangalore, India and 10 people in Portland, built an entirely new product with the needs of a large business in mind. It was launched in September, 2009 and Dunn started calling on perspective customers.

Newberry said Portland’s IT operation began with a pilot test of the new software in the fall and quickly expanded it throughout city offices. The contract will span four years and is worth about $120,000, depending on the rate at which the city deploys new computers.

“We go through a lot of paper, ink and toner, it really makes perfect sense,” Newberry said. “The city has a lot of interest in trying to make sure their offices are leading the way in sustainability practices.”

GreenPrint CEO Hamilton hired Dunn to beef up the sales effort. Dunn, formerly an executive with Seattle-based Verdiem, said the new product will make that easier. He expects to see $2 million in revenue for GreenPrint this year.