Ricoh Corporation Exhibits Lotus Software Solution Designed to Fulfill Corporate Image Communication Strategy

Document Management Program Combines Ricoh Digital Copiers with Lotus Domino Software to Deliver Innovative Communications Capabilities for Office and Mobile Professionals

ATLANTA, April 12, 1999 – Ricoh Corporation, the leading manufacturer of digital black and white and color copiers, is extending its Image Communication vision to include compatible solutions for IBM’s Lotus Notes environment being displayed here at AIIM, Booth #1335, in the Georgia World Congress Convention Center.

Newly compatible Ricoh products include the RICOH Aficio 350/450 digital imaging systems, the AP Series digital black & white and color digital printers. The Ricoh/IBM NuOffice supported products will be available in early 3Q99.

The combination of Ricoh’s award-winning line of digital imaging systems with the Lotus Domino and NuOffice software will give office and mobile professionals an easy to use solution for bridging paper and electronic documents. Ricoh’s strategic vision to create office environments in which anyone can easily create, modify and process all forms of data such as text, numbers, photographs, illustrations, and sound in their simplest form — the image in order to communicate without limits.

NuOffice software enables Lotus Domino, the industry leading web server software from Lotus Development Corp., an IBM subsidiary, to support the Salutation Architecture, which Ricoh endorses. The Salutation Architecture provides a universal means to access and manage a range of devices, including Ricoh products. It allows users to communicate information and images among any Lotus Notes-enabled networked computer or office peripheral, whether in the office or on the road.

The NuOffice solution represents the next generation of business communications for Ricoh Digital Products as well as additional fulfillment of the Image Communication strategy. In the future, Ricoh will continue to deliver such “appliance-like” products that foster free data exchange through innovative products that link computer data and image information in a way that is easily understood and processed.

“NuOffice allows us to offer new communications solutions to customers that utilize Ricoh technology and Lotus Domino programming,” said Yuji Koyanagi, Director, Document Solutions & Peripheral Products Marketing, Corporate Marketing Group for Ricoh Corporation. “This solution essentially turns any communications device into an intelligent peripheral, giving users more control over their documents and furthering the concept of Image Communication.”

Ajei Gopal, director of technology for pervasive computing at IBM, says: “Ricoh’s support of the Salutation Architecture is a strong endorsement of the power of standards to enable customers to seamlessly link their technologies. IBM’s Lotus Domino and NuOffice software, coupled with Ricoh’s digital solutions, give users easier access to the information they need to be productive.”

Acting as a “central warehouse” for the transfer of information, IBM’s NuOffice is both a production tool and a convenience tool that will further Ricoh’s vision of offering the most leading-edge communications solutions. For example, NuOffice allows users to send documents to printers and other peripherals, in addition to a PC. NuOffice also allows scanned documents to be imported to a Lotus Domino database to access and distribute information whether printing or sending email.

“NuOffice is the ideal solution for large corporate offices and workgroups with many mobile or telecommuting user.” Koyanagi said. “It makes the sending and retrieval of information practically automatic, thus nurturing better communications and eliminating the potential for downtime.

More About Image Communication

Image Communication is not only Ricoh’s new strategy, but it is Ricoh’s new way of viewing the work environment. The new office model is one of unprecedented flexibility, and therefore, requires solutions that mirror this flexibility.

Ricoh’s future product introductions and office solutions are driven by its new Image Communication strategy, and will enable individuals to work from a home, mobile or corporate office while sharing, transferring and storing information through a central database.

Ricoh’s Image Communication strategy is supported by five product and service concepts:

  • Accommodation of all office configurations such as the corporate, home and mobile office;
  • Contribution to enhancing the productivity of entire work groups;
  • An open approach to production development to allow for flexible expansion;
  • Creation of products that are easy to operate in every aspect; and
  • Pursuit and promotion of optimum image information.

Future Ricoh products will reflect Ricoh’s Image Communication initiative and create a truly digital information exchange. These products will allow all forms of information including text, numbers, pictures and voice to be connected to a central information storage unit, allowing information to be manipulated or transmitted to any location for further use or output to paper.

n addition, Ricoh is reinforcing its commitment to the environment by creating a paper-managed environment where paper is minimized by automatically converting information to electronic data as a standard usage form.

About the Consortium

The Salutation Consortium is a non-profit corporation with member organizations in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Member companies include Adobe Systems, APTi, Axis Communications, Brother, Canon, Cisco, Fuji Xerox, Fujitsu, Granite Systems, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, IBM, Kobe Steel, Komatsu, Konica, Matsushita, Mita, Mitsubishi, Murata (Muratec), Okamura, OkiData, Ricoh, Sanyo, Seiko, Epson, Sharp, Sun Microsystems, Toshiba, and Xerox.

The Consortium’s web site is http://.

About Ricoh Corporation

Ricoh Corporation, headquartered in West Caldwell, N.J., is a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., the 63-year-old leading supplier of office automation equipment with 1997 sales in excess of $10.6 billion.

Ricoh Corporation is a diversified office equipment and electronics provider. The company is a pioneer in the development of computer-connected and digital multifunctional document systems, is a leader in the fastest-growing color copier market and is a premier supplier of black & white copiers, facsimile machines, printers and scanners.

Ricoh has received the 1998 Energy Star Imaging Equipment Partner of the Year Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EPA’s highest industry award. Ricoh was chosen for its commitment to the environment and its extraordinary leadership role in promoting and producing energy efficient copiers, facsimile machines, printers and scanners.

Information about Ricoh’s complete range of products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.ricoh-usa.com.

Ricoh Contacts :     Alicia Dollard, Jay Kolbe

Ruder · Finn

(212) 593-6343, (212) 593-5858

[email protected] 

Previous post:

Next post: