Ricoh Corporation, the leading provider of
digital office equipment, today announced that it has received the “Color Printer Line of
the Year” award from Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI), the leading independent office
products test lab and business consumer advocate. In addition, five of Ricoh’s printers
received Fall 2005 “Pick of the Year” awards and the Ricoh Aficio G700 was given an
Outstanding Achievement award.
In a series of rigorous testing by BLI, the Ricoh color printer line stood out for its high-performance,
functionality and capacity to streamline content management for business
users in all categories. After testing various color printers across multiple categories, the
performance of the Ricoh models - the Aficio G700 for small businesses, the Aficio
CL4000DN for mid-size offices, and the Aficio CL7200DL and CL7300DL for large
workgroups - exceeded competing units tested within those markets, earning Ricoh the
“Color Printer Line of the Year” award. With print speeds of 20 pages-per-minute (ppm),
26 ppm, 28 ppm, and 35 ppm, respectively, these Ricoh color printers were designed to
efficiently manage document workflow for the end-user while maintaining superior
quality.
“Being presented with the ‘Color Printer Line of the Year’ award truly exemplifies
Ricoh’s commitment to its customers by providing products that are designed to
effectively meet their business needs,” said Hede Nonaka, vice president of marketing,
Ricoh Corporation. “We are also proud to have many of our other printers recognized as
some of the best in the market by Buyers Laboratory since it is one of the most
comprehensive testing labs in the industry.”
With regards to the “Pick of the Year” awards, every product underwent competitive
three-month in-house testing by BLI to uncover critical performance areas, such as
reliability, ease of use, total ownership costs, as well as copy and print quality,
productivity and efficiency. During testing, products were evaluated for their ability to
initiate functions while others were already in place. Furthermore, BLI also assessed
how each unit worked in a networked environment by running various job matrixes on
each device with multiple software programs, paper sizes, copy/print job sizes, and
copy/print modes.
The Fall 2005 “Pick of the Year” awards and Special Recognition award that Ricoh
received include:
•Ricoh’s GelSprinter Inkjet Technology found in the Ricoh Aficio G500/G700
Series - Outstanding Achievement Award for Innovative Technology
•Ricoh Aficio CL7200DL and CL7300DL – Outstanding Large Workgroup Color
Printer
•Ricoh Aficio G700 – Outstanding Inkjet Printer
•Ricoh Aficio AP410N – Outstanding Small Workgroup Monochrome Printer
•Ricoh Aficio AP900 – Outstanding Departmental Monochrome Printer
In commenting on this prestigious BLI award, Anthony Polifrone, BLI’s managing
director, noted, “To earn a Buyers Lab 'Color Printer Line of the Year' award, at least one
representative low-, mid-, and high-volume product from a manufacturer’s printer line
must be lab tested by us and clearly demonstrate superior overall performance and
reliability in its respective category. When pitted against some very strong competitive color lines, Ricoh’s color printers did just that, and proved to be the best of the best in
each of these three volume categories.”
Complete coverage of all of the winners will be available to BLI subscribers in the
December Digital Imaging Review newsletter. To learn more about Ricoh’s award-winning
color printer line or other products, please visit www.ricoh-usa.com.
About Buyers Laboratory
For over 40 years, Buyers Laboratory has been the leading independent office equipment
test lab and business consumer advocate. In addition to publishing the industry's most
comprehensive and accurate specifications and pricing coverage on office document
imaging devices (copiers, printers, fax machines and MFPs) in its online database
software and newsletters, BLI is highly regarded as being the leading provider of critical
product evaluations with its Field and Lab Test Reports. While its Field Test Reports
provide BLI's clients with pre-lab performance assessments when products are first
introduced, the company's subsequent Lab Test Reports, each representing months of
exhaustive hands-on testing in BLI's 10,000-square-foot lab, provide the industry's most
extensive and accurate evaluations on document imaging devices. Each of BLI's unique
resources is available through subscriptions to bliQ, the company's unique online
competitive intelligence tool. Product specification coverage is also available in printed
handbooks that are published twice per year.
In addition to independent Field and Lab Testing, Buyers Lab provides a range of
confidential for-hire custom testing services that includes document imaging device
beta/pre-launch QA testing, print controller testing, and the testing of consumables such
as toner, ink and photoconductors, as well as various imaging media, including paper,
transparencies and photoconductors.
With its Buyers Alliance program, Buyers Lab also provides comprehensive purchasing
support services to business consumers in the process of acquiring office equipment,
which includes creating customized RFPs, conducting on-site document imaging device
usage assessments and analyzing vendor responses.
For more information on Buyers Laboratory, please visit www.buyerslab.com, call (201)
488-0404 or e-mail info@buyerslab.com.
About Ricoh Corporation
Ricoh Corporation, headquartered in West Caldwell, N.J., is a subsidiary of Ricoh
Company Ltd., the 69-year-old leading supplier of office automation equipment and
electronics, with fiscal year 2004 sales in excess of $17 billion, a 1.9 percent increase
over the previous year.
Ricoh Corporation is a leading provider of document solutions. Ricoh’s fully integrated
hardware and software products help businesses share information efficiently and
effectively by enabling customers to control the input, management and output of
documents. Ricoh’s line of document management devices include, color and black &
white digital imaging systems, facsimile products, printers, scanners, digital duplicators
and wide format engineering systems. Additionally, Ricoh offers a wide variety of
document and printing solutions directly and through strategic alliances enhancing office
productivity and document workflow. Ricoh’s document management software enhances
workgroup collaboration and offers secure storage, retrieval and sharing of critical
information.
Ricoh Corporation directly or through its subsidiaries markets and distributes products in
North, Central and South America. For fiscal year 2004, Ricoh Corporation sales
exceeded $2.9 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent over the previous year.
Information about Ricoh's complete range of products and services can be accessed on
the World Wide Web at www.ricoh-usa.com.
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All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.
