Ricoh And IBM Form Global Strategic Alliance To Enhance Document Solutions For Enterprise Customers

Ricoh Company Ltd., a leading provider of digital office equipment, recently announced a Global Strategic Alliance with IBM. The alliance will provide customers with comprehensive document solutions leveraging Ricoh and IBM's vast capabilities to address customers' complex business problems.

As part of the alliance, the companies will first launch a new Ricoh offering, Document Security and Management Services (DSMS) in the US. This solution builds upon Ricoh's expertise in helping customers improve their document workflow, security and compliance, while reducing the total cost of ownership of office equipment investment and advancing environmental sustainability practices. The DSMS offering includes Assessment & Deployment, End User Services, Managed Services, Security, Green Office and Enterprise Content Management services, which will be delivered by Ricoh Document Solutions and Services Division and IBM's Global Technology Services. In addition, Ricoh has an agreement to resell IBM's Managed Server offering and collaborate on the sale and delivery of IBM software, hardware and services, such as End User Services, Internet Security Systems (ISS) Services, Business Continuity & Resiliency Services, and Storage & Data Services.

Understanding that the importance of providing technologies based on open standards continually increases, Ricoh and IBM have signed an agreement to demonstrate Multi-Function Product (MFP) -based solutions that fully integrate with a corporation's IT applications and infrastructure and are based on the principles of service oriented architecture (SOA).. Because of its support for SOA, customers will be able to integrate a Ricoh MFP into their existing IT infrastructure to drive complex business processes, create a custom portal on the MFP panel and receive messages at the MFP. The MFP extends SOA environments to help drive efficiencies and lower IT costs.

"IBM's SOA portfolio allows users to quickly and easily plug in new business functions called services into their existing business environment," said Sandy Carter, vice president IBM SOA and WebSphere. "Ricoh and IBM's partnership will help clients to incorporate MFP capabilities into their business in the same way a new building block could be added to an existing structure."

A SOA-enabled Ricoh MFP facilitates the integration of other new technologies including autonomic computing that proactively alerts customers when a problem arises so they can resolve it before failure of the device occurs. Also, by integrating supply chain management systems with diagnostic data generated within the MFP, the ability to automatically order MFP supplies can be performed.

"We are very excited to combine Ricoh's leadership in digital office equipment with IBM's expansive technology portfolio," said Hede Nonaka, General Manager, Document Solutions and Services Division, Ricoh Company Ltd. "Enterprises are requiring more integrated technologies to create rapid return on investment and this Global Strategic Alliance allows Ricoh and IBM to provide innovative solutions that meet these demands."

About Ricoh Company, Ltd.
A global leader in digital office solutions, Ricoh (www.ricoh.com) creates new value at the interface of people and information, offering a broad range of digital, networked products, including MFPs, printers, fax machines, semiconductor related products and digital cameras. With 83,400 employees worldwide, and $22B in revenue, Ricoh is also one of the world's leading environmentalist companies, committed to sustainable business everywhere.

SOURCE: Ricoh Company, Ltd.