Epson Announces New Addition to its Printer Line-Up; Low Cost/High Performance for Point-of-Sale Applications.

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 1997--Epson will showcase its newest one-station printer, the TM-U210B, at the RISCON show this week.

The TM-U210B's compact, lightweight design, excellent reliability, high-speed performance and auto cutter with tear bar, make it an ideal low-cost receipt printer for point-of-sale (POS) applications.

"The TM-U210B's modular, user-friendly design and convenient auto cutter underscores Epson's commitment to quality and ease of use," said Bud Weist, business unit director for Epson. "Additionally, the TM-U210B offers retailers high-quality POS printing at a low cost."

The open architecture design of the TM-U210B provides a migration path for future upgrades as users move away from proprietary systems. For example, the TM-U210B features modular interface boards that enable users to select from RS-232, Parallel and RS-485 and other options simply by ordering a new module.

Additionally, the TM-210B is compatible with Epson's line of IT intelligent POS peripherals. The TM-U210B's small footprint makes it an ideal solution for systems with space constraints, with overall dimensions of 160mm (W) x 248mm (D) x 150mm (H).

The TM-U210B is a nine-pin serial impact dot-matrix printer with bi-directional print capability, a 1K print buffer and a print speed of 3.5 to 6.7 lines per second. The printer has the ability to print two colors and both 7x9 and 9x9 selectable character fonts for graphics-capability to allow logo printing on receipts.

With a head life of 150 million characters and MCBF of 18 million lines, the TM-U210B carries Epson's high standard of reliability.

The TM-U210B features a convenient auto cutter with tear bar and a friction feed system to feed roll paper at approximately 25 lines per second. Its flexible paper-feed pitch setting permits printing in accordance with any user-defined format. The TM-U210B has a paper end detector that automatically alerts the user when the printer is out of paper and is capable of printing one original plus two copies.

The TM-U210B supports dual cash drawer interfaces and semi-automatic paper loading to save time. The printer is supplemented by an optional external power supply and an optional near-end detector that detects the amount of remaining paper. As with other Epson POS products, the TM-U210B is OPOS compliant and works in both Windows and Windows 95 environments.

The TM-U210B is currently available and carries a MSRP of $369. It is available directly from Epson or through the company's designated distribution channels.

Epson offers an extensive array of image capture and image output products for the consumer, business and graphic arts markets. The company is also a leading supplier of a diverse line of component, system and electronic device products.

Founded in 1975, Epson America Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Japan-based Seiko Epson Corp., a global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality technology products that meet customer demands for increased functionality, compactness, systems integration and energy efficiency. Epson America has headquarters in Torrance. -0-

Note to Editors: Brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Epson, Torrance

Janette Reynolds, 310/782-5161

[e-mail]

or

Base One Marketing

Julie O'Brien, 310/792-1877

[e-mail]