RICOH INTRODUCES AFICIO G700/G500 SERIES PRINTERS.

Ricoh Corporation has introduced the Ricoh Aficio G700/G500 Series, two color printers that utilize Ricoh's GelSprinter technology. Designed for small businesses and workgroups, the Aficio G700/G500 GelSprinter Series provides full color printing with crisp images that is unlike anything available in today's color printer market.

Color printers usually fall into one of two categories: inkjet or laser. The Aficio G700/G500 GelSprinter Series uses viscous ink and wide print heads creating a new color category. High-speed black and white and color printing, in addition to cost-efficient Level Color mode, enables the Aficio G700/G500 GelSprinter Series to produce vibrant images quickly without high-ownership costs. Also, individual color cartridges maximize ink use and minimize replacement costs, and with wider print heads, users can achieve both swift print speeds and high quality prints on plain paper from the same system.

"Small-businesses and workgroups continuously seek affordable ways to remain competitive without sacrificing quality in today's fast-paced market," said Hede Nonaka, vice president of marketing for Ricoh Corporation. "To meet those needs, Ricoh developed the Aficio G700/G500 GelSprinter Series to be a cost efficient, value-added solution to help businesses move ahead of the competition."

GelSprinter technology, the viscous ink found in the Aficio G700/G500 GelSprinter Series, is a fast drying, water resistant formula that reduces blurs and bleeding while producing laser-like quality prints on plain or recycled paper. By incorporating 1.27 inch-wide print heads in the design, the viscous ink can be distributed to a larger area with more power than traditional inkjet technology, and by powering the Aficio G700/G500 printers with an electrostatic belt-feeding system, duplex printing with high reliability is possible.

To maintain a low ownership cost, the Aficio G700/G500 Series is designed with separate ink chambers that ensure ink is completely used before a cartridge change, print heads that are developed to last the lifetime of the printer, as well as a Ricoh RPCS Raster driver that enables easy PC configuration and monitoring. Additionally, the Aficio G700/G500 GelSprinter Series is equipped with five quality print modes - including High Quality, Standard/Quality priority, Standard/Speed priority, High Speed Draft, and Level Color.

Advanced features of the Aficio G700/G500 GelSprinter Series include:

* High-quality printing on plain paper

* Fast output speeds up to 20 pages per minute (ppm) with 6 second first- page-out time with the Aficio G700, and 19 ppm with 7.5 second first- page-out time for the Aficio G500

* Fast, economical duplexing (optional for Aficio G500): the print speed is approximately 85 percent of simplex speed

* Ample paper capacity: Standard 200-sheet paper tray and the Aficio G700 also has an optional 500-sheet paper tray

* Optional network print server with Ricoh RPCS Raster driver via standard USB 2.0 or optional 10/100Base TX connectivity

* Cost-efficient Level Color mode that automatically reduces ink thickness for graphics and images while maintaining normal thickness for text

The Aficio G500 is available at a suggested retail price of $329.00, and the Aficio G700 is available for $449.00.

To learn more about Ricoh's full line of Aficio color products, visit http://www.ricoh-usa.com/.

About Ricoh Corporation

Ricoh Corporation, headquartered in West Caldwell, N.J., is a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., the 69-year-old 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 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.

Ricoh Corporation can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.ricoh-usa.com/.

For more information, call 973/882-2075.