New York, NY – April 7, 2003 – Océ, the leading provider of production-class printing and copying solutions, announced today the Océ Software and Server Protection Plan (SSPP), an innovative new program to guard against software and server obsolescence and safeguard customer investments. The Océ SSPP program enables customers to acquire the latest Océ PRISMAproduction software, related server hardware, and professional implementation services without incurring additional unbudgeted upgrade costs. Demonstrating Océ’s commitment to future-proof adaptability and investment protection, the new Océ SSPP not only protects Océ customers’ initial technology investments; it also guarantees them the latest technology for as long as they lease an Océ VarioStream or VarioPrint production-class digital printing system. Updating software is often necessary to provide customers new functionality or to ensure that they are able to maintain maximum efficiency and productivity. Printer leases typically run four to five years, while software and servers can have a life span as short as two years, so the imbalance between the life spans of printers and the software and servers that drive them has been a longstanding problem. To retain the bottom-line business benefits customers seek from their digital printing systems, the interdependencies of printers, software and servers often leave customers with little choice but to incur additional costs to upgrade software and servers when major new software versions are released. The Océ SSPP program allows customers to eliminate these additional costs by matching software and server life to the printer lease. The unique design of the program offers a guaranteed life-of-lease upgrade path without additional unplanned investments. “The new Océ SSPP program further demonstrates our commitment to providing customers with the highest level of investment protection for the most flexible and adaptable production-class digital printing systems in the industry. We are pleased to help our customers maintain all of the efficiency and productivity they expect from their Océ solutions without unexpected or additional upgrade costs for added software functionality,” said Carl Joachim, vice president of marketing, Océ Printing Systems USA. “This unique customer-focused program provides security and peace of mind and clearly demonstrates why our customers count on Océ as a business partner they can trust over the long term.” Initiated at lease inception, the Océ SSPP program covers upgrades to Océ PRISMAproduction software, related server hardware and operating systems, as well as the professional services required to install and configure the new software. The Océ SSPP program is available for Océ PRISMAproduction servers for the Océ VarioStream 7000 and Océ VarioPrint 5000 families of printers, as well as the Océ 3275-II, Océ 750-II, and Océ PageStream 210 and 6100 products. The Océ SSPP program is available on all new leases as of May 1, 2003.