Düsseldorf, Germany – May 29, 2008: InfoPrint Solutions Company, a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh, today celebrates its first anniversary and is announcing a significant expansion of its global workforce. Many hundreds of IBM employees will join InfoPrint’s professional services team around the world, as agreed during the establishment of the joint venture.
 
The highly skilled IBM printer service specialists who have been providing both warranty and maintenance contract support for IBM and InfoPrint Solutions-branded printers will now become InfoPrint Solutions Company employees and continue to serve InfoPrint customers. This team will be led by John Roope, senior vice president and general manager, Maintenance Support Services. John joins InfoPrint Solutions from IBM, where he managed IBM’s printing services business.
 
The newly launched InfoPrint University, a modular development program, will give maintenance employees access to industry-leading education and provide them with the relevant expertise to help InfoPrint Solutions customers manage today’s complex output solutions.
 
“We launched a billion dollar joint venture a year ago, and with today’s announcements we are reaffirming our commitment to our customers, employees and partners with expanded services, increased efficiencies and ongoing development in market-leading technology,” said Tony Romero, President and CEO, InfoPrint Solutions Company. “Combining the heritage of IBM with the financial backing of Ricoh, we are changing the face of the output market as demonstrated through our world-class customer wins and unmatched solutions.”
 
New Call Centers, Services and Supply Chain Management
 
InfoPrint is introducing a number of new infrastructure services to ensure it continues to deliver the industry’s leading customer support. It is launching unified call centers around the world to handle service inquiry calls. In addition, service technicians will now have access to InfoPrint’s new wireless service delivery application, allowing them to quickly place orders for parts and helping personnel in the field to manage service calls more efficiently.
 
A new streamlined supplies inventory system and new logistics will introduce new efficiencies that will particularly benefit those customers with large, complex print operations.
 
Since its launch in June 2007, InfoPrint Solutions has used investment from Ricoh to ramp up its R&D. For example, it has unveiled new offerings that take advantage of the technology standards developed by IBM, such as the Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) Architecture – now an industry standard – and Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS), which has become the standard for mission-critical business printing.
 
InfoPrint’s R&D in TransPromo is reaping dividends for new customers in the financial, telecommunications and direct marketing industries. Workflow management, monochrome production, Print-On-Demand books, integrated communications and specialized direct mail are also growth areas.
 
InfoPrint has also invested in its global reach. It recently announced the expansion of its Asia Pacific regional headquarters, based in Singapore, and has launched other offices across the world. The company is focusing on building relationships with customers and business partners in emerging markets such as India, Russia and China, where there are huge growth opportunities in digital production printing.