PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ricoh Web Site: www.ricoh-usa.com
CONTACT: Linda Montefusco Andrew Stein
Ricoh Americas Corporation Peppercom
(973) 882-2172 (212) 931-6190
Linda.Montefusco@ricoh-usa.com astein@peppercom.com
RICOH INTRODUCES SOA-ENABLED MFP AT IBM’S IMPACT 2009 CONFERENCE
New SOA Solution Drives Document Centric Business Processes via Ricoh MFPs
LAS VEGAS, May 4, 2009 — Ricoh Americas Corporation, a leading provider of digital office equipment, today introduced its new Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) technology that will enable users to leverage IBM’s WebSphere software in conjunction with Ricoh multifunction products (MFP) to drive complex business processes, centralize business integration infrastructures and reduce development costs. This new SOA solution will be shown for the first time at IBM’s Impact 2009 conference in Las Vegas, May 3-8 at booth #S14.
Based on a simple, Internet-like application on the MFP’s control panel, users can easily select from a customized list of tasks or services that initiate business processes and the results are communicated back to users in real time. The entire system is controlled by a touch screen on the MFP, in which capture and print processes are pushed to the panel in the form of an icon that clearly represents the business process. This enables complex backend operations to be handled by the touch of a button, dynamically simplifying the workflow for the end user.
“Ricoh is excited to be able to leverage the investments that customers have made in SOA,” said Mark Minshull, vice president and chief technologist, Ricoh Americas Corporation. “Ricoh and IBM have collaborated to meet this growing need. As a result, we are providing a solution that easily plugs into an existing SOA environment and complements current Web-driven business infrastructures.”
Although Ricoh will be demonstrating a loan processing scenario, the Ricoh SOA Portal can be applied to a number of different industries, such as applications for insurance, government and healthcare. It can also help streamline internal business operations such as invoices, contracts, purchase orders and expense reports. Additionally, it gives users the option to customize each business process in order for the system to communicate bi-directionally. For example, if submitting a document that requires additional information, such as supporting documentation or a customer account number, the system will confirm for the user that all of the required items are included. If more inputs are necessary, the user is immediately notified and directed to fulfill the requirement in order to complete the process.
In addition to demos at the booth, Ricoh executives Mark Minshull, Greg Keys and Hiroshi Kitada will each be giving presentations on the SOA-enabled MFP Portal and the Ricoh-IBM alliance during Impact 2009. For abstracts of their topics and a complete schedule of presentations at the conference, please visit the IBM Impact Web site.
For more information about all Ricoh products and solutions, please visit www.ricoh-usa.com.
About Ricoh Americas Corporation
Ricoh Americas Corporation, headquartered in West Caldwell, N.J., is a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., the 73-year-old leading supplier of office automation equipment and electronics, with fiscal year 2007 sales in excess of $22 billion, a 7.3 percent increase over the previous year.
Ricoh Americas Corporation is a leading 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 Americas Corporation directly or through its network of authorized dealers markets and distributes products in North, Central and South America.
Information about Ricoh's complete range of products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at www.ricoh-usa.com.
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