Two come together: Ricoh and IBM create new company

Set to be completed in the second quarter of this year, the deal will see Ricoh acquire 51 per cent of InfoPrint Solutions, gradually taking hold of the remaining 49 per cent over the next three years, becoming a fully owned subsidiary of Ricoh.

Ricoh is clear that the new venture will not lurk in its parents’ shadow and would become a complete company in its own right. “We will invest the necessary resources to make InfoPrint into a core business,” said Masamitsu Sakurai, president and ceo of Ricoh.

This partnership isn’t new for IBM and Ricoh; the two have been strategic partners for 20 years, collaborating on a number of innovations in the past such as image technologies and production output solutions. “This agreement is a natural extension of that relationship,” said Samuel Palmisano, IBM chairman and ceo.

Both companies agree that the benefits of this partnership will work both ways. InfoPrint Solutions will have access to IBM’s distribution and sales network, while Ricoh can expand its services into new areas.

Commenting on Ricoh’s purchase of the IBM printing systems division, Norman Koslowski, marketing communications manager of Ricoh Australia said that Ricoh would now be able to move outside its traditional office domain. “This new joint venture will allow Ricoh to expand into industrial, commercial and production printing,” he said. “Info Print will build on IBM’s heritage of production print solutions, print-on-demand technologies, distributed print technologies, one-to-one marketing initiatives and print management software.”

It is expected that InfoPrint Solutions will bring new products and technologies to the market. At a recent Graph Expo trade show, IBM demonstrated a high-speed production colour solution for its InfoPrint 4100 monochrome production printer family. Koslowski said that InfoPrint Solutions will continue invest in similar hardware and software.