It will be called the InfoPrint Solutions Company (IPS), this new joint venture of IBM Printing Systems and Ricoh. Scheduled to be consummated in the second quarter of this year, the deal will result in Ricoh owning 51 percent of the new entity now and by 2010, IPS will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Ricoh.

　　Following regulatory approval, IPS will immediately take some 1,200 former IBM Printing Systems employees, with another 1,000 service people moving over as the ownership shifts entirely to Ricoh. At a press conference in New York City on January 25, Mr. Tony Romero, President and CEO of the new InfoPrint Solutions Company, said IPS will ultimately take responsibility for the complete portfolio of IBM's high-speed continuous feed printers and print output management software. Also included are all the end-to-end workflow management solutions, professional services, light production cut-sheet print engines, the Ricoh family of general office products, and a line up of industrial print solutions.

　　"These capabilities give IPS the capabilities to improve customers' operations and maximize efficiency in an increasingly digitized and print on demand world," said Mr. Romero, "This combination of resources gives IPS access to expanded R & D capabilities and the financial strength to bring to significantly expand sales and support around the world and to provide customers with some of the best print and output solutions."

　　"This is why 'Solutions' is the centerpiece of our name," said Mr. Romero.

　　Mr. Masamitsu Sakurai, president and CEO of Ricoh, picked up that theme, noting that the desire to expand into the production space was behind Ricoh's acquistion of Hitachi in 2004, a move he said helped strengthen the company's developmental abilities.

　　"By combining our competence in hardware and  software development with IBM's expertise in services, software and IT solutions, we can reduce TCO and increase efficiency in production printing while offering seamless printing solutes and innovative document workflows," said Mr. Sakurai, who put competitors on notice, saying IPS is poised to take a sizable share of the production printing market, including production color.

　　Mr. Sakurai put competitors on notice, saying IPS is poised to take a sizable share of the production printing market, including production color.