9th Annual Awards

2004 Award Winner
Best Business-Color Departmental Corporate Communications Device Ricoh Aficio 2232C
BERTLs Best 2004 9th Annual Spring Awards
Recognizing The BEST In Digital Imaging Technology and Innovation
The lead-up time to the BERTLs Best Spring Awards marks an intense period of research for BERTL analysts. Starting first week of January, BERTL analysts begin work reviewing every major NEW corporate-level copier, printer, color, production and multifunctional device introduced to the Devices are market as of January 1st. analyzed across a wide range of parameters with the end-user experience being the primary consideration. BERTL analysts take into consideration overall value for money, competitive advantage, accessibility (for the physically challenged or visually impaired user), design and build quality, standard functions, modularity of design and upgrade path to more extensive functionality, any value-added software that is part of the product offering, network management utilities, return on investment, and more. For every device that BERTL analysts review, the company publishes a detailed evaluation report (per device) in one of its specialist services: Color at Work, LabCheck or Imaging at Work. You will find hundreds of reports at www.BERTL.com. Six months later, BERTL analysts conduct another indepth investigation, this time they look at the entire competitive landscape of corporatelevel devices, this comprises newly launched devices, as well as current-line product offerings (this numbers several hundred devices). Following extensive research, which takes into consideration feedback from users, product resellers and in-depth competitive study, BERTL analysts then recognize a very small, select group of devices with the highly prestigious BERTLs Best Spring Awards.
The digital imaging marketplace evolves at a rapid pace. In order to be scrupulously fair to manufacturers who have plans to launch products in the second-half of the year, BERTL conducts a similar end-of-year in-depth review of the competitive landscape, so that any NEW products launched June through December can be considered for BERTLs Best December Awards recognition.
The BERTLs Best Award for Best Business-Color Departmental Corporate Communications Device is bestowed on the product which delivers most extensive and useful communications capabilities for corporate workgroups. BERTL has awarded the 2004 BERTLs Best Award to the Ricoh Aficio 2232C for its high functionality, good document management capabilities and aggressive pricing.
BERTLs 12-page evaluation of the Ricoh Aficio 2232C (available in BERTLs Color At Work section) noted its excellent performance across a wide range of functions, as well as the value for money it offers. The report noted, The Ricoh Aficio 2232C is a feature-packed, aggressively priced MFP equipped to handle the demands of a 30-35ppm monochrome device while including 24ppm color capabilities for those looking to make the move to color. This makes the Ricoh Aficio 2232C a strong contender in the quickly evolving business color sector. Among the Ricoh Aficio 2232Cs strong points cited in the BERTL report: 32ppm black/24ppm color output.
BERTL 2004. All Rights Reserved. No copying, distribution, storage of any kind is permitted. To obtain a Reprint License please call (1) 2311. For information on BERTL reports, awards and subscriptions visit www.BERTL.com
Aggressive pricing (versus fully-configured devices). Good document management capabilities. Flexible scanning options. LDAP compliant. Fax option. Fax viewing from desktop. 80-sheet duplexing document feeder standard. Job build capability. High memory capabilities. Saddle-stitch finishing option. Good document production options in PCL5c driver. Easy user-replacement consumable design. Standard network scanning. Scan settings include the option to choose between color or monochrome, PDF, JPEG, TIFF and Multi-page TIFF. Available Data Overwrite Security System. Two 40GB hard drives included standard with printer upgrade.
9th Annual Awards 9th Annual Awards
Sample screen shot from included DeskTopBinder software.
500-sheet universal paper trays and a 100-sheet bypass tray. Paper can be expanded to a maximum of 3,100 sheets via either an additional 2 x 500-sheet universal drawers or a 2,000sheet letter/A4 capable large capacity unit. Network printing is powered by a 533MHz controller with 768MB RAM and twin 40GB hard drives. PCL5c and Ricohs own Windows/GDI-based RPCS driver are included as standard, with Adobe PostScript 3 available as an option. Network scanning features include scan to email, scan to FTP, scan to folder (SMB) and scan to Internet Fax (with optional fax option installed). More options are available via a GlobalScan upgrade. The Ricoh Aficio 2232C offers a useful range of document

management functions. For example, its Send To Job Binding feature allows users to create a single printed document from multiple applications. Each job is sent to the local job binding folder on the devices hard drive. From DeskTopBinder (a free desktop utility included with the Ricoh Aficio 2232C and illustrated above) users can combine multiple jobs stored within the job binding folder to create their final document, ready for finishing and printing. The scan to email feature on the Ricoh Aficio 2232C has a good level of functionality. Users can add CC and BCC addresses, plus include the senders email address (if stored on the system). Choosing the senders own email address means the email arrives at the recipient with the senders address, rather than as a generic email from a Ricoh Aficio 2232C. This allows recipients to auto-
The Ricoh Aficio 2232 is a copier-printer-scanner offering 24ppm color or 32ppm black. It comes standard with an 80-sheet duplexing document feeder, two
reply directly to the senders email address, instead of the machines. Users can also include a subject line (up to 64 characters) or choose between 12 pre-set messages such as urgent, confidential, etc, and a message (up to 80 characters x 5 lines) to identify the email information a feature that is especially important nowadays, considering that with the spread of viruses via email attachments, users are understandably nervous about downloading questionable material. The Ricoh Aficio 2232C also includes the ability to rename file attachments. The file name can
be up to 64 characters long. Users are also able to attach files previously stored on the hard drive (Document Server). Also included standard is a network management utility called Web Image Monitor which operates via standard internet browsers. It allows users to view the status of the device, job status, view and retrieve jobs stored on the document server and incoming faxes. Additional functionality is password-restricted for administrators. Administrators can change settings on the device, set up an email address for error notifications and other system settings.
Ricoh also offers a plug-in utility for Hewlett Packards WebJetAdmin. With its color capability, strong performance across a wide variety of printing, scanning, document management and copying applications, the Ricoh Aficio 2232C is an excellent choice for workgroups looking for a reliable communicationsfriendly color capable MFP with ledger capability.

Spotlight On The Award Winner
Ricoh Company Ltd. was founded on February 6 , 1936 and has since become a household name within the business industry. Today, Ricoh consists of 404 companies with more than 70,000 employees organized into three major facilities: Manufacturing Facilities: In charge of OA equipment, supplies, electronic devices, printed circuit boards, electronic components, copiers, fax machines, data processing systems, etc. Research and Development Facilities: In charge of research, development, technology, manufacturing, venture capital financing, communication-related equipment, etc. Overseas Sales Subsidiaries: In charge of worldwide marketing. partner specializing in document solutions. Ricohs research and development takes place in its own development centers. The research centers focus ranges from extensive research and development, to technical research, product application, product technology and environmental research. The research and development program at Ricoh mainly focuses on advances in imaging communications, but also works with the manufacturing, sales and service operations to develop products and solutions customers need in todays marketplace.
Ricoh is an active player in many marketplaces around the globe, including the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania, China and Japan. Ricoh has regional headquarters in most of these areas. Ricoh merged with Lanier Worldwide Inc. in 2001, and Lanier has since become a

Certificate of BERTL Rating
Ricoh Aficio 2232C FOUR STAR Highly Recommended
BERTL publishes product evaluation reviews on several hundred copiers, printers, fax, multifunctional, color and production devices every year. Out of these hundreds of devices, only a small number qualify for the highly prestigious 4-Star, Highly Recommended rating. This rating is strictly reserved for those devices that deliver a range of business-critical features/ functions that are above average and provide potential buyers with a good return on investment (ROI).
2004 BERTL Inc. All Rights Reserved. No copying, storage, distribution or translation is permitted without first obtaining written permission from the copyright owner: BERTL Inc. 300 Craig Road, Manalapan, New Jersey. USA. Tel: (1) 2311 Fax: (1) 2312
Carmel Rowley, CEO www.BERTL.com