London, 4 April 2006

Riso (UK), the leading digital printer manufacturer, announces the launch of the HC5500, the next step in their ComColor range of full-colour inkjet business printers. The HC5500 is the world's fastest sheet-fed full-colour printer offering a print speed of 120 A4 pages per minute and a monthly duty cycle of up to 250,000 pages. The HC 5500 builds on the success of the 1st generation HC machine which has made aggressive in-roads to the colour print market within Education, Local Government and Commercial Print.

For the first time, Riso is marketing the HC as a Colour-Capable printer/copier, with all-inclusive copy pricing at prices that offer a real alternative to the typical dual machine solutions found in businesses today. At an unprecedented cost of 2.00 pence per full-colour A4 copy, businesses will benefit from fast and affordable colour printing for everyday communications, whilst retaining the ability to print monochrome at high-speed and prices comparable to other high-volume copiers and printers.

Tamal Saha, Managing Director, Riso (UK), said: "The HC5500 is the next step forward for Riso, showing our commitment to our core values of high-volume, high-speed printing at an affordable cost. With the dual pricing available for colour & monochrome printing, we are ensuring the HC 5500 fits with the needs of all organizations - from the smallest primary school, through to the high-end commercial marketplace. We are making colour printing mainstream by offering the right price, right quality solution at a cost per page that decimates the competition. We can offer colour printing at around one third the running cost of similar conventional products, making it truly affordable; whilst offering monochrome prices that compete head-to-head with anything out there in the market. The enhanced functionality of our finishing and scanning solutions now allows the HC 5500 to sit firmly at the heart of any print solution."

The HC5500 harnesses two new Riso proprietary technology platforms - FORCEJET^TM and ComColor^TM. FORCEJET technology is the engine that drives the HC5500, combining a powerful print engine, line inkjet system and high-speed paper feed system.
Riso's ComColor^TM, a breakthrough colour management system, makes the HC5500 simple to use and ensures the consistent reproduction of colour images, without the need for specialist skills for operating the printer.
Riso has considerably advanced the HC offering since it was first released on the UK market 18 months ago, with on-line finishing & booklet making, and a high-speed scanner, completing the positioning of the printer as a single-box solution for a wealth of customers.

The enhanced RIP that was launched 3 months ago has positioned the product within marketing and transactional print arenas, offering the ability to produce mail-merge documents and variable print at speeds above that of any competing products.

The R.R.P. of the HC5000 printer is £29,950 and it is available immediately through Riso's well established network of channel partners and dealers and via its direct sales organisation.

Riso (UK) is currently exhibiting the HC 5500 on stand D52 in Hall 6 at IPEX 2006.