Sharp wins 'Product Line of the Year' award from Buyers Labratory, Inc.

MAHWAH, NJ, January 8, 2008 -- Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America’s multifunctional peripheral (MFP) copier product line has been honored with the coveted “Product Line of the Year” award from Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI), a leading global provider of test reports on document imaging products. Cumulative test results in laboratory evaluations deemed Sharp’s entire MFP product line, both mono and color, to be best overall across the board.

Additionally, for its exceptional reliability and superior performance, Sharp’s MX-M1100 has been named “Pick of the Year” in the high speed Segment 6 while the MX-M700N/U has been awarded “Pick of the Year” for “Outstanding Segment 5 Monochrome MFP” (81- to 90-PPM range), recognized for its class-leading security and set up.

“This outstanding recognition from BLI validates our business strategy and proves our commitment to bringing exceptionally reliable, highly productive and easy-to-use products to market,” said Ed McLaughlin, president, Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America. “This accomplishment embodies the close collaboration between our product planning teams in the U.S. and Japan and reflects the dedication of our dealers and factory in providing superior products that answer market demands. It also validates our strategy behind Sharp OSA™ technology in offering advanced MFP functionality and flexibility to provide applications tailored to the end user’s needs.”

BLI bestows the “Line of the Year” award once annually to the company whose product line, as tested in BLI’s rigorous two-month laboratory evaluation, is determined to be the best overall based on cumulative test results. BLI tests each product in critical performance areas, including reliability, copy and print image quality, copy and print productivity and efficiency, ease of use and overall value.

“To determine “Pick of the Year” winners, we test products thoroughly to ascertain which deliver the most extensive functionality and best reliability, handle multiple jobs simultaneously in a networked environment and deliver good output quality,” says BLI Lab Manager Pete Emory. “The exceptional results that Sharp’s MFPs have achieved over the last year for products in all categories during our exhaustive testing process demonstrate that business users can count on Sharp business products for high-quality performance.”

With the “Pick of the Year” award for the MX-M1100, the entire Sharp high-speed production series has been honored with this distinction. The MX-M1100 is recognized for its ability to create one million impressions with no unscheduled maintenance and only three misfeeds, as well as the unit’s excellent multitasking abilities, superior scan functions and outstanding overall ease of use.

The MX-M700N/U received the “Pick of the Year” award for its network setup and remote administration features, as well as the feedback provided to end users via the bundled drivers and utilities.

The Sharp MX-M1100 and the MX-M700N/U MFPs combine reliability, superior scan functions, outstanding ease of use and multitasking performance while offering impressive print and copier speeds of 110 PPM and 70 PPM respectively. The M1100 and the M700N/U MFPs support the innovative Sharp OSA technology platform for seamless integration with network applications, as well as Sharp’s award-winning* security suite. The innovative Sharp OSA development platform opens the door to a broad array of value-added functionality and flexibility to deliver the power of customization to the customer. Sharp OSA technology leverages the inherent interoperability of Web services design to enable Sharp, its dealer network and ISV partners to meet customer needs effectively.

For more information about the complete line of Sharp document solution products, contact Sharp Electronics Corporation, Sharp Plaza, Mahwah, N.J., 07430, or call 800-BE-SHARP.

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* In 2006 Sharp received the BERTL’s BEST “Most Secure MFP Range” award, and its color MX Series was the first color product line to achieve BERTL Five Star – Exceptional status throughout the entire line.

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