Buyers Laboratory Announces Winners of its Prestigious
Fall 2004 "Pick of the Year" Awards

HACKENSACK, New Jersey — In keeping with its long-standing tradition of honoring the most outstanding office products tested in its lab, Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI), the leading independent office products test lab and business consumer advocate, is pleased to announce its Fall 2004 “Pick” awards. In commenting on BLI’s “Pick” awards, Anthony Polifrone, managing director of Buyers Laboratory, noted: “In each of the 43 years that we have been testing products, we’ve always seen a mix of good and bad performers, as well as products that gave an exceptional performance throughout our extensive tests and clearly stood out among the rest. To acknowledge those exemplary performers, BLI honors them with its ‘Pick’ awards. To be chosen as such tells business consumers and the industry that these products have clearly proven to be among the very best in their product categories when subjected to BLI’s exhaustive in-house testing, and confirms that these products can be counted on for superior performance.” In emphasizing the uniqueness of BLI’s testing, Polifrone explained, “Our testing is truly an A through Z assessment of every product in our lab, and is clearly the most extensive conducted in the industry. All units are subjected to a comprehensive two-month in-house test, which covers a multitude of critical performance areas, including reliability, misfeed frequency, copy and print image quality, copy and print productivity and efficiency, ease of use and economy. In addition, our extensive multitasking testing evaluates each unit’s ability to initiate each function while others are already in progress. We also assess each unit’s ability to handle multiple jobs in a networked environment by running various job matrixes on each device with various software programs, paper sizes, copy/print job sizes and copy/print modes. Moreover, we assess and evaluate network print management software utilities, feedback to workstation users, network installation, print driver layout, compatibility with a variety of popular software programs, and much more.” Polifrone further explained, “All digital connected products lab tested by BLI are evaluated on BLI’s dedicated test network, which consists of six Ethernet 10/100BaseTX network hubs, four servers (Windows NT 4.0) and 14 workstations (Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98 and Windows 2000).” Because of BLI’s un-compromised integrity and long-standing reputation as a company whose testing is the industry’s most comprehensive and trustworthy, thousands of business equipment buyers worldwide rely on BLI’s test reports and these BLI awards to help them make their office equipment acquisition decisions. Moreover, in the increasingly competitive office products industry, BLI's “Pick of the Year” awards and test reports have long been considered the most reliable third-party proof sources. Following is a list of the companies who are recipients of BLI’s Fall 2004 “Pick” awards. BLI subscribers can get all the details on the specific models chosen and their respective awards in Buyers Lab’s December Digital Imaging Review and Business Consumer’s Advisor newsletters. Anyone who is not a subscriber can purchase copies of this special “Pick of the Year” issue by calling Buyers Lab at 201-488-0404:

In commenting on Canon’s achievement, Anthony Polifrone, BLI’s Managing Director, stated, “Canon’s fax machines and fax-based multifunctional products have consistently proven to be impressive performers in our testing, almost always placing at the top of the list when compared to the hundreds of products we evaluate. And this year, Canon has clearly earned BLI’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Outstanding Fax-Based Document Imaging Devices, as demonstrated by its fax-based products earning four Highly Recommended ratings, one Recommended, and four “Pick of the Year awards.” Polifrone further noted, “Earning an award from BLI is no simple feat, as every product in our lab is subjected to the most extensive testing in the industry, in which we leave no stone unturned. As a result, when a manufacturer touts that its product has received a BLI award, buyers can confidently count on that product for superior performance, as it’s been put through the wringer and truly earned its kudos.” Camille Dendtler, BLI’s fax industry analyst, added, “Canon’s fax-based products truly set themselves apart from their competition with their good value, functionality, versatility and productivity, and they deserve to be acknowledged with this award.” BLI subscribers can get all the details on these awards in Buyers Lab’s June/July Digital Imaging Review newsletter. Anyone who is not a subscriber can purchase copies of this special “Pick” issue by calling Buyers Lab at 201-488-0404.

About Buyers Laboratory

For 47 years, Buyers Lab has been the leading independent office-equipment testing lab and business consumer advocate. In addition to publishing the industry's most comprehensive and accurate test reports on office document imaging devices, each representing months of exhaustive hands-on testing in BLI's US and UK laboratories, the company has been the leading source for extensive databases of specifications and pricing on copiers, printers, fax machines and multifunctional products. The company's databases cover 10,000 products and have a long-standing reputation for being the industry's most trustworthy and complete source for global competitive intelligence. They are available to BLI subscribers online via the company's bliQ competitive information service. This encyclopedic resource also provides quick and easy access to BLI's First Look Reports, Field Test Reports, Lab Test Reports, Solutions Reports, and BLI-produced articles. In addition to the testing of office equipment for its subscribers, Buyers Lab provides consulting services to buyers and a vast array of confidential for-hire private testing services that include document imaging device beta and pre-launch testing, performance certification testing, consumables testing (such as toner, ink and photoconductors), software and solutions and print media testing (including virgin and recycled papers). For more information on Buyers Laboratory, please visit www.buyerslab.com, call (201) 488-0404 or e-mail info@buyerslab.com.