News Article

Buyers Laboratory Announces "Spring Pick" Awards Schedule
Industry Eyes Will Be On BLI Throughout June

May 25, 2005 -- HACKENSACK, New Jersey -- Today, Buyers Laboratory Incorporated ("BLI") released the schedule for announcing its "Spring Pick" awards for the most outstanding products in the office document imaging industry. BLI’s awards are unique, as they are the only awards in the industry that are based on rigorous, extended laboratory tests conducted by an independent laboratory. The products are evaluated by technical and editorial teams that have decades of experience in testing equipment of this kind.

"Too often, today’s buyers assume that any product that is called digital is reliable or functions as advertised in every respect, and some may unknowingly rely on awards from companies that spend only a few hours or less with a product," said Tony Polifrone, BLI’s Managing Director. "Our experience in the lab reveals those assumptions don’t always apply. Only in the lab do we have a chance to test a product’s reliability; its ability to handle the complex job streams that multifunctional products must handle in today’s offices; and assess the true hard and ‘soft costs’ of owning the product. Today these products are more complex than ever and are connected to critical office networks, often as part of multi-million dollar document management strategies. The cost of purchasing a machine that fails to meet the expectations of users, technology gatekeepers and senior managers, has never been greater."

"BLI reports are an incomparable way for buyers to find the right product for their requirements. Awarded twice each year, BLI ‘Picks’ are the products our analysts identified as those that have, in BLI’s judgment, the most important features at the best value, and perform at the highest level," said Mark Lerch, BLI Chief Operating Officer. "A product that carries a BLI ‘Pick’ distinction deserves careful consideration from buying managers. ‘Pick-winning’ OEMs have subjected their product to that extra level of comprehensive scrutiny and passed the test with flying colors. That speaks eloquently to the product and the manufacturer.”

"Picks" will be awarded every Monday and Wednesday in June, as follows.

About Buyers Laboratory

For over 40 years, Buyers Laboratory has been the leading independent office equipment test 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 the company’s 10,000-square-foot lab, BLI has been the leading source for extensive databases of specifications and pricing on copiers, printers, fax machines and multifunctional products. The company’s databases, which cover more than 6,000 products and have a long-standing reputation for being the most reliable and complete, are available to subscribers in the form of printed specification guides, as well as CD-based and online product comparison software programs.

In response to significant subscriber demand, Buyers Lab has added Field Test Reports to its menu of products and services. These supplements to BLI’s unique and extensive Lab Test Reports provide subscribers with preliminary product assessments as soon as possible after products are introduced. As a result, Buyers Lab is able to meet its subscribers’ needs for quick and early product reviews, while continuing to provide them with the comprehensive product assessments that are only available from a BLI Lab Test Report.

With its Buyers Alliance program, Buyers Lab also provides comprehensive purchasing support services to business consumers in the process of acquiring office equipment, which includes creating customized RFPs and conducting on-site document imaging device usage assessments. In addition, Buyers Laboratory provides a vast array of confidential for-hire custom testing services, including document imaging device beta testing, print controller testing, and the testing of consumables, such as paper, toner, ink, transparencies and photoconductors.

For more information on Buyers Laboratory, please visit www.buyerslab.com, call (201) 488-0404 or e-mail info@buyerslab.com.