Lexmark redefines monochrome business printing market with new high-value solutions; New printing solutions deliver higher productivity; reduce enterprise printing costs

Business Wire, May 22, 2000

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LEXINGTON, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2000

As part of its ongoing strategy to deliver affordable industry-leading printing solutions to its business customers, Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE:LXK) today announced a new array of monochrome laser printers and a multifunction printer designed to redefine the business printing price/value equation. Lexmark's new products offer outstanding features and performance at prices unmatched by competitors.

The new Lexmark 10 page per minute (ppm) Optra E312, the 17 ppm Optra M412 and the revolutionary 25 ppm Optra T614nl are the latest low-cost, high-speed, state-of-the-art monochrome business printers to join Lexmark's award-winning Optra laser printer line. Combined with the new OptraImage T614s multifunction printer that serves as a printer, copier, fax and scanner, Lexmark's Optra line of business printing solutions make printing in a distributed network environment easier and more cost effective than ever before.

"This introduction is the latest step in Lexmark's strategy to deliver industry-leading business printing solutions to our customers," said Paul Curlander, Lexmark's chairman and CEO. "Our research into the specific printing demands of businesses has resulted in products that deliver the cost efficiency and the productivity gains our customers require."

Lexmark has significantly strengthened its industry-leading Optra family of laser printers with today's announcement of several industry firsts:

- Optra E312 -- first sub-$400 10 ppm monochrome laser printer

with both Universal Serial Bus (USB) and PostScript emulation

standard

- Optra M412 -- first sub-$800 17 ppm monochrome laser printer

with both USB and PostScript emulation standard

- Optra T614 -- first sub-$1,100 25 ppm monochrome laser printer

"These product offerings are targeted at meeting customer needs for cost efficiency and function," noted Curlander. "This combination of low-cost and high-performance printing solutions should make Lexmark the preferred choice for businesses of all sizes looking for a brand that can advance their printing productivity."

Optra E312

The Optra E312 is a 10 ppm printer and offers more features than its predecessor including twice as much memory, two ppm greater engine speed and faster time-to-first-page (the time it takes from initiating the print command to the output of the first complete printed page) at $399(1). The Optra E312 has a 67 megahertz (MHz) processor, is compatible with USB, includes a Macintosh driver, offers standard PostScript compatibility and ships with a one-piece, high-yield print cartridge.

Optra M412

Lexmark's new Optra M412 delivers state-of-the-art printing for $799(1). The Optra M412 is affordable to buy and operate due to its reduced cost per page and a new, higher-yield cartridge. The Optra M412 matches major competitors' performance specifications and considerably beats its price, providing 17 ppm, a 133 MHz processor and a 12 second time-to-first-page, making it ideal for small-to-medium businesses. The Lexmark Optra M412 is easy to install and connect via its USB and parallel connections. The Lexmark drivers provide access to convenience features such as "Print and Hold," which allows users to print confidential jobs on a network.

Optra T614 and Optra T614nl

The Lexmark Optra T614nl sets a new standard for productive workgroup printing across a wide range of applications. It prints at 25 ppm, offers a nine second time-to-first-page and has a powerful 200 MHz processor. The printer's high-yield print cartridge and 10 toner levels optimize productivity and reduce waste, contributing to a lower cost of operation and a fatter bottom line. The new Optra T614nl, a network-ready model with built-in Ethernet, is easy to manage and provides full datastream support for flexible workgroup printing. The Optra T614nl has an estimated street price of $1,519(1). In addition, the Optra T614 has been reduced from $1,729 to $1,099(1), making it the industry's first sub-$1,100(1) 25 ppm monochrome laser printer.

OptraImage T614s

Lexmark's OptraImage T614s is a networkable and versatile printer/scanner/fax/copier with advanced paper handling capabilities for demanding workgroups. The OptraImage T614s is easy to use and provides low-cost access to key office functions such as "convenience copying" and color document scanning. Priced at $4,749(1), this Lexmark multifunction printer can help businesses of all sizes streamline their document production and delivery processes, ultimately increasing productivity.

Third-party testing results

Independent, third-party tests conducted by QualityLogic, Inc.(2), one of the nation's leading technology testing labs, indicate that Lexmark's new printers outperform comparable products from other manufacturers by a "wide margin."

All of Lexmark's new printing and multifunction solutions announced today provide exceptional ease of use through an intuitive operator panel, common printer management software and drivers designed to provide simple access to the printers' capabilities. By enabling end users to print the way they intend the very first time, Lexmark dramatically increases productivity, thus reducing hidden printing costs.