PENTAX Imaging Company, PENTAX Industrial Instruments Co., Ltd. and Western Latitudes Announce Alliance to Distribute Survey Instruments in United States

Business Wire, August 1, 2004

GOLDEN, Colo. -- PENTAX Imaging Company (Survey Division, United States) and PENTAX Industrial Instruments Co., Ltd. (Survey Division, Japan) and Western Latitudes announced today an exclusive agreement to distribute PENTAX survey instruments through Western Latitudes, a Colorado-based company. Effective August 2, 2004, Western Latitudes will distribute the full range of PENTAX survey instruments through the existing PENTAX dealer network as well as its own U.S. dealer network and direct sales channels. Western Latitudes also distributes GPS survey/GIS products, Data Collection hardware and survey industry application and data collection software.

"We are very excited about this new arrangement," said David Atkinson, Western Latitudes founder and chief executive officer. "Our goal since our founding has been to deliver leading edge hardware and software products to the precision positioning markets. Integrating PENTAX into our solutions meets our goal of offering only the highest quality products."

"This new alliance will help strengthen PENTAX survey instruments representation and customer support in the United States," said Yasuyuki Karise, director of the surveying instruments division of PENTAX Industrial Instruments Co., Ltd. "We are looking forward to working closely with Western Latitudes in the coming months to reinforce the benefits of this new alliance."

PENTAX Industrial Instruments Co., Ltd. of Japan is an innovative leader in the latest technology for surveying instruments. Since inception, the company has been dedicated to producing innovative, reliable, technologically advanced and high-performance optical instruments and products.

PENTAX Imaging Company, a division of PENTAX of America, Inc., and the current U.S. distributor will transfer all PENTAX survey products to Western Latitudes in Centennial, Colorado, in the coming weeks.

"The existing PENTAX dealer network will be better served by the expanded product offerings that Western Latitudes will provide as a result of this arrangement," said Jan Williamson, vice president of PENTAX of America, Inc. "PENTAX has and will continue to work closely with Western Latitudes with regard to distributor sales, sales support, marketing and service."

PENTAX Imaging Company in Golden, Colorado, will continue to distribute digital and film cameras, binoculars, spotting scopes, eyepieces, lenses, mobile printers, scanners, internet cameras and CCTV lenses. For more than 80 years, PENTAX technology has developed durable, reliable products that meet the needs of consumers and businesses. PENTAX Imaging Company is a division of PENTAX of America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of PENTAX Corporation of Japan.

Western Latitudes, a Centennial, Colorado-based company, represents 75 years of experience in the integration and delivery of high precision measuring and positioning systems. Representing a large product offering and utilizing web-based support, Western Latitudes provides its customers with state-of-the-art solutions built on the latest technologies.