Ricoh announced a Global Strategic Alliance with IBM that will provide customers with document solutions. As part of the alliance, the companies will first launch a new Ricoh offering, Document Security and Management Services (DSMS) in the United States. The DSMS offering includes Assessment & Deployment, End User Services, Managed Services, Security, Green Office, and Enterprise Content Management services, which will be delivered by Ricoh Document Solutions and Services Division and IBM's Global Technology Services. In addition, Ricoh has an agreement to resell IBM's Managed Server offering and collaborate on the sale and delivery of IBM software, hardware and services, such as End User Services, Internet Security Systems (ISS) Services, Business Continuity & Resiliency Services, and Storage & Data Services.

Ricoh and IBM have signed an agreement to demonstrate Multi-Function Product (MFP) -based solutions that fully integrate with a corporation's IT applications and infrastructure and are based on the principles of service oriented architecture (SOA). Because of its support for SOA, Ricoh MFP can be integrated into existing IT infrastructures to drive business processes, create a custom portal on the MFP panel and receive messages at the MFP.

According to a release from the allying companies, a SOA-enabled Ricoh MFP facilitates the integration of new technologies, including autonomic computing. Additionally, by integrating supply chain management systems with diagnostic data generated within the MFP, the ability to automatically order MFP supplies can be performed.