Wednesday, 29 June, 12 noon, a press conference at the Triennale in Milan: Olivetti S.p.A., a Business Unit in the Telecom Italia Group, is announcing the return of its historic brand and the launch of a new generation of products based on its proprietary ink-jet technology..

Olivetti today is one of the largest Italian companies in the Information & Communication Technology business. With almost one hundred years of experience in research and innovation and entry into the Telecom Italia Group, it is poised for a fresh start in its core businesses.

The Olivetti offer addresses consumers as well as office and business users. In 2004 the company reported significant progress on international markets in each of these three areas: br>
- in the business area, with 1.4 million specialised printer installations and a world market share rising to 70% in the banking sector;
- in the office area, where, against 11% market growth in western Europe, it boosted its sales in the main segments of the digital copier sector by 36%, with approximately 32,000 shipments;
- in the consumer area, where it confirmed its leadership on the European ink-jet fax market with a 44% share (440,000 shipments) and in ink-jet cartridges, where it sold 4.5 million cartridge packs worldwide.


Olivetti closed 2004 with net sales of 601 million euro and posted its first net profit in 7 years.

For the three years 2005-2007, Olivetti has drawn up a recovery plan that provides for: - investments of 200 million euro in Europe, of which 75% in the ink-jet business;
- consolidated net sales growth of 37.6% in Europe, fuelled by 131% progress in the ink-jet sector;
- an enhanced consumer offer based on a new line of ink-jet products;
- growth in the business area through new alliances, use of technology to broaden the services offer and a product re-styling.

The first step towards the “new” Olivetti was taken last April, when the company returned to the Olivetti brand as the company name. The brand revival will be supported by a communication strategy featuring the autumn launch of new advertising campaigns targeting end users.

Today Olivetti is presenting its new multifunctional printers. With their distinctive design and focus on user friendliness, the new models combine technology that everyone can use with clean, timeless style.
The new generation of Olivetti products was designed by a select group of specialists, while a system of easy-to-understand interfaces, intuitive language and universal icons to enhance the user experience ensure user friendliness.

The new ink-jet generation features two types of product:

- ANY_WAY, a multifunctional printer designed by James Irvine and Alberto Meda, which will begin shipping in September 2005 in 4 versions, with standard Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on the top-of-the-range models;
- MY_WAY a portable photo printer designed by IDEO, which will begin shipping in September 2005, for outstanding printing quality even on plain paper.

In 2006 Olivetti will be enhancing its consumer ink-jet offer, where the team of top designers engaged in 2005 will be joined by another well-known name in international design: Jasper Morrison.

The latest developments confirm Olivetti’s on-going research and innovation tradition for the development of friendly, long-lasting technology.