Rockville, Maryland, July 18, 2005 - IDEAL, the largest U.S. Distributor of Contex scanners, today announced a new addition to its comprehensive line of large format imaging solutions -the IDEAL / Contex COPYmate 18 Wide Format Flat Bed Color Scanner. The COPYmate 18 is designed to scan all types of originals, including rare and valuable documents up to C size. This scanner, solves the problem of scanning media over a half inch thick, such as books, delicate originals and fine art. IDEAL's affordable COPYmate solution delivers the quality, color reproduction and reliability that IDEAL customers expect.

IDEAL / Contex COPYmate 18 Wide Format Flat Bed Color Scanner

"Delivering innovative, customer-driven solutions keeps our customers loyal," says Jay Magenheim, IDEAL's president. "The COPYmate 18, the first flatbed scanner offered in the IDEAL / Contex line of scanners, is perfectly suited for GIS, Photo and Graphic Arts professionals and all customers who demand ease of use and a high grade of precision and accuracy. With embedded iJET technology, it's as simple as loading a document into a photocopier."

The COPYmate 18 is a flatbed scanner that allows delicate or oversize documents to be placed on the platen glass, avoiding any possible damage. Embedded iJET technology provides the ability to scan and make copies directly to any computer or printer on the LAN, or directly to an attached USB Printer. The IDEAL / Contex COPYmate 18 color scanner is designed to meet the requirements for the GIS, fine art reproduction and historical document preservation markets. The COPYmate 18 provides a solution for scanning and archiving precious, unusual and rare documents from original fine art to oversized prints with high precision and color accuracy at a fast scan speed.

Features:

*  Flat-bed for delicate documents

*  Exceptional Accuracy with patented Auto Lens Enhancement (ALE)

*  Scan documents up to 18" wide and in resolutions up to 9600 dpi

*  Includes the NEW iJET Copy Function, eliminating the need for a PC server

*  High Precision Color is captured at 48 bit color for photo-realistic vivid colors

*  16 bit gray tone capture for perfect reproduction of gray shades

·  Advanced image processing

*  Connectivity includes LAN and USB2

*  Twain driver support and Scan to PDF

*  Customer replaceable consumables

Fast and Simple Replacement of Scanner Consumables

What makes the COPYmate 18 unique in the flatbed scanner market is that users can now perform quick, easy and tool-free maintenance of the scanner's consumable parts. Items such as the air filters, lamp, and white background plate can be replaced without a service call from the technician. This scanner is the only one on the market that is so easily maintained to ensure optimal scanning at the most critical times.

About IDEAL

IDEAL.com develops, markets, and supports a wide range of color and monochrome scanning solutions for large format drawings and technical documents including scan-to-print, scan-to-file, Online Planrooms, indexing, archiving, converting and editing software. For a jpeg image or for more information on the COPYmate 18, or any IDEAL product, please contact Kathy Magenheim at (301) 468-0123 ext.1230 or contact via email at kmagenheim@ideal.com.