Ricoh Americas Corporation of Wayne has unveiled an interactive whiteboard for corporations and government agencies that is simple to operate and more resistant to intrusion.

The new RICOH Interactive Whiteboard D5500 – for those who need to collaborate on important business initiatives across offices and geographies – offers a finer, smoother, higher-resolution writing experience than most competing solutions.

The international global technology firm will demonstrate the system at the InfoComm 2014 show, June 14-20 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Interactive white boards have become a fixture in class and board rooms since David Martin parlayed the idea into an industry with SMART Board in 1986.

Ricoh says its D5500 enables a company to easily present finely detailed information and images on a 55-inch-diagonal HD screen. Presenters can invite up to 84 participants to view information via a virtual private network using up to four RICOH Interactive Whiteboard D5500s that can connect across an enterprise. Annotations made on one appear instantaneously on the other three.

“In today’s fast paced work environment, it’s critical for companies to securely mobilize their information around the world in a way that collapses time and distance barriers,” said Matt Sakauchi, vice president of technology marketing at Ricoh.

“Solutions like the D5500 put information to work for our customers, giving them an enhanced ability to see, learn, share and act to meet their most important business challenges,” he said.

Many interactive whiteboards are essentially full-blown computers, which can pose a problem. Their software and controls are so complex that only experts end up using them. Their Internet connectivity and writeable hard drives make them vulnerable to viruses and intruders. Ricoh says its new board is a simple-to-operate, firmware-based system more resistant to intrusion.

The RICOH D5500 can be set up in minutes. The device is engineered to enable even first-time users to easily write, draw, edit, move, resize and save images via intuitive touchscreen controls. An electronic pen is included. The RICOH D5500 can also be used as a high-quality display for Ricoh’s Unified Communication System – the RICOH P3000 – or other videoconferencing systems while sharing information via the RICOH D5500’s picture-in-picture function.

As for security, all data is permanently deleted just by turning off the power switch at the end of a presentation. Presenters also have more control over who sees a presentation, as remote participants can only access a presentation through PIN code authentication. Audience members have no easy way to take a presentation or share it. With the RICOH D5500 presenters can choose to share images and handwritten notes as emailed PDFs at their sole discretion.

The new whiteboard retails for $7,754. Its optional stand is $1,305 and a collaboration license is $1,200.

Links: www.ricoh-usa.com.