"Les Olson Company will celebrate the grand opening of its Cedar City location with an open house and ribbon cutting on Friday, April 18, 2008," said company president and CEO, Larry Olson. "The new Cedar City location will make it possible to add additional employees to serve our rapidly growing customer base throughout Cedar City and southern Utah."

The new location, at 2130 West Highway 56, Suite D, will enable Les Olson Company to better serve its clients. Mark Babcock, the St. George and Cedar City branch manager sees a correlation between the new facility and fulfilling the company's mission statement: "To provide the highest quality state-of-the-art business products at the lowest price possible, backed by superior customer service and support."

Les Olson Company is a privately owned, family business that was founded in Salt Lake City in 1956. The business has built its reputation on the philosophy that "good service isn't expensive, it's priceless!"

The Cedar City office grand opening ribbon cutting is scheduled for Friday, April 18, 2008 at noon, with an open house for the general public to follow until 4 p.m. In addition to specials on copiers, printers and fax machines, drawings will be held for great prizes and light refreshments will be served.

To contact Les Olson Company toll-free, dial (800) 365-8804. In Cedar City, call (435) 586-2345 and in St. George dial (435) 634-1548. Visit LesOlson.com for special discounts on Sharp copiers, printers and fax systems.

Sharp Electronics will provide a pre-paid UPS shipping label for the return of qualified used toner cartridges. Les Olson Company can also accept the qualified cartridges for shipment back to Sharp. For program registration and to check to see if your toner is on the list of recyclable cartridges, please visit the Sharp recycling information page.

In addition, to facilitate bulk shipments and in order to help conserve resources and reduce energy use, Sharp provides a toner cartridge shipping carton. This carton can be conveniently placed in the customer’s mailroom for shipment of up to 10 used cartridges.

Reinforcing its commitment to the environment, in 2007, Sharp Electronics received the Excellence in Partnership Green Contractor Award as well as the Evergreen Award from the U.S. Government’s General Services Administration and the Coalition for Government Procurement.

As additional proof of commitment to the environment, Les Olson Company offers the following Sharp technology to help and preserve the environment:

• Sharp MFPs are Energy Star Qualified
• New, state-of-the-art toner cartridges are one-fifth the size of conventional toner cartridges, requiring less packaging material and significantly less power consumption
• Organic photoconductive drum unit has an extended life of up to one million pages
• Sharp Fax Machines require an extremely low power consumption of less than 1 watt when operating in standby mode
• Sharp’s high-speed products deliver energy savings through external heat fusing technology (using an external system to heat thin-walled steel fusing rollers)

Les Olson Company knows color, and understands the value of green. Please contact Les Olson Company today at (801) 486-7431 for more details about its recycling program.

"We are confident that Les Olson Company, as well as the Sharp equipment it provides, will help Las Vegas Motor Speedway increase office efficiency," said Chris Powell, LVMS general manager. "We're looking forward to saving money on printing, utilizing the newest technology on each of our new Sharp digital copier systems, and establishing a long-lasting relationship with Les Olson Company."

Buyers Laboratory Inc. recently honored Sharp with the coveted Line of the Year designation for 2007. The Line of the Year award is given once a year to the company whose office product line, as tested in BLI's rigorous two-month laboratory evaluation, is determined to be the best overall based on its cumulative test results.

In addition to industry standards for copy, print, scan and fax functions, Sharp multifunctional digital copiers come with Open Systems Architecture. "It's like an open source software businesses can use to create macros to perform routine business functions," said Larry Olson, president and CEO of Les Olson Company. "We're looking forward to customizing the Sharp systems for Las Vegas Motor Speedway. They'll be able to access critical business applications directly from an interactive display on their Sharp multifunctional digital systems."

The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is Nevada's home to NASCAR. Its staff of approximately 75 manages all Speedway events and hosts many of the world's best race car drivers, accompanying teams, media and supporters.

On February 21, 2008 the UMA Exchange Tour will take place at the corporate headquarters for UMA affinity member, Les Olson Company, from 10 a.m. to noon.

There will be a drawing for all participants for two Utah Jazz tickets following the Exchange Tour.

Please RSVP your UMA Exchange Tour attendance to Teresa Thomas at teresa@umaweb.org or (801) 363-3885.

Les Olson Company is a family-owned and operated business that sells and services Sharp’s full line of copy, print, fax, scan and technology equipment. The company has represented Sharp exclusively since 1975 and is now one of the largest Sharp Dealers in the nation.

Striving to follow in the traditions and principles the company was founded on, the Board of Directors and company shareholders continue to grow and build the business to last. They ensure a great working environment for Les Olson Company employees and continue to provide customers with the highest quality products, service and support.

After 50 years in business, four generations of Olsons and other dedicated employees form a team of 200 who tirelessly serve clients in Utah and Nevada from the company’s seven locations.

The annual listing is ranked by number of employees.

This year, Les Olson Company is ranked as 8a based on surveys collected in October 2007.

About Les Olson Company

Les Olson Company, a Salt Lake City-based Sharp office equipment dealer, provides and services multifunctional digital systems to meet corporate print, fax, copy, scan and digital storage needs. Founded in 1956, Les Olson employs nearly 200 professionals in Utah and Nevada who specialize in old-fashioned customer service. The company's team includes more than 30 second, third and fourth generation Olson family members. The company has six Utah locations: Logan, Ogden, Salt Lake City, Lindon, Cedar City and St. George, along with a Las Vegas office. The company is one of the country's largest independent office solutions dealers.

Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI) is the office equipment industry's leading independent authority and provider of competitive intelligence, testing and reviews on multifunction (MFP), copier, printer and fax products.

Sharp was recently honored with the coveted "Line of the Year" designation by BLI.

BLI's "Line of the Year" is awarded once a year to the vendor whose product line, as tested in BLI's rigorous two-month laboratory evaluation, is determined to be the best overall based on its cumulative test results. Among the many factors considered are reliability, image quality, productivity, ease of use, scanning, a host of connectivity attributes and overall value. Also considered is the breadth of each vendor's line.

Consistent Superior Performance Earns Sharp BLI's Highest Honor

"Ever since the introduction of Sharp's AR-M350 and AR-M450 in 2001, which were way ahead of their time, Sharp has been steadily building what BLI's testing has shown is now the industry's best copier-centric MFP product line," said BLI Managing Editor Daria Hoffman. "First it expanded its mid-range monochrome line, then it added the color MX series, which earned Sharp BLI's award for ‘Color MFP Line of the Year' in 2006. Then it introduced the phenomenally reliable production-oriented ‘Hercules' series, each of which has earned ‘Highly Recommended' ratings and ‘Picks' in their respective segments."

Along the way, Sharp has continually made improvements, such as increasing part lives and adding capabilities, such as OSA (Open Systems Architecture), which enables Sharp MFPs to work in conjunction with back-end software applications, and now its product line has more BLI "Pick" winners than any other vendor.

Sharp's MFP success has cast a wide net over the industry. In the last year and a half, BLI "Picks" have been awarded to Sharp business color products ranging in speeds of 23 pages per minute (ppm) in color and black, to 41 ppm in color and 62 ppm in black. In the monochrome arena, BLI "Picks" have been awarded to Sharp products in critical Segments 4, 5 and 6. Sharp has also garnered acclaim in the lower-speed monochrome segments, with a BLI "Pick" and "Highly Recommended" rating awarded to models in Segment 1 and 2.

Just-completed field testing of two of its refreshed mid-range monochrome models, the MX-M350 and MX-M550, show that these latest models improve upon the tried-and-true performance of their award-winning predecessors.

"Winning BLI's ‘Line of the Year' award provides us with independent validation of what Sharp dealers and employees have already believed for some time - that Sharp products are simply the best in the industry. Although this has been a banner year in regard to the number of awards that Sharp has won, we are more excited about the recognition from BLI for ‘Line of the Year' than any of the other honors that Sharp has received. This achievement is a direct result of Sharp's unique approach to product planning, and the close teamwork that takes place between our product planning groups here in the U.S. and in Japan. This process allows us to work closely with our dealers, the end users and our factory, and enables Sharp to respond to the market's changing needs and opportunities in a more dynamic manner. This in turn helps us to focus our engineering resources to bring to market the application answers that create a clear level of differentiation from our competitors," said Ed McLaughlin, President, Sharp Imaging and Information Systems of America (SIICA).

The Color of Success

BLI has tested nearly every member of Sharp's color MX Series in the last year-and-a-half. All racked up extremely high ratings in nearly every category, and every model earned BLI's "Highly Recommended" rating and was named a "Pick of the Year."

"These Sharp color models excelled in many ways," said BLI Lab Manager Pete Emory. "All of them proved to be highly reliable, producing a total of 1,110,000 impressions with a very high mean impressions between service and very few misfeeds."

Sharp's color line is also broader than most, with products falling into Segments 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Excelling At Ease of Use

Ease of use is a strength that carries over into most every product in Sharp's MFP line. The devices feature large and very-well designed control panels and excellent print drivers. This ease of use further extends to the devices' connectivity attributes, such as network setup, administrative utilities and feedback to workstations, all of which helped Sharp win a BLI "Outstanding Achievement" award for the IT friendliness of its IMAGER MFPs in 2005. "A testament to the outstanding design of its products is that two years later, Sharp's products still set the standard for this aspect of MFP performance," noted Hoffman.

Sharp MX-M700N/U Impresses with Class-Leading Security and Setup

An excellent example of this is the 70-ppm Sharp MX-M700N/U, which has been awarded a Fall 2007 BLI "Pick" award for "Outstanding Segment 5 Monochrome MFP."

The MX-M700N/U was a standout in terms of network setup and remote administration, as well as the feedback provided to end users via the bundled drivers and utilities. The device was a highly reliable performer during BLI's rigorous two-month, 300,000-impression durability trial, while also delivering good results in BLI's productivity tests. Featuring standard copying and printing and optional fax and network monochrome scanning, the MX-M700N/U also delivers a standard high-capacity duplexing single-pass feeder and among the most complete list of security features in the industry.

"Sharp is very pleased to receive the BLI ‘Pick of the Year' for the MX-M700N/U workgroup document system. This award for ‘Outstanding Segment 5 Monochrome MFP' acknowledges Sharp's exceptional achievement in the high-volume workgroup category. The MX-M700N/U workgroup document system offers businesses superior performance, value and reliability," said George Grafanakis senior manager, product planning and marketing, for SIICA.

Sharp MX-M1100 Delivers Stellar Durability For Production Environments

Not many machines can churn out 1 million impressions with no unscheduled maintenance and just three misfeeds, but that's exactly the feat the Sharp MX-M1100 achieved in BLI's grueling two-month durability test. The flagship of Sharp's new Hercules line-up, the 110-ppm MX-M1100 further proves the company is ready to take on production environments, with the device's excellent multitasking abilities, superior scan functions and outstanding overall ease of use.

"Sharp is extremely proud to win the prestigious ‘Pick of the Year' award for our new MX-M1100. With this latest accomplishment, our entire high-speed series (MX-M850, MX-M950 and MX-M1100) are now all recipients of the coveted ‘Pick' award. As a newcomer to this high-speed segment, it is especially gratifying to be recognized as the best," said Shane Coffey, associate director of product management for SIICA.

The following is from Bankrate.com:

Small Businesses Benefit From Section 179 Deduction

Typically, if property for business has a useful life of more than one year, the cost must be spread across several tax years as depreciation with a portion of the cost deducted each year. But there is a way to immediately receive these income tax benefits in one tax year. The provisions of Internal Revenue Code Section 179 allow a sole proprietor, partnership or corporation to fully expense tangible property in the year it is purchased.

And tax-law changes over the past few years have made this option much more appealing by dramatically increasing the amount that can be written off immediately. Changes first made in 2003 and then extended in 2006 mean that businesses can write off more of their capital expenditures through 2009.

Enhanced section 179 expensing now is at the base level of $125,000 with that level indexed for inflation for the last several years. This is five times more than the previous-law limit of $25,000. In addition, the investment limitation also has been increased to more than $500,000 and it, too, is indexed for inflation.

These changes mean that in 2007, a business can expense $125,000 in capital expenditures up to an overall investment limit of $500,000.

Eligible Property

Property that may be written off in the tax year of purchase, rather than depreciated over the asset’s useful life, includes:

• Machinery and equipment
• Furniture and fixtures
• Most storage facilities
• Single-purpose agricultural or horticultural structures

Also, the definition of eligible section 179 property was expanded by the 2003 legislative changes to include off-the-shelf computer software. Previously, it had to be written off over three years.

As a result of its charitable giving programs and corporate matching, Les Olson Company is pleased to announce the 22 charities to which it has given contributions in 2007:

• American Cancer Society
• Boy Scouts of America
• Debra Koch Scholarship Foundation
• Foundation of Dixie Regional Medical Center Jubilee of Trees
• Huntsman Cancer Institute
• Huntsman Cancer Institute in behalf of Tom Henderson
• Inclusion Center to Drive out Racism
• Kostopulos Dream Foundation
• KVBC TV 3 Gift of Giving
• Legal Aid Society Celebration of Justice
• Master Mender
• Mountain Land Rehabilitation
• Muscular Dystrophy Association
• Musical Actors Theatre
• National MS Society
• Primary Children's Medical Foundation
• South Salt Lake Chamber
• Special Olympics
• Tooele City Corporation
• Tooele High School
• Utah Community Action
• Utah Jazz

"We're a family-owned business and supporting worthy causes is part of our corporate culture," said Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, Larry Olson. "We have been blessed as a result of my father's business philosophy of excellent customer service and we're happy to pay it forward. We're genuinely grateful for the contributions of our team members and corporate partners and plan to continue our philanthropic commitment to the communities in which we do business."

Sharp units were rated most reliable overall, ranking number one in five of nine graded areas. The study defined most reliable as, “Combines equipment reliability with ongoing support, initial reliability and more.”

In-depth interviews with 152 service managers at office equipment dealerships nationwide, encompassing more than 46,500 monochrome units, form the basis for the report.

Out of a possible score of 10, Sharp equipment received a 9.11 for printer reliability, 9.38 for scanning reliability, 9.21 for fax reliability, 8.87 for overall product reliability, and 8.27 for product service.

Since Sharp first introduced its multifunctional digital office systems in 1997, it has continuously ranked more reliable than other multifunctional printers.

“Since its founding in 1956, Les Olson Company has grown to be one of the nation’s largest independent dealers in Sharp multifunctional digital systems,” said Mike Augason, Les Olson Company’s Las Vegas sales manager. “We have an exclusive arrangement with Sharp because we believe completely in its product and enjoy working with happy customers.”

Office Products Analyst maintains the longest running, continuous publication that focuses exclusively on the office automation industry. Sharp did not fund or sponsor this independent study.

In 1992 the company opened its Northern Utah branch located at 1276 Wall Avenue in Ogden. Over the past fifteen years the branch has outgrown its current facility, and Les Olson Company is very pleased to announce they have purchased property and will soon break ground for a new, state-of-the-art facility located at 1750 West 12th Street.

“The new building will allow us to add additional employees to serve our rapidly growing customer base throughout Northern Utah,” said Les Olson Company President Larry Olson. “We have seen tremendous growth in the economy and our business. It will be wonderful to have the space and new facilities in order to provide even better service to our customers. Our philosophy has always been ‘good service isn’t expensive—it’s priceless!’ All of us at Les Olson Company are committed to this philosophy and greatly appreciate the loyal support of our many customers and friends.”

Big-D Construction, also a Les Olson Company customer, has been contracted to build the new structure. Tom Olson, Les Olson Company’s chief finance and operations officer, is overseeing construction of the new building. “We believe in doing business within the local community wherever possible, and we will work with Big-D to ensure that we partner with as many businesses in the Northern Utah communities as possible on the project,” Tom Olson said.

The groundbreaking for the new building will held on-site on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 11 a.m.