Reprographics 101

July 14, 2014 9:31 AM ET

WALNUT CREEK, CA — (Marketwired) — 07/14/14 — ARC Document Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: ARC) the nation’s leading
document solutions provider for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, today announced that it
has signed a 10-year agreement to provide MetaPrint, ARC’s production print driver and file conversion software, to the
China Architecture Design and Research Group (CAG) for use in its newly developed “digital blueprinting” equipment.
CAG, headquartered in Beijing, is China’s leading state-owned architectural institution responsible for new developments
and standards in the country’s practice of architecture.

“We work with architectural firms all over the world, but we’ve never encountered a company that wanted to develop their
own printing equipment,” said K. “Suri” Suriyakumar, Chairman, President and CEO of ARC Document Solutions. “It’s
tremendously exciting to work with a client who is intent on moving an entire country toward more sustainable document
management practices. We are honored to play such an integral role in helping them achieve their vision.”

Today China’s construction industry generates most of its large-format construction documents using diazo printing, a
100-year-old technology named after the diazo chemical process that creates a blueprint’s distinctive blue color. While
inexpensive to operate, diazo machines are slow and power-hungry, take a great deal of skilled manual labor to operate, use
toxic chemicals, and produce prints that fade quickly in sunlight and cannot be recycled. Diazo printing was largely
replaced by digital methods in the United States, Europe and other Western countries after 1995.

While CAG remains devoted to the color of its drawings — the institute’s new printer uses blue ink — the drawbacks of
diazo-based document production techniques, including the lack of compatibility with digital content management,
inspired the successful development of their own proprietary “digital blueprinting” equipment.

“During our search to find a leading technology partner for this project, ARC Document Solutions was the obvious choice
due to their leadership position in serving the document needs of architectural companies in the USA,” said Mr. Liu Yan
Hui, CAG’s Party Secretary and Vice President. “We have signed a 10-year contract with ARC to integrate their
MetaPrint print management software with our new digital printer. MetaPrint will help us operate these machines at the
highest speeds and provide efficient print management for our customers.”

MetaPrint software is used for high-end, production printing and file conversion of large-format architectural, engineering
or construction documents. Originally developed for a high-volume reprographics shop environment, MetaPrint software
is now used by thousands of professionals around the world to drive printing and scanning equipment; scan, convert and
print documents; perform complex file or job print configurations; manage multiple print queues to a wide variety of
devices made by different manufacturers; and receive print jobs from remote locations.

CAG claims that, in addition to addressing the challenges of diazo printing, the operating costs of their new high-speed
digital printer are one-third that of a most contemporary wide-format digital printers. The new MetaPrint-equipped
machine is being introduced to the Chinese market this month and will be the first digital printer developed in China that
has the official approval of China’s Ministry of Commerce and its archiving bureau. CAG’s plan is to market the new
equipment to the owners of the approximately 7,000 diazo printers currently in use inside the country. 


For more information about MetaPrint, please visit: http://www.metaprint.net/home

About CAG

Known for the design of some of China’s most iconic structures, the 55-year-old state-owned China Architectural Design
& Research Group (CAG) now services clients all over the world, employs more than 4,000 people, and integrates
practices in building design, urban planning, municipal engineering, building standardization, construction information, project consultation, interior decoration, landscape, gardening and housing and research/development. For more
information visit: http://en.cadreg.com/introduce/introduce.shtml