Ricoh and Microsoft announced on January 25, 2011 that the two companies will form alliance on cloud computing business, according to the Japan Today. It is projected that Ricoh plans to cut costs and reduce product release time by combining its sales network with Microsoft's technology, aiming to boost sales of Microsoft's products to approximately 20 billion yen (US$241.8 million; US$1=82.7 yen) annually over the next three years in Japan. Pursuant to the agreement, Microsoft's cloud computing, including mail, scheduling, and document sharing, will be integrated with Ricoh's data creation and storage operations.