CHICAGO, Oct. 7 -- Oce (Nasdaq: OCENY), a global leader in digital document management and delivery technology, celebrated its 125th anniversary today by giving each of its 23,000 employees around the world five shares of company stock.  This includes the 9,600 employees in North America working at Oce-USA headquartered in Chicago, Oce Printing Systems USA in Boca Raton, FL, Archer Management Services in New York City, Arkwright, Inc. in Fiskeville, RI, Oce-Canada in Toronto, Oce Mexico in Mexico City, Oce Groupware Technology in Cleveland, Oce Reprographic Technologies in Phoenix, and Oce Display Graphics Systems in San Jose, CA. "This is a milestone few companies reach.  We are grateful for a strong heritage of technological innovation which has enabled us to adapt and thrive through one and a quarter centuries," commented Giovanni Pelizzari, President and CEO of Oce-USA Holding.  "In honor of this occasion, we are granting shares of the company as a meaningful gift to our employees who contribute to our success everyday." The first commercial product of Oce in 1877 was a coloring agent for oleomargarine that made it look like butter.  The success of that product provided a revenue stream that allowed the development of other technologies, most notably several breakthroughs in the photo-sensitive chemical market which revolutionized diazo blueprint technology in the 1920's.  By the 1970's, the company had developed a new method of plain paper copying which provided a more reliable and higher quality image than traditional xerography.  Oce Copy Press became the platform that made Oce office and wide format copiers and printers the world's most reliable and easiest to use.  The company has subsequently expanded with several strategic acquisitions in high-speed production printing, large format color printing, and document management software.  Last year, Oce introduced a revolutionary color printing system using a seven color process which lays down the image as a single layer of toner in one pass. Today the company conducts business in 80 countries around the world and generates revenue of Euro 3.2 billion.