FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- EFI, the world leader in digital controllers, superwide format printers and inks, and print management solutions, today announced a line-up of 18 well-known industry leaders as exhibitors at the seventh annual Connect conference to provide an additional educational experience to the hundreds of attendees expected at the industry's largest user conference. Connect 2006 is taking place at the exclusive Venetian Resort in Las Vegas April 30th to May 3rd. As the Diamond Sponsor, Xerox Corporation will have the largest exhibit area showcase and will host two sessions: one titled "Communicating at the Forefront of JMF"; and the other a panel of print service providers discussing the trends, marketing ideas and tools proven to build value-added customer services. The Platinum Sponsor of Connect 2006 is Adobe Systems, and Canon U.S.A. holds the Gold Sponsor title. All Connect attendees will also have the opportunity to see the latest products and solutions from these prominent industry sponsors: Heidelberg USA; I S Development Group; Komori America Corp.; MAN Roland; Manhattan Associates; Matrix Scale Service Inc.; National Association for Printing Leadership; Ricoh Corporation; Salesforce.com; Screen USA; SmartLinc Channel Sales; Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc.; USADATA, Inc.; Window Book, Inc.; and XMPie Inc. WhatTheyThink.com, the leading online printing industry news source, is also a sponsor of Connect, and will be providing coverage from the show floor. "The Connect conference has again attracted a prominent group of leading companies as sponsors, and we're especially pleased to have Xerox at the Diamond level," said Marc Olin, senior vice president/general manager, EFI Professional Printing Applications. "In keeping with this year's 'expand your opportunities' theme, we're trying to offer our customers an experience different from a regular trade show, where they can explore in much greater detail these vendors and their products, and learn how they may integrate with their print MIS systems and other solutions from EFI. I'm also excited to announce that we already have more than 700 customers registered, so it's shaping up to be the best Connect yet." The exhibit area is just one of the educational benefits of attending Connect. The four-day conference will offer participants an information-packed, interactive opportunity to discuss industry trends, test drive the latest EFI software, exchange ideas, and attend a broad range of educational and keynote sessions. This year there will also be practical sessions focused on growing business with super-wide format digital inkjet printing, on-demand digital printing and variable data printing. For more information and to register, visit www.efi.com/connect06