TORONTO, Canada, and LOVELAND, Ohio, December 10, 2007 - Avanti, a leading provider of MIS solutions for the printing industry, and xpedx, North America's largest distributor of printing papers and graphics supplies, today announced an agreement under which Avanti's commercial and in-plant printing customers will have real-time access to availability and pricing information about printing papers. 
The alliance, to be fully implemented first quarter 2008, gives Avanti customers direct access to the xpedx paper catalog, customized pricing and fully updated information on availability.  This information enables printers to quickly deliver accurate job quotes to their customers and prospective customers.
"Paper can account for more than 40% of a printer's total cost, and access to real-time information about pricing and the availability of specific papers is essential to just-in-time quoting," says Stephen McWilliam, vice president of marketing for Avanti.
"In a market where all printers are looking for a competitive advantage, Avanti customers can realize an immediate productivity gain by directly accessing this information from within their Avanti system.  This will greatly improve their estimate turnaround time and better position them to win more deals," McWilliam said.  "It also enables printers to tightly manage an essential part of the print job by having the most up-to-date costing information at their fingertips."
The Avanti system directly connects the printer to the xpedx e-commerce site.  Real-time pricing information is available for the quote and, once the order is received from the customer, purchase orders are generated automatically and all details about paper are passed to the xpedx site without any need to re-key the information. 
"This alliance with Avanti underscores our e-business strategy:  to make it quick, easy and efficient for printers to do business with xpedx," said David Wallace, xpedx director of customer service and eBusiness.
"Customers using the Avanti system will be able to easily source xpedx product and then transmit their purchase order to xpedx-saving time and reducing errors," explained Wallace.  "By linking directly with MIS solutions that printers use, we can deliver the critical information they need right to their desktop."
xpedx.com recorded more than $1.2 billion in revenues on more than 5 million orders in 2006.