NORWALK, Conn. -- Xerox Corporation received top honors from channel publications and their readership for its strong partner program, leadership and innovative technology.

For the third consecutive year, Xerox was named "overall winner" for workgroup color printers in CRN's 2009 Channel Champions Awards, taking the top spot in all three sub-categories - "expected sales," "competitive pricing," and "product margins, SPIFs and rebates." In addition, the company's multifunction printers received an award in the "support satisfaction" sub-category for multifunction printers.

"The quality of a vendor's partner program determines how profitable its partners will be. So for their commitment to their partners, and their efforts to build quality programs, we congratulate Xerox for helping to drive greater revenue in the channel," said Robert C. DeMarzo, senior vice president and editorial director, Everything Channel.

Other recent Xerox accolades include:

•    Recognized as one of North America's top information-technology vendors and awarded a five-star certification in Everything Channel's 15th annual 2009 Partner Program Guide.

•    Finished first in the overall Channel Affinity Index and also led in the network color laser printer category. VARs rated vendors of SMB products in 15 different categories in this study completed by Everything Channel's Institute for Partner Education & Development (IPED).

•    Named one of the "Best Channel Vendors" by Business Solutions. The magazine partnered with Penn State University to conduct a Web-based survey of their VAR subscribers to rate their vendor partners in multiple categories including product reliability, product features and service/support.

Additionally, Gary Gillam, vice president of Channel Operations, North American Reseller Sales for Xerox, was listed as one of CRN's Channel Chiefs among 150 individuals running channel organizations at more than 100 technology vendors. He was also included on the Systems/Peripherals Channel Chiefs list.

Xerox recently strengthened its product line with the introduction of several color printer and multifunction printers, including the ColorQube 9200 Series color multifunction printer, Phaser 7500 color laser printer, WorkCentre 6400 color multifunction printer, WorkCentre 7400 color multifunction series and WorkCentre 4250 black-and-white multifunction printer.