Los Angeles  - Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), a leading provider of advanced imaging and networking technologies for the desktop to the print shop, today will kick off its annual business conference and exposition in the JW Marriott at L.A. Live.  Themed "The Power of Performance," this year's conference will:
- Feature new and current product and solution offerings.
- Outline the corporate strategy for the coming year.
- Provide a wide range of educational seminars geared toward helping the sales channel increase revenue and more effectively meet customer needs for color output, workflow management, and production print.

The event brings together 1,000 Konica Minolta executives, representatives, and business partners from across North and South America.

"'The Power of Performance' is an outstanding opportunity for our business partners and sales teams to come together, share their insights, learn about new technologies and marketing strategy, and begin the fiscal year with renewed enthusiasm," said Rick Taylor, Senior Executive Vice President and COO, Konica Minolta Business Solutions, U.S.A., Inc.  "Konica Minolta relies on the continued innovation and success of our award-winning technologies and this conference helps us communicate to our business partners how customers can count on Konica Minolta to deliver the products and solutions to meet all of their digital printing needs."

The following technologies and programs will be highlighted at "The Power of Performance":

bizhub PRESS C8000 - The flagship of Konica Minolta's next-generation of digital presses, this new system combines stable, high-resolution output with uncompromised full-color quality at fast output speeds of 80 pages per minute (ppm).  The bizhub PRESS C8000 represents the introduction of the new bizhub PRESS brand to print professionals, and is an ideal replacement for full-color offset systems.

Business Intelligence Services (BIS) - Konica Minolta's Business Intelligence Services moves beyond the hardware to focus on finding customers new ways to gain efficiency.  Konica Minolta consultants join company support and development teams to identify and create cost effective solutions utilizing both our own products as well as products from our range of solutions partners.  At "The Power of Performance", the BIS Team will promote major practice areas including Konica Minolta's managed print services program - Optimized Print Services (OPS).

Business Development Program - This new offering provides Konica Minolta customers with access to powerful educational tools including white papers, videos, webinars, and ROI calculators that will help them develop innovative digital business strategies, launch new digital applications, and learn from customer success stories.

Award-Winning Office Color and Monochrome MFPs - Receiving first place in the 2010 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index in the "MFP Office Copier" category for the third straight year, Konica Minolta's line of bizhub® office MFPs deliver high-speed output, low-cost operation and all-in-one functionality for small- to mid-sized business departments and workgroups.

bEST Developer Support Program - The bizhub Extended Solution Technology (bEST) Program is designed to provide customers with integrated, innovative solutions, and accelerate the time to the marketplace.  During the conference, Konica Minolta will preview solutions developed with third-party vendors such as Equitrac, Notable Solutions, Inc. (NSI), Nuance/eCopy, Pharos Systems International, and PRISM.

Partner Pavilion - Konica Minolta will preview vertical market solutions developed with third-party vendors such as Open Text, IPRO Tech, and Plus Corp.

Printgroove - In light production printing, CRD and small- to mid-sized print shop applications, Printgroove® is the key to greater output power and increased satisfaction for customers and corporate clients.  It can accept input in any format, including text, graphics, photos, even presentations and multimedia.  And it can be configured to fit your workflow like a glove, handling rising traffic volume and accommodating as many printing steps and stations as your business processes demand.