Rochester, N.Y. – Xerox Corporation expanded its industry leading business partner program to enable enhanced digital print, copy and scanning solutions for office, enterprise and graphic communications providers. To kick off the new global program, the company recognized 20 key partners for their contributions to Xerox and its customers.

The Xerox Business Innovation Partner Program consists of industry-leading software and hardware providers who create integrated solutions to extend the capabilities of Xerox products and services. These applications help customers maximize operational efficiency and build incremental revenue opportunities.  During the past 25 years, the program has grown to more than 180 partners worldwide.

The program now includes partners with innovative solutions in office and production environments. The expanded program leverages industry leaders such as Nuance, a speech and imaging solutions provider and a Xerox business partner for more than 10 years.

Nuance collaborated with Xerox to develop a joint solution to make it easier for office workers to share and process documents. "The combined network of office and production partners is an important resource for Xerox customers. Nuance is now part of a comprehensive document scanning and printing solution that Xerox is making available to its customers," said Robert Weideman, general manager and senior vice president, Document Imaging Division, Nuance.

Rochester Software Associates (RSA), a Xerox partner for 15 years, views the expanded program as a win-win. "Xerox offers the only true partner program in the industry. The number of offerings is immense and integration with partners is seamless," said Kevin Beatson, vice president of sales, RSA.

C.P. Bourg, which specializes in print finishing, partners with Xerox to meet a diverse range of customer needs. For example, it can provide end-to-end turn-key solutions for photo books and packaging that an individual provider could not develop on their own. "Partnerships deliver the right technology and workflow to turn customer ideas into high-quality jobs," said James Tressler, director of branch operations, C.P. Bourg. "When leading companies combine their expertise, it means great things for print providers and with these changes Xerox has reenergized the program."

Xerox Business Innovation Partner of the Year awards
The Xerox Business Innovation Partner of the Year awards recognize the contributions of business partners to Xerox customers. C.P. Bourg received Overall Partner of the Year for the fourth straight year; the company was also recognized as the Xerox iGen Finishing Partner of the Year for its portfolio of inline and near-line solutions.

Additional Finishing Partner of the Year recipients include:   
- Horizon - Finishing Partner of the Year Entry Production Color
- Hunkeler - Finishing Partner of the Year Continuous Feed
- Gradco - Finishing Partner of the Year Monochrome
- GBC - Finishing Partner of the Year Wide Format
- Duplo and Watkiss (co-winners) - Outstanding Customer First/Service Support Finishing

Office Software Partners of the Year
Nuance was awarded Office Solutions Partner of the Year for its commitment to delivering innovative office productivity solutions and  for supporting Xerox's solutions efforts.

Additional Office Partners of the Year recipients include:
- Equitrac - Office Partner of the Year Cost and Access Control
- Notable Solutions - Office Partner of the Year Document Management
- Nuance and iXware (co-winners) - Office Partner of the Year Fax/Scan
- Cleo Communications - Office Partner of the Year Service/Support

Production Software Partners of the Year
For the second year in a row, RSA was recognized as Software Partner of the Year for supporting Xerox's efforts in the areas of web-to-print and data stream transformation.

Additional Production Software Partner of the Year recipients include:
- CGS - Partner of the Year  Automation
- Solimar - Partner of the Year Data Transformation/Digital Asset Management
- ePrint Direct - Partner of the Year eBusiness/Web Services
- DigiLabs - Partner of the Year Emerging Markets/Photo
- GMC Software Technology -  Partner of the Year Variable Information
- xlPrint and CMI (co-winners) - Partner of the Year Outstanding Service/Support