CHICAGO---Sept. 6, 2001--In a move to expand its presence and distribution channels in commercial printing, Xerox Corporation today announced it has signed a reseller agreement with Imation Corp., who will sell Xerox's high-end digital color products in the graphic arts market. The agreement takes advantage of Imation's industry experience, and it couples Xerox's color printing products with Imation's expertise in integrating digital printing into the offset printing workflow. Under the contract, Imation, a $1.2 billion global company and major color technology supplier to the graphic arts industry, will begin selling Xerox's DocuColor 2060 and 2045 digital presses to commercial printers and prepress companies immediately. "This partnership increases our sales coverage in key graphic arts, prepress and printing markets, and we expect it to result in substantial incremental business,'' said Anshoo Gupta, president, Xerox Production Systems Group. "Imation has a 40-year history in these industries, and its sales specialists and account managers work in a consultative role with prospective customers who need help incorporating digital equipment into their business.'' Xerox is working with Imation to implement clear, separate account management, with specific commercial printing and prepress accounts assigned to either a Xerox or an Imation sales specialist. Initial Imation accounts will be assigned in the New York, Chicago and Los Angeles areas and later expanded to specific graphic arts accounts worldwide. Imation will augment its current sales force with Xerox-trained digital printing sales specialists and analysts, and its sales will be backed by Xerox service and support. The new reseller agreement builds on a year-long collaboration under which Xerox has marketed the Imation Matchprint(TM) Professional Server, a color raster image processor (RIP) providing network connectivity and color accuracy and consistency for the DocuColor 12. The relationship was developed within the Xerox Business Partner Program, which is designed to expand the company's distribution capabilities in new market segments. "This agreement aligns with Imation's commitment to help our customers grow their business,'' said Barbara Cederberg, president, Imation Color Technologies. "Through this powerful combination of Xerox's industry-leading production print engines and Imation's experience in the graphic arts industry, we are able to deliver to our customers a digital color printing system that's easily integrated into a printer's current workflow. This solution will hit the bottom line as printers increase sales and profit by expanding their capabilities into variable data printing.'' The DocuColor 2060 and 2045 presses - offering production color printing capabilities at speeds of 60 and 45 pages per minute - serve the market for on-demand printing, personalized printing, and printing and publishing for e-commerce and Internet delivery.