BOCA RATON, FLA, DECEMBER 3, 2002 - - - Oce, a leader in digital document management and delivery technology, has been selected as a premier member of collegebuys.org, a leading purchasing consortium that comprises more than 1,800 colleges and universities across the United States. As a valued member of collegebuys.org, Oce has met the stringent requirements for superior products, services and system guarantees required by the collegebuys.org selection committee. Oce is one of the only selected providers on the collegebuys.org list that offers decentralized and centralized printers and document management software technologies that meet the needs of the office and high-volume production print as well as solutions that meet wide-format technical document design needs. With access to the full complement of advanced Oce printing and software systems, the more than 1800 members of the collegiate educational consortium stand to benefit because they do not have to engage in the expensive and cumbersome Request for Proposal (RFP) process to acquire Oce document production technology. When Oce systems are obtained directly from the collegebuys.org website, consortium participants save time, effort and money. Commenting on Oce's selection as a member of the organization, Public Sector Marketing Manager for Oce Julia Thomas said, "We are very excited by this development, which represents a major convenience for the educational sector. In the past, educational institutions have not had the benefit of such an efficient and cost-effective way to acquire Oce technology to meet their printing and information processing requirements." Dr. Larry Toy, President and CEO of College Buys.org said, "We are extremely pleased to announce that Oce has been selected for our collegebuys.org national purchasing program. Oce's quality, service and price are an excellent combination for our 1800+ member institutions. Additionally, Oce's cutting-edge technology for document management and printing meets the growing technology needs of our institutions." Members of the collegebuys.org purchasing consortium are primarily community and independent colleges and universities located throughout the United States. All institutions are regionally accredited. The consortium was initiated by the Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) in 1999. Due to their local governance structure, California community colleges were not able to leverage the size of the 108-college system to boost their buying power so the FCCC started a cooperative purchasing program. By pooling the purchasing power of the individual California community colleges and districts and a growing number of other institutions of higher education, the FCCC has been able to provide significant savings-about $10 million savings per year for the California community colleges. By extending the reach of the consortium beyond California's community colleges, FCCC has been able to attract additional vendors and provide lower prices.