May 15, 2007 -- MALVERN, Pa.-- IKON Office Solutions, the world's largest independent channel for document management systems and services, today announced the addition of the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP digital press to its robust production color portfolio. Featuring technology designed to handle the speed of the production environment with imaging quality that rivals offset printing, the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP is ideal for mid-to high-end production color environments and provides outstanding color and job management functionality. "The Canon imagePRESS C7000VP allows us to expand our reach into both our existing corporate accounts and the commercial print market," explains Bill Carpou, Vice President of U.S. Marketing, IKON Office Solutions. "With this new addition to our production color portfolio, IKON now has the ability to more effectively meet the needs of our customers in the corporate sector as well as commercial print, graphic arts, direct mail, and service bureaus, who are looking to migrate offset color printing to a more flexible, cost-effective digital color solution without sacrificing image quality or performance." Featuring industry-leading color imaging technology, the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP produces images that are consistently printed at a 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution. In addition, for the fast paced production environment, the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP features Canon's innovative dual-fusing technology which allows the system to maintain a constant engine speed of 70 letter-sized pages per minute, regardless of the paper weight. Because press uptime is important in the production environment, the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP maintains a 10,000 sheet maximum paper input, and features Canon's Multifeed Detection technology, which is designed to prevent two sheets from entering the press at once. The addition of the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP to IKON's production color portfolio further enhances IKON's position as a leading industry expert in color imaging and production technology. IKON has many years of experience meeting the demanding requirements of corporate print centers, graphic arts environments and commercial print shops with a full range of color systems and integrated document management software to create customized workflow solutions. "Over the last few years, the commercial printing industry has seen revenue from digital printing grow at a rate roughly double that of offset printing," explains Michael Makin, President and CEO, Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation. "Progressive commercial printers have realized the need to broaden services and output options, and are using digital presses to offer just-in-time printing, personalized direct mail, and small, yet affordable, quantities of full-color pieces. All told, about 25 percent of commercial printers now use some form of high-speed digital printing equipment." IKON customers have the ability to maximize their color solutions by engaging with IKON's color and production specialists and its Professional Services team. Based on IKON's years of experience in the color and production marketplace, IKON's Professional Services consultants can provide customers with a suite of services and application development including variable data integration for marketing and personalized communications, advanced color management, forms design, data stream conversion and custom workflow solutions to help improve productivity, reduce turnaround time, and improve effectiveness. IKON will also offer Business Building programs developed for the commercial print environment - designed to create new ways for commercial print establishments to market digital print to their customer base, ultimately helping to attract new customers and create new sources of revenue. "We are pleased that IKON is going to be a key distributor of the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP," says Tod Pike, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Imaging Systems Group, Canon U.S.A. "IKON has proven their understanding of the production market, both in black and white and color, and is our largest independent channel partner in the United States, distributing the full range of Canon high volume black and white solutions, as well as our extensive color product line. Their depth of experience and expertise in the both the color and production environments will surely be an asset in their success with this product." As part of the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP rollout, IKON is also investing in focused sales coverage with specially trained graphic arts representatives for the high volume commercial print and graphic arts marketplace. These representatives will have extensive experience and a solid understanding of the unique requirements of the commercial print market, combined with a strong knowledge of IKON's entire color and production product portfolio and services offerings. Ready to meet the needs of the most demanding production environments, the Canon imagePRESS C7000VP is available for order immediately from IKON throughout the United States, with shipping expected to begin in July 2007. More information is available by calling 1-888-ASK-IKON.