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Xerox Rolls Out 7 New Products for SMBs

February 12, 2007

Meeting with 800 resellers and independent agents for its first distribution partner summit, Xerox rolled out a suite of seven new products and services for expanded sales channels. The target: a $44 billion market opportunity in the small and mid-size business (SMB) market.

The company announced three color printers, two color multifunction devices and two fax machines at prices starting at $499 and speeds from 5 pages to 42 pages per minute. Complementing the new technology are document management solutions, services and software specifically designed to boost profit for distribution partners while reducing costs and increasing productivity for small and medium-sized offices, such as medical clinics, law offices and independent real estate agents.

Xerox is simultaneously making its most significant investment in resellers and independent agents since it launched these channels.

"We now have the right products and channel programs to serve the fast-growing SMB market. Customers have more Xerox offerings to choose from and more ways to buy them," said Xerox Chairman and CEO Anne M. Mulcahy. "We are becoming a partner-centric company, bringing a broader array of offerings and revenue growth opportunities to value-added resellers and independent agents. Our commitment is to be the best partner in the document domain."

Distribution expansion

In addition to expanding its line of low-end printers and MFPs that print, copy, scan and fax, Xerox will for the first time offer its full office product line through a set of accredited resellers with specialized expertise in document management and information technology. Qualified partners will become certified to sell higher-end systems that handle letter-size and 11"x17" documents at up to 90 ppm in black-and-white and 50 ppm in color. The company is also recruiting resellers to offer advanced document solutions such as scanning, storage and assessment services. These initiatives will draw from a targeted group of about 600 top IT resellers in the U.S.

At the same time, Xerox is enriching its agent channel by adding several new elements, including access to a wider array of accounts previously served exclusively by the Xerox direct sales force. Enhanced incentive plans, new revenue growth opportunities, and increased marketing, training and support will be available to all agents. A tiered program will be offered to qualified agents who expand their sales teams and meet or exceed performance targets.

Approximately 70 percent of Xerox's North American equipment installs are generated through channel partners, accounting for about 40 percent of equipment revenue.

Affordable products

Along with the expansion of its distribution capacity, Xerox debuted its largest launch ever of affordable desktop color printer and multifunction products for small and medium-sized businesses.

• The Xerox Phaser 6360, with speeds of up to 42 ppm in color and black and white, is the world's fastest letter-size color laser printer. It supports Xerox's CentreWare® Web desktop management software, which allows IT administrators or office workers to remotely manage a fleet of systems. Pricing starts at $1,399.
• The Xerox Phaser 8560 color printer is built on Xerox's patented solid ink technology. It's cartridge free, generating 90 percent less waste than other printers in its class. It prints up to 30 ppm with an industry-leading first-page-out time as fast as 5 seconds. The Phaser 8560 starts at $799. It is also available as a multifunction device - the Xerox Phaser 8560MFP, which adds copying, scanning and faxing, starting at $1,499.
• The Xerox Phaser 6115MFP is a $799 desktop MFP that brings advanced features and high-quality color to small businesses. It prints up to 5 ppm color and 20 ppm monochrome and offers 2400 dpi print quality.
• The Xerox Phaser 6180 color laser printer starts at $499 and runs at speeds up to 20 color pages per minute and 26 ppm in black and white. With Xerox's Emulsion Aggregation High Gloss toner, it delivers vivid 600x600x4 dpi color output, continuous tones, and Pantone-certified accurate colors.

Other products include the Xerox FaxCentre 2121 and FaxCentre 2218 designed for small to medium-sized businesses and workgroups with mid- to high-volume faxing needs. They are priced at $999 and $1,799, respectively.

SMB solutions and services

Xerox also launched several new and enhanced office assessment services, software tools and pricing programs for distribution partners and SMB customers.

The company enhanced its Xerox Office Productivity Advisor tool and developed a streamlined version called QuickXOPA. These Web-based tools help partners provide customized recommendations to reduce costs based on printing patterns.

Two complementary assessment tools from software provider Print Audit are available to Xerox agents. Print Audit's Rapid Assessment Key enables agents to simply connect a USB key to a PC and gather meter reads from all networked printing devices at a customer location. The second tool, Print Audit Assessor, is software that tracks a customer's print environment, including who is printing, what kind of documents are printed, and how much is printed.

Xerox is also making its PagePack cost-per-page pricing program available to sales agents. This tool allows partners to offer flexible, affordable monthly service and supplies contracts based on how many pages their customers print.