Xerox to Buy Creo Servers for Five Years

Xerox has agreed to purchase Creo Spire color servers for five years, and resell them with current and future high-end Xerox digital printer lines. The partnership will result in "significant" additional sales for Creo, and extends the life span of the Spire server product, according to Creo officials.

The plan assures Xerox customers ongoing support for Creo's Spire server products. It calls for Creo's Spire servers to be integrated with Xerox's DocuColor 2000 digital printer line and DocuColor iGen3 digital production press. The companies have also agreed to jointly develop solutions to streamline the production cycle for digital on-demand printing.

The deal builds on previous agreements Creo signed with Xerox since 2000. But "this deal takes us much further," says Rochelle Van Halm, media relations director for Creo, in Burnaby, British Columbia. "It gives us the security and support we need to continue Spire development."

The arrangement guarantees demand for Creo's Spire product, while Xerox customers gain ready access to production speeds of up to 100 pages per minute.

"The [Creo] Spire color server helps us deliver a great deal of value to our customers in the graphic arts industry," says Anthony Federico, senior vice president of development for Xerox Document Systems and Solutions Group, in Rochester, N.Y. "It will help with our customer's production workflow."

Xerox customers agree. "The high print quality and speed [of the iGen3] lets us deliver the look and feel of offset, but with far greater print volume," says Ken Chaletzky, president of Copy General, in Sterling, Va.