Electronics for Imaging (EFI) has entered into an agreement with Xerox to buy the digital printing solutions company's FreeFlow Print Server (FFPS) digital front end (DFE) business.
Under the terms of the deal, EFI will continue to produce and support FFPS so current Xerox digital production users do not experience interruptions in sales or service, says Xerox.
The deal will allow Xerox to better compete in an increasingly competitive market, it notes, adding EFI will purchase Xerox's FreeFlow Print Server DFE business, gaining important intellectual property.
Users will benefit from EFI sales and technical field resources working side by side with their Xerox sales representatives to offer a best-in-class solution, says Xerox.
For both companies, the synergies created by this arrangement will lead to a market-leading offering; a competitive advantage in what is becoming an increasingly competitive space and opens up the possibility for future strategic partnerships, it adds.
"Customers will gain a powerful solution with more efficiencies, performance and quality to meet the most demanding production requirements," said Andrew Copley, president, Graphic Communications Solutions at Xerox. "EFI is an industry leader and has a proven track record with performance, ease of use and seamless integration with industry workflow solutions."
For customers, combining Xerox's FFPS with EFI's expertise brings to market a powerful solution allowing printers to gain more efficiencies and unparalleled performance.
"This next step in our strategic alliance will give customers the industry's highest performing DFE with unparalleled imaging and colour management," said Guy Gecht, CEO of EFI. "EFI integration among the DFE, workflow software, and management information systems products deliver the higher levels of automation and productivity that are key to print businesses taking full advantage of the opportunities with digital printing."
Xerox says the agreement is for FFPS only and does not impact the Xerox workflow solutions that carry a FreeFlow sub-brand name - FreeFlow Core, FreeFlow VI Suite, FreeFlow Makeready and FreeFlow Digital Publisher. The workflow solutions will remain independent key planks for Xerox customers' workflow strategy, it adds.
Share