Friday, July 7, 2006
Xerox To Buy XMPie
Update 10.3.2006 It's True. See current coverage.
Israeli business daily the Globes is reporting that Xerox to buy Israeli start-up XMPie for $40-50m:
Digital printer giant Xerox Inc. is making its first investment in Israel. Sources inform 'Globes' that that Xerox is about to acquire Israeli start-up XMPie Ltd. for $40-50 million. XMPie develops solutions for customizing digital printing and electronic media.
Currently Xerox and XMPie enjoy a strong partnership with XMPie's variable information and web-to-print solutions part of the Xerox FreeFlow Digital Workflow Collection.
If Globes' source is correct, this is big. Not only will it strengthen the integration of Xerox and XMPie's products, but could effectively block XMPie's two other digital press partners HP and Kodak NexPress from selling XMPie's products.
Update from Xerox PR: Xerox considers this a rumor and the corporate policy is not to comment on industry speculation.
Update 2: I received a tip that a Xerox Sales Rep was discussing this acquisition with a customer two weeks ago.
Update 3: I received an email asking if this will stop XMPie from working with other digital printers. As I speculated earlier, this acquisition could effectively stop the partnerships XMPie has with other press manufactures. However, this acquisition cannot stop the XMPie toolset from integrating with other (non-Xerox) digital workflows. XMPie's products support (work with) industry specifications and standards. Any digital front end that supports PPML/VDX will integrate with XMPie's products.
Posted in: Digital Printing
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