Anti-Gray Market Alliance Announces New Members, Launches New Web Site and Consumer Tip Line; Alliance Helps Stop Counterfeiting and the Gray Market.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SANTA CLARA Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2002 The Anti-Gray Market Alliance (AGMA AGMA American Gear Manufacturers Association AGMA American Guild of Musical Artists AGMA Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (UK) AGMA Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement ) today announced three new members, Advanced Fibre Communications(R) (Nasdaq:AFCI AFCI Association of Film Commissioners International AFCI Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter AFCI Advanced Fibre Communications, Inc AFCI Acupuncture Foundation of Canada Institute (Institut de la Fondation d'Acupuncture du Canada) ), Lexmark International, Inc., and Zebra Technologies Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA) is a manufacturer of thermal bar code label and receipt printers, RFID smart label printer/encoders, and card printers, based in Vernon Hills, Illinois. Zebra has products in 100 countries around the world. Corp. (Nasdaq:ZBRA), have joined alliance members 3Com Corp. (Nasdaq:COMS COMS 3Com Corporation (stock symbol) COMS Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist COMS Continuous Opacity Monitoring Systems COMS City of Manchester Stadium (UK) ), Cisco Systems “Cisco” redirects here. For other uses, see Cisco (disambiguation). Cisco System,Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO, HKSE: 4333 ) is an American multinational corporation with 54,000 employees and annual revenue of US $28.48 billion as of 2006. , Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO CSCO Cisco Systems Incorporated (stock symbol) CSCO Chief Supply Chain Officer ), HP (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :HPQ HPQ Hewlett-Packard Corporation (NYSE) HPQ High Priority Queue ), Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT), and Xerox Corp. (NYSE:XRX XRX Xerox Corporation (stock symbol) ) in a global effort to address gray marketing and counterfeit issues in the technology industry. As part of its commitment to protect brand integrity, uphold product quality and ensure the highest levels of customer satisfaction, AGMA also announced it has expanded its original charter of reducing the flow of gray market goods to address counterfeit goods impacting the technology industry. AGMA serves as an umbrella organization, promoting directives and offering member companies programs and tools designed to combat the flow of gray market and counterfeit goods. AGMA is leading the industry's fight to tackle product flows in the global gray market, which is estimated to be approximately $20 billion a year. More information about the alliance's new charter is available at the new AGMA Web site at http://www.antigraymarket.org. The AGMA Web site now features a new Web-based consumer tip line. Consumers and business customers can now quickly report incidences of suspected fraudulent sales, illegal brokering or counterfeit goods. The tip line can be accessed directly at http://www.antigraymarket.org/report. "Customers look to leading technology vendors for assurance about many product attributes, including quality, service, fair price and value," said AGMA Chairman Marie Myers. "Now, they can go to those same trusted sources to report incidences of suspected fraud, gray marketing or counterfeiting. By connecting with the end consumer, producers of the leading IT and other high-tech products continue to assure the highest level of customer satisfaction and preserve the user experience." Gray marketing is the sale of products outside authorized distribution channels. Products sold through unauthorized channels pose potential risks to customers in the form of damaged products, products designed for use in other countries, and could result in warranty and customer support issues. Gray market products threaten to undermine the integrity of legitimate sales channels, disrupt agreements manufacturers make with their distribution partners, and lead to decreased customer satisfaction. About Advanced Fibre Communications Advanced Fibre Communications, Inc. (AFC (1) (Application Foundation Classes) A class library from Microsoft that provides an application framework and graphics, graphical user interface (GUI) and multimedia routines for Java programmers. (R)) is an industry-leading developer and manufacturer of edge access equipment and multiservice broadband solutions for the telecommunications industry. Embraced by more than 800 carriers worldwide, AFC's time-tested, field-proven access solutions support current and emerging next-generation networks, bringing carriers into the broadband era while protecting the substantial investment of their existing network infrastructure. Advanced Fibre Communications, Inc., and AFC are registered trademarks of Advanced Fibre Communications, Inc. Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. For more information, visit www.afc.com. About Zebra Technologies Zebra Technologies (Nasdaq:ZBRA) delivers innovative and reliable on-demand printing solutions to businesses and governments in more than 90 countries around the world. The company, with an installed base of more than two million printers, also offers software, connectivity solutions, and printing supplies. Information about Zebra bar code products can be found at http://www.zebra.com. The company's Web site for thermal printing supplies is http://www.zipzebra.com. About AGMA The Anti-Gray Market Alliance is a group of leading information technology companies committed to assuring their customers greater product satisfaction, to educating the marketplace about the illegal or deceptive diversion of products, and to addressing the unauthorized flow of products to the gray market. AGMA members are: 3Com, Advanced Fibre Communications Inc., Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark International, Inc., Nortel Networks, Xerox Corp., and Zebra Technologies. For more information, visit the AGMA Web site at: http://www.antigraymarket.org. |
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