Burlington Mass based Nuance, coming off from rumors of being either acquired by or entering an expanded partnership with Apple, has just let the world know it is on its own course. The company has just announced acquiring Equitrac Corporation, a leading provider of intelligent print management and cost recovery software, for $157 million in cash.

Earlier today we announced that Nuance’s voice technology, which powers iOS devices, will be housed in Apple’s massive new data center in North Carolina. We spoke to how the company has far more than just this voice technology, including the products that serve less consumer-facing sectors like healthcare and the auto industry. This particular acquisition focuses on innovation in managed print services.

“Equitrac expands our ability to provide our customers and MFP partners with solutions that deliver even higher levels of cost savings and office productivity,” said Robert Weideman, senior vice president and general manager of the Nuance Document Imaging Division. “Equitrac delivers proven value in healthcare, financial, legal and educational organizations, and provides secure print capabilities to desktop and mobile global office workers. This complements Nuance’s strengths in mobile and office productivity, and aligns well to Nuance’s key verticals, especially healthcare.”

Equitrac, with solutions that have been adopted by more than 25,000 organizations worldwide, will expand Nuance’s document imaging portfolio. In the release the company’s executives actually speak to how Nuance’s strength in speech recognition provides “fertile ground” for more innovations:

“From day one, the combination of Nuance and Equitrac delivers the best of scanning and best of print management to our customers and partners worldwide,” said Michael Rich, president and CEO, Equitrac Corporation. “Even better, Nuance’s leadership in speech recognition, healthcare solutions and intelligent touch-screen interfaces provide a fertile ground for innovations that promise to deliver breakthrough increases in cost savings and office productivity.”

The official acquisition transaction is expected to close late in Q4 of Nuance’s fiscal year, which ends September 30th. According to the company, the acquisition could add between $58 million and $60 million in non-GAAP revenues; $27 million to $29 million in GAAP revenue.

Curious as to exactly how Equitrac will fit into Nuance? The company certainly wants to make sure the investing world knows the value that will be delivered in their press release today. We will have to wait until tomorrow to see how Nuance’s stock price is affected by the acquisition, however, as the press released was issued right when markets close.

Below is the integration plan information provided in the press release:

• Products that Increase Cost Savings and Office Productivity – Nuance eCopy and Equitrac solutions are both integrated with the touch-screens of MFP devices, and are leading solutions for automating and optimizing document processes within organizations of every size. Customers need and want both secure print and scanning solutions; an estimated 25 percent of Nuance eCopy installations already have print management software – many of them from Equitrac. In addition to providing an integrated offering, Nuance will continue to offer eCopy and Equitrac as standalone products that support both print and scan partners, such as NTware, NSi, Omtool, GlobalScan and SafeCom.
• Strengthening of Global OEM Partnerships – Nuance has strong revenue-based channel relationships with Brother, Canon, HP, Kodak, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Visioneer, Xerox and more. Equitrac has strategic ties with HP, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, and Xerox – and expanding relationships with Canon, Fuji-Xerox, Lexmark, Samsung and more. The combination of Nuance and Equitrac will provide the OEM community with the largest and most experienced team dedicated to providing MFP partner sales, professional services, support and customer service worldwide.
• Unmatched Application Connectivity – Nuance and Equitrac are leaders in connecting MFPs to back-end enterprise applications. Nuance eCopy connects to over 200 applications, including content management, database and financial software. Equitrac connects to over 50 cost recovery, auditing and financial systems, expanding Nuance’s capabilities to include support for important enterprise applications such as SAP and others.
• Expanded Solutions for Key Verticals – Equitrac has significant penetration in healthcare, finance, legal, government and educational vertical markets, providing a strong complement to Nuance’s strong position in finance, legal, education, government and especially healthcare, where Nuance solutions are used in over 4,000 hospitals and by over 100,000 care providers.