ANNECY, France -- ALCATEL Micro Machining Systems, a French leading supplier of deep plasma etching equipment for MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) applications, is pleased to announce that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with CANON SALES, a subsidiary of Japan’s CANON Inc., the world's leading Digital Imaging Company.Under the terms of the agreement, CANON Sales becomes the exclusive distributor of ALCATEL’s deep plasma etching equipment in Japan. CANON Sales is the domestic marketer of all CANON Inc. Products. Its Industrial Equipment Division is involved in sales and servicing of CANON’s Semiconductor Equipment, Equipment for LCD Displays as well as various measuring tools."The CANON Sales and ALCATEL partnership goes back over 20 years. We are therefore extremely pleased to have been appointed distributor of ALCATEL’s micromachining product line in Japan, said Hiroshi Shibuya, Managing Director of Canon Sales. “CANON Sales has identified the MEMS market as a very interesting future area of growth. We have high expectations to our new co-operation, and believe that ALCATEL's expertise in MEMS gained over the years partnered with CANON Sales' sales and support organisation will bring new and innovative solutions to the Japanese market’, he added.Alcatel SACanon Inc.