BTA member Nauticon Office Solutions has announced its acquisition of Annapolis Office Products (AOP), a Millersville, Maryland-based office technology dealership. The addition of AOP's people and customers strengthens Nauticon, already one of the largest independently owned Toshiba and Xerox dealers in the mid-Atlantic.

Established in 1994 and owned by brothers Bob and Jim Schalge, AOP distributes and services Xerox office equipment.

"Our strategy is to partner with people and organizations that share our ServiceFirst ethos," said Carter Hertzberg, president, Nauticon. "Customer service must be the top priority for Nauticon to have an interest in acquiring. It was clear from the start that the Schalge brothers and AOP provided outstanding customer support and built a solid reputation for taking great care of their customers. Nauticon plans to build on this foundation and bring an ever-higher level of customer support and services to the AOP customer base."

"The choice to join Nauticon just made sense for our company," said Bob Schalge, co-founder and president, AOP. "We had maxed out our growth with our current structure and we wanted to provide more opportunity for our customers and our team members to succeed. Nauticon brings growth opportunities to our team and additional services and support for our customers. We could not be happier with this decision."