Noosh president and chief executive Mike Gardner said the deal had been signed after a year of negotiations, and that Heidelberg had made the initial approach.

Heidelberg spokesman Matthias Hartung said that the deal would cover Germany, but if Prinect Systemhaus chose to expand its offering worldwide the Noosh partnership could follow suit.

Heidelberg shelved its previous e-services offering, HeiPort, due to a lack of demand.

One of the first Heidelberg customers to implement the Noosh service is BookworXs, a subsidiary of Stuttgart-based book publisher Georg von Holtzbrinck.