The Green Sheet 022

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Full coverage o! the Document anagement industry, in ail its forms.

INCORPORATING THE MICROGRAPHICS MARKET PLACE AND THE MICROGRAPHICS NEWSLETTER

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Advance G ro u p ......................................... 4 DSS U K ...................................................... 2 e-Image Data ..........................................15 Film Scan Technologies ......................... 7 GG B a k e r ....................................................2

jeaturing

Microfilm Scanning pages 3 -15

Global Marketplace .............................. 23 I M R U K .................................................... 19 K o d a k ...................................................... 24 Lason ....................................................... 11 MicroVue P rodu cts ................................. 22 n e x tS c a n ................................................. 14 Solar Microfilm Equipment ................. 18 The Microfilm Shop . ............................ 20 TM S Seq u oia ............................................ 15 Trans Media Technology .......................22 Upton S e r v ic e s ................................

V e rsa lm a g e ................................

Virtual Image Technology . . . .

Wicks & Wilson . . .

Visit The Green Sheet W eh Site at: www.green-sheet.net

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The ABC’s of HYBRID Imaging... /Automatic (unattended) and manual scanning of PAPER and MICROFILM into the same IMAGING application!

Replace your Microfilm CAR Software with VersalMAGE and keep your current Micrographics equipment!

Create New Imaging applications for scanned documents or existing microfilm applications in minutes!

VersalMAGE drives paper scanners, film scanners and all

N ationw ide field service provider and supplier o f D ocum ent M anagem ent Solutions

microfilm readers and most cameras!

VersalMAGE uses the powerful Microsoft Access and Sequel Database Search Engines!

Evolved from 3M and Imation...............

I est Cost/Performance for Hybrid Imaging Software!

• Hardware

Index from Microfilm cameras, Readers, Digital Images or Paper with the same Imaging Software! Fast, high speed indexing can be achieved from reading Bar-Codes, full page OCR text and key field matching with VersalMAGE’s powerful data Import and Lookup/Append feature!

VersalMAGE imports/exports ASCII, CVS data and Tiff Image Files for low cost indexing! Build CD’s with VersalMAGE’s CD pre-mastering module! (New: PDF file output!) Distribute VersaView-GOLD software to remote users with full text OCR search capability!

ombine Microfilm Retrievals and Digital Image Retrievals in the same Document Management Software!

Store a “free” scan every time you Print, Fax or e-mail directly from Microfilm!

VersalMAGE stores these “free” scans in its Image Database eliminating 2nd film look-ups!

VersalMAGE combines “Old” and “New” technologies in ONE low cost scanning and retrieval system!

VersalMAGE-GOLD allows full text search with ‘Fuzzy Text Search” filter!

VersalMAGE ™ Software Corporation

5424 E. Grand River Ave., Suite 106, Howell, Michigan, USA 48843 Tel: 517-545-2700 Fax: 517-545-2712 web: www.versaimage.comwww.versasoftware.com e-mail: abrunner@versasoftware.com Cell: 517-285-8200

- Large format scanners and plotters - Aperture card scanners and plotters

• Supplies - Aperture cards, camera cards, plotter cards, duplicards - Chemicals for 3M cameras and microfilm plotters - Toner for 3M reader printers

• Services - Scanning of drawings and cards - Plotting of 35mm aperture cards - Service and maintenance of all 3M micrographics equipment

• Software - Document Management Software

Web: Email: Phone:

www.dss-uk.co.uk' info@dss-uk.co.uk 0 1 3 4 4 -3 5 0 5 2 7

This magazine is copyright of the publisher - Micrographics Marketing Ltd, Burbage LE10 2BA UK Tel: 024 7638 2328 Fax: 024 7638 2319 Email: gsinfo@green-sheet.net

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Than ks for m a k i n g it a H a p p y 3 0 th Birthday

By Ian McMinn, Sales and Marketing Director, Wicks and Wilson

As we celebrate our 30th birthday in November this year everyone at Wicks and Wilson would like to say, through the pages of The Green Sheet, a big “THANK YOU” to all our thousands of customers around the world for choosing Wicks and Wilson microfdm scanning and plotting products.

1 Wicks and Wilson have worked hard and have been extremely fortunate to attract some of the most professional dealers, VAR’s and OEM partners, all of whom have a wealth of experience in various microfilm technologies, to resell our products.

The best resellers demand the best products to sell, and that is exactly what Wicks and Wilson manufacture - 1st class Microfilm Scanning Products.

Here are a few examples of how our products are earning their keep: • AMI - The Advance Group, one of the UK’s largest users of Wicks and Wilson Scanstations convert over 20 million documents a month for over 1000 clients.

Reliable, productive Microfilm Scanners make this possible.

• The Diplomatic Records Office of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has scanned millions of records containing photo images from roll film for website access - high quality and accuracy throughput were requirements for the project.

• Bell Helicopter in the USA scanned more than 500,000 aperture cards and completed the project with two weeks to spare despite being told it could not be done. Ease of use and high scanning speeds were the answer.

• The Government of Hong Kong Immigration Department purchased 12 Roll Film Scanners for the conversion of 30,000 rolls of microfilm to digital at 500dpi, data for finger prints and identity photographs. Automation, speed and superb quality secured this contract.

• The Office of the Register of Deeds, Guilford County, USA # converted a backlog of land records at over 2,000 16 and 35mm images a day. User friendly software, reliability and quality made it possible to use existing staff saving several hundred thousand dollars.

• Micromedia, a major UK data conversion service provider scanned 250 microfiche jackets each day for a • local authority, capturing millions of images for subsequent checking and indexing. The Wicks and Wilson Microfiche Scanner enables a reliable, efficient and flexible approach to large scanning projects.

Wicks and Wilson are proud to have so many satisfied customers in almost every comer of the world, and by making Wicks and Wilson Microfilm Scanners their 1st choice they are, I am sure, all secure in the knowledge that no one ■ understands more about the microfilm business and the ability to manufacture QUALITY, PRODUCTION Microfilm Scanners that probably exceed performance expectations.

Website: www.wwl.co.uk or contact: Ian McMinn Sales and Marketing Director - +44 (0)1256 842211

Card

SC A N STATION Wicks and Wilson Microfilm ScanStations deliver:Maximum productivity Superior image quality Fully featured software 600dpi resolution Affordable prices

'Excellence by design' Wicks and Wilson W icks and Wilson-Limited, Morse Road, Basingstoke Hampshire, RG22 6PQ, United Kingdom Telephone: + 4 4 (0)1256 842211 Fax: +4 4 (0)1256 840997 Email: sales@wwl.co.uk Web:www.wwl.co.uk

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M icro film Scan n in g By David Aspinall, Datum Solutions Limited

As a young lad I was convinced that fashion was just some sort of affliction inherited by the opposite sex.

However, as I’ve got older (much older) I’ve realised that, not only was this view terribly sexist, but also very wrong.

First of all I noticed through my teenage years a change from drain pipe trousers to flares. Then it was small collars to monsters you could use as aeroplane wings.

F a s h i o n , FC C LV or So let’s step back a little and ask what has changed in our use of information over the years and related changes in business requirements. I’ll start by stepping back rather a long way: I suppose the first purposefully human generated records we can find are cave drawings. There are a number of possible reasons for their creation, including posterity and a good way of whiling away a long winter night. Many of the records from ancient times are related to burial sites. The reasons again include posterity and the egotism of absolute rulers, but we also see the records of those who built those edifices and, of course, records of their associated religious beliefs.

But all was not lost - I joined the computer industry and that must be logical mustn’t it! Alas, I was wrong again. I have learnt and forgotten more programming languages than I care to think about and have gained a set of skills which are totally useless (how to create 80 column punch cards using a hand punch, how to edit paper tape etc.). But you would be right to argue that these changes were One of the reasons for the strong tradition of records keeping caused more by technological change and improvement in the “colonies” of the old British Empire is said to be rather than fashion. associated with the detailed record keeping traditions of the British navy. In fact, since the industrial revolution, most One area that is more fashion than fact is the development records (in terms of volume rather than any intrinsic value) of numerous three letter acronyms to describe the were associated with business transactions. handling of information - EDM, ERM, ECM, BPM, ERP, KM (Yes, just two letters), IMS and combinations of these The obvious reason for keeping such records was fiscal to name just a few (see the postscript if you are governance but, as governments wished to extract taxes, interested). If you are talking IMS or EDM then, sorry, they became mandatory rather than just prudent practice. you’re old hat: you should be talking ECM or KM. In addition to these, of course, we have supplier’s marketing In the twentieth century, we have seen a growing staff trying to differentiate products by mixing and requirement to keep records for other purposes. Records of matching the latest terms into new variants. major engineering works (buildings, railways, ships and aeroplanes) were kept for obvious reasons. There has been a long tradition of record keeping in the sciences but, with the advent of new drugs and associated testing, associated regulatory record keeping regimes were introduced.

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MANAGING BRITAIN'S MICROFILM LEGACY

AMI The Advance Group Tel: 01902 459907 E-mail: docman@ami.co.uk www.ami.co.uk

And so to microfilm. Practical microfilm applications were first demonstrated in the 1850’s: its use during the Siege of Paris in 1870 is well recorded but it was George McCarthy, a New York banker, who issued a patent in 1925 for his Checkograph machine that started this information management revolution. His invention was purchased by Eastman Kodak in 1928.

Which brings us to the present day. The use of microfilm as a storage media for business continued to grow until the 1990’s. However, the decay in microfilm use actually started in the mid 1980’s with the development of Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems in manufacturing. The CAD process was considerably easier than using traditional draughtsmen and designs could very easily be modified. Aperture cards were still being produced, but the writing was on the wall with the introduction of the first complete range of aperture card scanners and plotters produced by Wicks and Wilson.

Tony Wicks, one of the original founders, is famously quoted as saying “I want Wicks and Wilson to put the lights out on microfilm”. As the market for such scanners has matured, Wicks and Wilson diversified into commercial 16/35mm roll film and microfiche scanners, as well as developing their imaging technology for use in 3-D image capture for a variety of other markets such as body scanning for the garment market and health clubs. Ian McMinn, Sales and Marketing Director, pointed out that 90°/o of their scanners

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This approach is not true of all organisations and, in fact Paul Sparkes, Director of The Advance Group said “2003 are exported. About 60°/o are roll film scanners and 30°/o has seen the optimum of back file conversions”. Paul’s fiche. The far east is emerging as a major market for such comments raise other options for companies - why tool up for a back file conversion in-house? It’s surely more products. cost effective to outsource such activities.

It’s easy to see the benefit of handling drawings within a CAD system. One problem of capturing 35mm drawings However, scan-on-demand is a from film is that the resultant image is a bit map which is valid in-house approach to difficult to modify rather than a vector image where each utilising microfilm records. line is identified separately. Aperture cards were still Depending on the volume, produced for distribution, but these have been superseded there are a number of systems available, from manually

by CD copies in many applications. operated single frame scanners As the price and power of computer hardware has dropped, to medium speed scanners and software sophistication improved, the use of computers with automated feeds and/or for handling documentation has increased. With the platens and, at the top of the introduction of work flow techniques, business processes range, high speed roll and/or have been developed, and delays and errors considerably microfiche scanners such as the Wicks and Wilson system reduced. This process continues today. illustrated, which is capable of capturing up to 180 But what, in a word, has changed to require people to scan frames per minute. older records? I would suggest that word is ACCOUNTABILITY - but not just in a fiscal sense. It’s about The Advance Group is just one of a number of reputable not just “doing things right” but also “doing the right companies who are holding significant microfilm libraries thing”. Being able to prove an action has been carried out for customers and providing a scan-on-demand service.

They currently hold 2.7 billion frames in storage. Not by due process and with due care. only does such an approach provide additional off-site For many reasons including Freedom of Information, Data security, but in many cases a complete web based view Protection, Declaration of Human Rights, Sarbanes-Oxley and retrieve function is offered. in the USA, Model Requirements for Records Management of European Union (effective 2001) and various other acts In conclusion, microfilm scanning continues to be a affecting health, financial services records, privacy and growing market. Bureaux have seen significant growth in general corporate governance, organisations need to know this area over the last few years. The manufacturing cycle what records they hold and, in many cases, produce those is a little longer term. During the recent recession, organisations have been reluctant to invest, but this does records in a timely manner as and when required. appear to be changing.

The greatest advantage of scanning microfilm records is that they can be introduced in to a workflow environment Regardless, my advice to any organisation holding associated with appropriate document and records information long term, either directly or through a third management functionality to meet a request for party, is to make sure you have a good exit strategy when information. A workflow process will ensure the the existing equipment reaches the end of it’s natural life. appropriate actions are taken in the right timescale and the Good migration tools will be needed to extract images information is disseminated as needed with minimal risk. and their associated index information from the current system. This will then provide more options for the next Organisations most effected are those who, for one reason generation. They may even consider computer output to or another, need to hold information for a long time such microfilm as an option! as life insurance, pensions companies, banks, building David Aspinall, societies and health related organisations. Libraries and Datum Solutions Limited, Datum House, 4 Priory Close, engineering companies are also prime examples. Many Fleet, Hampshire, have extensive microfilm records. A number of these Tel: 01252 612805,GU51 4ED, organisations have utilised CAR (Computer Aided Retrieval E-mail: daspinall@datum-solutions.co.uk devices) in the past but find information dissemination and, in particular, the updating of jacketed microfiche Postscript libraries, too labour intensive.

Acronyms: EDM - Electronic Document Management, ERM - Electronic Records Management, ECM - Electronic Some organisations have so many records (for example Content Management, BPR - Business Process Standard Life who featured in the August Green Sheet) that Management, ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning, KM back scanning into a new system is simply not practicable. Knowledge Management and IMS - Information Standard Life’s 15 million jacketed microfiche would take Management Systems. in the order of 71 continuous machine years operation to

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Fact?

complete! Such companies operate on a scan-on-demand basis so that when older information becomes active it can be introduced to the new electronic system on a same-day basis.

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Unlocking the Value in Archives

By John Williams - CEO The National Archivist

Over the years most organisations have delivery is a different story. Microfilms of old documents put their archives onto microfilm. Often invariably have to be scanned in greyscale to capture all the locked away, these are invariably difficult to access, retrieve detail, in what are often faded or faint documents with the and use. Many of these records, if made available online, have most amazing handwriting. But there’s a penalty for this. The intrinsic value and can be sold. resultant image size uncompressed can be as big as 10MB! The National Archivist service is to unlock the value of these Whether the images are to be sold online or to be used just for archives for publishers and other organisations and make internal purposes across the Internet, image size becomes them easily accessible over the net. important. This is not only from storage considerations but also in terms of a reasonable speed of delivery to the user.

Checklist for putting archives on line Our solution was to integrate the DjVu image viewer ★ Film quality - the better quality the film the better the technology LizardTech into the web site. This reduces online image. Many archives filmed before the advent of significantlyfrom the size of images and provides good navigation modern microfilming techniques are of poor quality. If it tools around the downloaded All that the user has is of poor quality, then it may be better to re-film or use to do is install a simple plug-indocument. and they are up and running. indirect scanning of the original. The image quality can be enhanced but this adds to the cost.

DjVu gives about the best compression for bitonal, greyscale or colour images today. It makes delivery across the Internet ★ Provide as much information about the archives which will help your supplier to create good descriptions for the of images, from small to large, both swift and efficient.

However, getting the right balance between image quality and web site indexes. ★ Copyright - ensure you own the rights to publish on line. file size is technically challenging. We have developed conversion programmes and some smart techniques to get the The Technology behind the Delivery best results out of it. The rewards are that a 30MB colour file can be delivered in under 200K! Putting images online successfully requires a lot of effort and pre-planning.

But the getting it into the right format for online delivery is The first element is obtaining a good only half the story. The right images have to be easily quality image scan from the microfilm. retrieved. That means creating an effective index, which in The better the original to start with, the turn means having a dedicated and experienced team of more effective the end result. With indexers. This indexing also has to go hand-in-hand with the archives that may encompass hundreds design and programming of the web site and has to be well of microfilms, scanning volume constructed and implemented. throughput can be important. To put the Finally, if the online images are for sale then the payment and images online we split the production reporting systems must be both scaleable and robust. scanning, image enhancement /conversion and indexing.

The National Archivist web site www.nationalarchivist.com Image Preparation To scan the images we use the Sunrise Scanners provided by ★ Provides archives Film Scan Technology. We looked at a number of scanning online systems and in our experience Sunrise offer the best ★ Operates on a pay per combination of scan quality, throughput and support. It view basis enables us to process archives quickly and efficiently. ★ Users purchase 30 credits for £6 For enhancement of the image we use Book Restorer. This provides a high degree of control over the image enhancement ★ Different archives cost different credits processes that can be applied to either an individual or entire batch of images using scripts. To get the best out of the ★ Images can be viewed, software requires a skilled operator to set up the appropriate saved, printed from 1 parameters. Fortunately the entire process can be made credit upwards automatic with the scanned images from the Sunrise scanner ★ Variety of ways of searching; database, browseable being picked up from a ‘watch’ directory and immediately ★ User can view again the images they have purchased processed. with no additional charge ★ Comprehensive auditing, reporting and web site statistics Getting Images Online Once the images have been scanned there are lots that can be Realising the Value in Archives done with them. Database publishing techniques enable Getting images online, whether for resale or archive retrieval databases of images to be published in a variety of formats; purposes, does require knowledge and expertise. online, CD, and even facsimiles books. You should scan and image process once and then adapt the processing techniques If you'd like to unlock the value in your microfilm or image archives, either through The National Archivist or your own for the resultant deliveiy format required.

Of course for delivery onto CD’s conversion where the issue of web site, contact John Williams on 01753 655446. Email: bandwidth is not important, pdf is an ideal solution. Online john.williams@nationalarchivist.com

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microfilm relevant in a digital world

There are lots of ways to get the job done and lots of The four leading manufacturers of high volume production products and approaches that will do it. scanners are Mekel Technology, nextScan, SunRise Imaging and Wicks and Wilson.

What do the US budget deficit and the number of microfilm images that exist in US corporate, organisational and On-demand reader-digitisers government record files have in common? They’re both Simply stated, on-demand microfilm scanners are readernumbers with 13 digits (trillions!). And they are both growing, digitisers with built-in viewing screens. They’re slower and not though the microfilm image number is at a decreasing rate as rugged as production systems, but they don’t have to be. while the US budget is at an accelerating one.

“On-demand” usage is their domain; they’re not created for voluminous backfile conversions. Often they are also set up to The film base number, based on extrapolations of reputable produce printouts as well as to scan film images. Typically, studies done in the late 1990s, is well over a trillion. That prices for such units run from under $3,000 into the lower five includes the volume of business documents only, not what’s in figure range. libraries or existing archives.

A sub-category of these are add-on units, such as those from Considering that local government entities - state and ScreenScan, which attach to a reader screen, digitise the screen municipal rather than federal - are the largest microfilm-using image and then transfer it to electronic memory. Another is a segment, the number could easily be in the multi trillions. The scanner kit, from S-T Imaging, that transforms a library reader 3,800 counties and the agencies within them are almost all into a conversion unit. producers of microfilm images, since they all deal with records and files that must be preserved and kept long term. Examples A step up from standalone reader-digitisers are scanning units are birth and death records, building permits, and also directly linked to a PC, such as the Kodak i7300 (replacement educational, legislative, medical, court, police and educational for the Intelligent Microimage Scanner) and the Fuji M Drive. records.

Another type of conversion unit is the hybrid filmer/digitiser Thus, even in the digital age, microfilming for long-term that produces both film and digital output from original storage remains a big business. documents that are simultaneously filmed and scanned. Typical are Canon’s DR 5060F, a digital scanner with a built-in But while microfilm is a great long-term storage medium, not microfilm back-up system, Kodak’s Electronic Microimager subject to the quick technological obsolescence that marks and Zeutschel’s Omnia OK 3000 hybrid scanner/filmer. The digital systems, even its advocates acknowledge it isn’t as hybrids range in price from the mid- five figures up to suitable for immediate access and distribution. So what many $100,000. organisations have logically done is combine the two media and technology to create comprehensive information storage Manufacturers of reader-digitisers include Agfa, Alos, Canon, systems that meet both needs - digital for immediate and Eastman Kodak, e-image data, EyeCom, Fuji, Minolta, S-T widespread access, and microfilm for long-term preservation Imaging, ScreenScan and Zeutschel. and storage. That’s where film conversion systems, creating digital images from stored microfilm images, come in.

Special niche units Aperture card scanning is low end in terms of volume The conversion is done via microfilm scanners (i.e. film compared to rollfilm and microfiche. Still, all four production digitisers). These fall into two major categories: high speed volume manufacturers offer units designed for, or that production volume units and lower speed on-demand hybrid accommodate, aperture card scanning. In this area, Wicks and reader-digitisers.

Wilson offers the most specialised units.

High speed production volume systems The high speed production units are built to produce huge volumes of work and, if necessary, to be used around the clock.

As a result they’re most typically found at service firms or at in-house installations, government or private, that have very large backfiles. Some of the government installations are based not so much on volume as on security needs. There are, for example, situations where the information is classified and can only be scanned by employees with appropriate security clearance. Prices for such production volume scanners range from somewhat under $50,000 to well into the six figure range.

Exact prices depend on unit capabilities, hardware/software configuration, options and accessories and custom modifications. While speed is a major factor in production systems, that term defines more than raw (quoted) speed of the scanner. It means the productive throughput of quality images.

A number of on-demand reader-digitisers accept aperture cards by using special carriers that may be built into the system or added as options.

With one notable exception, all of the production scanners and on-demand units can be defined as “pure” film scanners. The exception is EyeCom’s ImageMouse, a “frame grabber” in which a small CCD camera substitutes for the traditional film scanner.

However, to the end user it’s a film digitiser.

What you can get There follows a brief summary of currently available film conversion systems - production microfilm scanners, readerdigitisers and specialty units - with their basic features. Web sites are listed for readers seeking detailed information or contacts.

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Production Volume Units Mekel Technology, now a division of Crowley Micrographics, which built and marketed its first high speed film scanner in 1987, this month introduced a fifth generation roll film scanner, the M625. It is a successor to the M525, incorporating that unit’s features, with improved scan speed and image quality. The M625 is said to be able to scan at a rated speed of 120 images per minute at 200 dpi from 16mm film. To improve scan speeds, all image enhancement takes place at the board level and not in software. Mekel says it is introducing a “no rescan scanning” concept in all of its models. The company says it is advancing its reputation of offering “very user friendly” software by allowing more time to be spent on scanning the images “rather than trying to figure out the software”.

The CS line of aperture card Scanstations consists of the CS 300, CS 500 and CS 750 models.

The numbers indicate their rated speeds at 200 dpi bitonal. The CS 750 also has optional grayscale.

The new FS 200 is Wicks’ microfiche Scanstation. It has improved Scanfiche software and can scan up to 100 images per minute for 24x output of A4 documents at 200 dpi on standard 105mm x 148mm fiche. It can accommodate all The new M625 will start shipping in November and Mekel is also usual row/column formats below 50x ratio. offering an upgrade package to users who currently have and www.wwl.co.uk or www.lason.com are using its M525 scanners.

DSS UK Limited have partnered with Wicks ft Wilson Limited The company also touts its M565 fiche/jacket scanner as the to offer their new CS300, CS500 and CS750 Aperture Card only currently available auto-load fiche scanner.

Scanstations. www.mekel.com The latest range of microfilm Scanstations incorporate many advanced and productive features such as SMARTCODE, nextScan offers the Eclipse and Phoenix rollfilm scanners. The SMARTSCAN, AGI Greyscale and OCR naming.

Eclipse, introduced earlier this year at the AIIM conference, is a www.dss-uk.co.uk 300 ppm scanner. It can create grayscale and bitonal images at the same time, without a reduction of output speed. To minimise On-Demand Reader-Digitisers network and other potential bottlenecks, the scanner’s speed is Agfa in Europe offers its SC51 hybrid scanner-camera with a optimised with nextScan’s Adaptive Speed Control. The Eclipse rated scanning speed of up to 320 Din A4 ppm. Scanning uses a fibre optic light source, pre-scan film cleaning, auto-focus resolution is 200 dpi. The hybrid unit offers microfilming, and high-speed rewind. Set up is done with nextScan’s Fusion scanning or both at the same time since it combines an SC51 software. scanner head and a CD51 microfilm camera. It can scan documents in simplex or duplex mode for digital image The 220 ppm Phoenix is designed as an upgrade for older processing and do simultaneous filming onto 16mm roll film.

SunRise 16mm and 35mm cameras. It fits within the housing of www.agfa.co.uk these scanners and adds a new camera and camera array, one board architecture and nextScan’s Fusion software.

KAB Scanning Resources, the US importer of Agfa hardware, www.nextscan.com currently only distributes the ADMIS 61, a bitonal document scanner. It said it is considering importing and distributing SunRise Imaging is a division of the ADMIS SR24 and SR30 microfilm scanners as well as the Printrak International, in turn a unit of Imagedesk II fiche scanner. Any interested US parties can contact KAB and the units could be brought in on special Motorola. SunRise’s most current model is the 2000+. It has a modular 3order. in-1 design that enables it to use Fax: 770-953-8399 different modules for roll film, microfiche and aperture card scanning.

ALOS this year introduced its first digital film scanner, the The roll film module accepts 16mm and ALOS Z-Scan 45 for low- to mid-volume film applications. It 35mm in all standard and most non­ is a desktop scanning system for both positive and negative film. Document management software included with the unit standard formats. The microfiche module takes standard size fiche and the aperture card module allows users to view, scan, e-mail, fax, print and network all accepts standard aperture cards. All produce Group 4 TIFF images stored on microfilm, or to send the requested image to images and all work off ScanFlow 2000 software. The three a laser printer. modules can also take optional 8-bit or 4-bit grayscale gamma www.alosusa.com correction. www.sunriseimaging.com Canon’s DR 5060F, as noted above, is a hybrid system, essentially a digital scanner with a built-in microfilm back-up Wicks-and Wilson is the longest standing manufacturer of film system. It can simultaneously record images to a PC and to an conversion equipment, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary archival 16mm microfilm record. A medium speed unit, the of manufacturing microfilm products. It also has the most varied DR 5060F can scan at speeds up to 100 ppm, including line, offering three roll film scanners, three aperture card different sized originals in the same batch. There is a choice scanners and one fiche scanner. The current offerings include of 24X or 57X reduction on the 16mm microfilming output. the RS roll film line of Scanstations, employing 16mm and/or www.usa.canon.com or www.canon-europe.com 35mm film. The RS 100, RS 150 and RS 200 have bitonal speeds of 65, 120 and 180 ppm, respectively, for 16mm film scanned at Eastman Kodak at both the CeBIT and AIIM International 200 dpi. The RS 150 and RS 200 have optional 256 advanced shows this year introduced the i7300 which is the replacement for the Intelligent Microimage Scanner (IMS). The i7300 is grayscale imaging. faster than the IMS at approximately 25 images per minute

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60-200 dpi with output to most standard digital formats.

Software for the current versions of the system is compatible with the latest computer operating systems and allows images to be saved to file, printed on a laser printer, e-mailed, faxed or published to the web. Film images are viewed on the computer monitor of the system to which the M Drive is linked.

Kodak is also offering a software module that will allow for a www.fujifilm.com seamless bridge between a paper scanner, the i7300, and Kodak’s Archive Writer. In addition to the Kodak software Minolta’s MS6000 and MS7000 Digital Microfilm Scanners module there are other compatible ones from software retain those names at least through March 31, 2004, even providers Captiva and Kofax, amongst others, that do a similar though the merger of Konica and Minolta has created a new entity, Konica Minolta Business Solutions. Both the MS6000 and job.

MS7000 can be configured as digital reader-printers and www.kodak.com/go/docimaging connected to a PC so the user can switch back and forth e-imageData, which introduced its low cost Microfilm between direct printing and scanning to a PC. The units can ScanPro scanner at the AIIM show, has now added the accept all microfilm formats, depending on the carrier used and ScanPro 35 to the line. The original ScanPro comes with a can output to most digital formats. MicroDAX 5.0 software combination 16/3 5mm roll film carrier as well as a non­ allows users to locate, scan and distribute or batch images from rotation lens, document management software and a cable to two-level blipped film through the Minolta Automated Retrieval connect the unit to a PC. Optional combination carriers for the System (MARS). The software, developed by Versalmage, supports the most current Windows operating systems.

ScanPro are available for fiche and aperture cards. www.minoltausa.com The new ScanPro 35 is billed as an “affordable” engineering aperture card scanner as well as 35mm roll film microfilm ScreenScan remains the leader of retrofit digitising systems. It scanner in low- to medium-volume applications. The unit offers three basic models of its system. Model 100 attaches combines original Microfilm ScanPro technology with Auto directly to a reader or RP screen and allows the image to be Image Assembler software. This is said to make it possible to digitised and sent to a cable-connected PC. The PC Model, a scan images that are larger than the viewing screen in multiple letter-size PC-based system, is a step up from Model 100. The A3 scans and then have them automatically assembled into a Model is an 11” x 17” (A3) PC-based version that fits to a variety single image that can be viewed, printed, e-mailed, and stored. of ll”xl7” (A3) RPs and allows their large format images to be Any image on 35mm roll film or aperture cards can be converted into electronic images. ScreenScan can also retrofit scanned. The ScanPro 35 comes with a combination aperture the PC Model to opaque readers, so users can make prints from card/fiche carrier; a roll film carrier is available as an option. microcards that otherwise would be obsolete. This feature was created for libraries with microcard collections.

The company’s ScanPro scanner-to-PC model is now labelled www.screenscan.com the ScanPro 100. The ScanPro Direct digital reader printer is S-T Imaging fills a special niche with its Flip-Top Library Film now the ScanPro 200. They are joined by the ScanPro 35.

Scanner Upgrade Kit. The upgrade allows projected images from www. infographix. com many library readers to be scanned directly to a PC with output EyeCOM has two entries in TIFF, JPEG and PNG file formats. In operation, the viewing in the reader-digitiser screen/scanner lid is pulled down and a user scrolls through film market. One is the as usual. When an image to be scanned is found, the user flips ImageMouse. It is a the top up to reveal an 11” x 17” (A3) scanner. A mouse click “frame grabber” rather scans and places the image directly into the PC. Scan modes are than a film scanner 48-bit colour and 16-bit grayscale. because a small CCD www.stimaging.com camera substitutes for the traditional film Zeutschel this year unveiled the Omniscan 1000 16/35mm scanning unit. Originally designed for scanning microfiche, it microfilm scanner. There are three versions: the MS production is now offered in three basic configurations, the ImageMouse model, the SP scan-to-print and scan-to-file on-demand model, Fiche, ImageMouse Tablet and ImageMouse Plus. All allow and the OS colour microfilm model. The MS and SP are both users to digitise film images in conjunction with a desktop PC. 256 grayscale and black and white models; the OS has 36-bit The original fiche unit accepts fiche, jackets and aperture cards colour. The line comes with impressive quoted speeds: 160 that were filmed with 42/48X or 24/28X reduction ratios. The images per minute for 16mm film at 200 dpi and 60 images per Tablet is a lightweight, portable unit for field use. It links to a minute for 35mm film at 300 dpi. Maximum scan resolution is PC and allows a user to access film images on the road. The 400 dpi. Features of the line include automatic image detection ImageMouse Plus includes a motorised Combo-Carrier that and image splitting, auto scanning, and automatic film stop at accommodates microfiche, 16mm and 35mm open reel film end. Image output is to all standard formats. The line accommodates Windows and Linux operating systems. microfilm or aperture cards. and operates more quietly than the IMS. This relatively fast on-demand 16mm film scanner offers the option of being able to use Powerfilm software as well as IMS-designed software.

With its introduction, list price was lowered so the i7300 is available at a lower price than its predecessor IMS.

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Zeutschel’s older OMNIA OK 3000 is a hybrid colour camera system that allows microfilming of documents onto 16/3 5mm roll film and simultaneous digital scanning at rates up to 800 dpi. The hybrid unit also can be used as just a scanner or microfilmer. www.zeutschel.de Fuji’s established M Drive microfilm scanner takes 16mm www.crowleymicrographics.com (US and Canada) input (ANSI or 3M cartridges) and scans at variable rates from www.best-tec.ltd.uk EyeCOM also offers the DRS 3000 Workstation. It is a highresolution digital retrieval system that works on the same basic technology and captures all microfilm formats from 7X to 48X. www.eyecom.com

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Outsourcing Film Conversion provides the expertise required for Success!

Converting micrographic media is not as simple as just scanning the media and walking away!

by Ken Kopald - Sr. VP, Sales and Marketing, Virtual Image Technology Inc.

In real estate the key to success is Location! Location!

Location! In film conversion it’s Expertise! Expertise!, Expertise! And a big part of that relates to understanding the micrographic media prior to scanning it for conversion to digital format. Surveying the various batches of film before going ahead can make or break any back-log conversion.

In that vital sampling/inspection of the media, it is important to understand the following: ★ Density ★ Character Definition ★ Microscopic Spots- Redox or Vinegar Syndrome ★ Brittleness ★ Image Marks-Blips or proper image separation ★ Duplex or Standard images All these items can vary from batch to batch. It is crucial to establish inspection procedures covering these areas prior to scanning. Digital images are no good to anyone if you can not

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read the content. Doing that allows you to understand what type of exception scanning will be required during the project.

The image clean-up and enhancement can prolong a project by weeks or months depending on the volume. Typically l°/o to 2°/o of the total volume is considered exception processing.

Exceptions can add considerable expense to the overall project if they are not caught early and a plan is put into place to correct the poor quality images.

Eliminating the pain Outsourcing to a service bureau eliminates the pain associated with inspecting, scanning, exception scanning and indexing.

Additionally, catching problems early with historical micrographic media and providing proactive resolutions to the issues will enable a user organisation to minimise turnaround time, costs and bad image quality.

Another bonus to outsourcing is the outside supplier’s ability to offer services in-house operations are not able to provide.

An example is correcting film with brown-toning to eliminate future Redox issues. Another is duplicating acetate-based film onto a polyester media to extend the life of the record beyond 100 years by eliminating the vinegar syndrome.

No more density problems A good example of providing micrographic expertise prior to scanning the film was a job VIT did for the Haywood County (NC) Register of Deeds. Pre-screening revealed that the major problem with the film was Density. The density was far apart within the same rolls of film. In addition, original and diazo film were spliced together.

In order to correctly scan the film and produce optimal image quality, the entire library of film first had to be duplicated so that densities could be corrected and the splices become a non-factor. Without duplicating the film, the conversion process would have produced poor image quality and an unhappy customer.

As a result of applying years of experience and expertise, the result was the opposite - excellent image quality and a very happy customer. And a demonstration that experience and expertise pay off.

Ken Kopald is Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Virtual Image Technology Inc.(VIT), a 28-year old US service bureau specialising in high volume conversion services, archiving and Web ASP services.

Ken may be reached at kkopald@vimagetechcom.

The company’s web site is www.vimagetech.com

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CASE STUDY

80 million pages scanned from Microfiche The Problem The client was a major bank with over 120 branches in Ireland. They needed to search for historic accounts data, which was held on over 300,000 microfiche, representing over 80 million individual pages of data, spanning 20 years.

The existing system was extremely time consuming and inefficient, requiring a large number of microfiche filing cabinets, microfiche viewers and printers, and employing manual searching of individual microfiche, before finally producing a hard copy when, or if, the correct page was found.

To replace this system, the client desired to simply enter any known data such as account number, date, amount etc, and to locate the correct page from their own desktop PC’s. This would completely replace the existing system, and enable any authorised personnel to access the data directly.

The Solution The IMS solution was to scan each microfiche, and to create high quality images of each page of accounts data. Prior to choosing scanners for this highly complex project, IMS carried out extensive research and, as a result, chose SunRise scanners which they subsequently sourced from FilmScan Technologies Ltd. Seven scanners were used 24 hours per day, seven days per week, and the microfiche were scanned within a 40-week period. In order to maximise output, IMS calibrated the SunRise scanners to scan entire blocks of each microfiche, with each block containing up to 18 separate pages. These blocks were then automatically cropped using Crop-Ix software which IMS developed especially for the project, and which can crop 18 images in less than a second.

The scanned and cropped images were then put through highly sophisticated Expervision OCR software, which interpreted and recognised eveiy character or number on the page, and converted it into text, which it associated with the original scanned image. Finally, the scanned images and the associated text were written to PowerRetrieve software, which was installed on a dedicated server, and which allowed instant searching and retrieval of any record, using standard desktop PC’s.

The Process Flowchart E N S U R IN G T H A T B A T C H E S A R E IN B R A N C H CO D E O RD ER

S C A N N IN G & C R O P P IN G OF IM A G E S

allowing users to search and retrieve documents on any information held within the documents contents. Power Retrieve will overcome OCR (Optical Character Recognition) errors, mis-spelt words or inaccurate search queries.

Once the documents have been found, you can save them, print them, fax them, or email them. Power Retrieve provides a simple to use Windows interface that will enable users to find the information they are looking for quickly. Power Retrieve enables you to search across all scanned records, and perform content and/or index field label searches, and, it’s simple to use.

Features: ★ Search using a combination of Fuzzy, Concept and Boolean technologies. ★ Documents may be printed, faxed or emailed.

The Result The system completely replaced all of the archival microfiche. Using normal desktop PC’s, the client was able to locate any required financial record in a fraction of the time it would have otherwise taken. This speeded up their searching significantly, and the project also resulted in the ability to produce an archival copy statement without having to revert to any microfiche.

Contact: bdoyle@imsirl.ie Weblinks: www.imsirl.ie (The overall solution provider) www.fstl.co.uk (The SunRise scanner vendor used by IMS) www.expervision.com (The OCR software used by IMS) www.infocap.co.uk (The retrieval software provided by IMS)

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The.Retrieval Software Power Retrieve is a Windows based file management and knowledge retrieval solution, and uses standard PC technology. Power Retrieve will store scanned microfiche or paper based documents, convert the scanned image’s into computer readable text files (ASCII) and automatically index every character within the content of the document, thus

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Mortgage Companies have faster access to Land Title Records Thanks to Zenodata and nextScan’s Eclipse!

Colorado-based Zenodata Corporation is a fast growing, high tech database company providing solutions to the financial services and real estate industries, including next-generation automated solutions that are revolutionising the mortgage industry. Zenodata’s existing customers include some of the largest financial institutions in the country.

In order to build their large databases of land title records, Zenodata scans 60,000 microfilm images per day from both 16 mm and 35mm film. Until recently, the only technology available to Zenodata for scanning these images was older, slower rollfilm scanners, which produced minimal image quality at best.

This lack of image quality from the older scanners effectively disabled many of the automated processes within Zenodata’s workflow process.

“After scanning our microfilm images, we run the scans through Eclipse “.....the best scanner available” OCR in order to extract information automatically from the documents. With our older scanners, OCR did not work well and the data contained in the scans had to be entered manually. This necessarily made our process much more time consuming and costly,” said David Williard, Scanning Department Manager at Zenodata.

“Fortunately, our ability to automate data extraction from scanned images has improved markedly since we purchased the Eclipse rollfilm scanner from nextScan. The vastly improved image quality and faster scan rates on the Eclipse are saving us both time and money. To optimise our scans for

OCR purposes, we are scanning at 300 DPI. Eligher DPI settings have traditionally slowed scanners down to impractical speeds. Our older scanners could handle only 33 images per minute at this DPI setting, but the Eclipse is more than tripling the former scanner’s speed. We will cost justify the purchase of the scanner in a year, based on speed alone.

If we then take into consideration the superior image quality produced by the Eclipse, we will have a 180-day ROI. We are going to purchase another Eclipse in the next year. These scanners are the best available, hands down.”

One of the most beneficial improvements in Zenodata’s scanning process is due to the Fusion software that comes with the Eclipse scanner, enabling ease of use in setup and scan controls. “The beauty of the Fusion software is that it has a lot of features that we previously did not have. To be able to see the adjustments we make to an image on the fly is truly one of the best features, not to mention the simplicity of the setup interface. Our old scanner software was not nearly as intuitive. All the scanner controls were very limited, the image size setup was awkward - the Eclipse software and functionality is so much better, it is like night and day,” said David.

Zenodata purchased and has been getting support for the Eclipse through Ilmage Retrieval, nextScan’s US reseller.

Ilmage Retrieval can offer a special service with the Eclipse called “Virtual Tech”. This service allows the support team to be more available, prompt and personal to the customer by removing the travel aspect of on site support. The support team can attach and work with the scanner operator from virtually anywhere on the globe via the internet. The support staff at Ilmage Retrieval is able to view the remote users desktop, including the nextScan Fusion scanner software, enabling them to walk the user through setup, scan and software upgrades. Working with this method gives the customer a blanket of security and added confidence in using the scanner, providing a powerful tool to nextScan customers, including Zenodata.

Said David, “The training we received with the purchase of our Eclipse was invaluable.

The service and support team at IIRI has addressed all of our needs and continues to do so.

We feel like we have a partner in IIRI. I look forward to having another Eclipse in house very soon!”

For additional information on nextScan scanners visit www.nextscan.com or call Erin Dempsey at (910) 864-2044.

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I Image Retrieval UK appointed exclusive nextScan reseller for UK & Ireland nextScan, a provider of the next generation in film scanning technology, has announced that Ilmage Retrieval UK Ltd. has been added as their exclusive reseller for the UK and Ireland. Ilmage Retrieval UK will also have non-exclusive rights to sell and support customers in the rest of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Under the agreement, Ilmage Retrieval UK, an industry leader in providing software and services to convert microfilm, will be selling and supporting the complete line of nextScan products, including the 220 ppm Phoenix and 300 ppm Eclipse film scanners.

“This partnership made a lot of sense. Our sister company in Texas, Ilmage Retrieval, is the exclusive reseller for nextScan products in the US. They are experienced in supporting these scanners and have been involved in the development and sales process from the start. Because of this relationship, we will offer our customers the same superior scanners coupled with the best after sale support,” said Kevin Jenkins, Managing Director of Ilmage Retrieval UK Ltd. “We are very excited to be representing nextScan in Europe.”

Said Steven Butterfield, President and CEO of nextScan, “This agreement with Ilmage Retrieval UK further shows our commitment to providing the best possible film

scanning technology to our customers, not just in North America, but throughout the world. With their extensive knowledge of conversion services, current scanning technologies and software development we are confident that Ilmage Retrieval UK is the best company in the UK to represent nextScan and its products.”

Ilmage Retrieval UK Ltd. will be selling, installing and supporting the full line of nextScan products including the Phoenix, a 220 ppm product designed to fit within the housing of older, unsupported SunRise scanners, and the higher performance Eclipse rollfilm scanner.

The Eclipse was designed for the most challenging of conversion projects, scanning at 300 pages per minute, 16 and 35mm. Both products scan grayscale and bitonal images without a reduction in output speed and have Adaptive Speed Control, auto thresholding and the latest in high performance camera technology.

Contact: Kevin Jenkins, Ilmage Retrieval UK Ltd, Wandle House, Riverside Drive, Mitcham, Surrey CR4 4BU United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 8251 2000 Fax: +44 (0)20 8251 2001 Email: kevinj@iiri.co.uk

Microfilm ScanPro 200 Digital Reader Printer

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If you have large volumes of microfilm or microfiche to process, getting a clean, straight, cropped image can really put a drag on your throughput. Enter Prizm® Gray - an application designed to enhance large volumes of continuous tone (grayscale and color) images. Not only does it crop, deskew, reduce noise, threshold, rotate and resize - Prizm Gray uses confidence values to catch exception images and send them to an image correction station for automated operator exception handling. We think you'll agree that confidence values and TMSSequoia technology combine to give you imaging confidence.

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We always have in stock a selection of second user PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT, EVERY PIECE OF WHICH HAS BEEN “PROPERLY” RECONDITIONED.

I ncluding :GAF 1635 HSD Non Vent..............................................£ 7000.00 XIDEX 1635 RRD Non Vent......................................... £ 4250.00 GAF 1635 HSD/Vent as new £ 9,500.00

Canon 780...............................................................................£ 1500.00 Kodak Rotaline (immaculate)........................................£ 2250.00 B ell & H owell F/Ml from......................................... £650.00 Bell & H owell F/M3 from ...................................... £1750.00 R eal RB20 (latest spec ).......................................... £4250.00 R eal RB70 (latest spec).......................................... £2250.00 F uji AP5 processor ................................................... £3250.00 P hotoclark HE610 D ensitometer as new............... £ p.o.a.

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14 MARINE DRIVE OGMORE BY SEA, VALE OF GLAMORGAN CF32 0PJ, UNITED KINGDOM TEL: +44 (0)1656-881071 FAX: +44 (0)1656-881072 Web Address: ivww.uptonserrices.com Email: sales@uptonservices.com

Upton acquires Visitek Well, what can I say! Since relocating to South Wales business has just been on the up and up. It must be all that fresh sea air!

As I write Bob is in the US finalising the shipment of Visitek’s equipment to the UK. All Visitek machines (you may know them as Microbra) already enjoy a worldwide market. The Upton aim is to open up the European market during this coming year by obtaining CE marking. So watch this space!

They have had several enquiries from government departments who are keen to use the Visitek range of duplicators and developers (subject to CE marking). They are incredibly reliable machines and now that they have the manufacturing rights it seems that it is only a matter of time before Upton Services expands the European market. Bob Yewman would like to thank Warren and Marilyn Bastian in the US for all their support during the transfer. He wishes them a very happy retirement and promises not to bother them too much during the coming months.

Upton Services (Micrographics) Ltd will be updating their website to include the Visitek range but currently the web address is w w w .visitekusa.com .

Meanwhile, however, it is “business as usual” and they say that they will endeavour to continue to do their best to meet your requirements.

Contact: Bob Yewman, Upton Services (Micrographics) Ltd., 14 Marine Dr, Ogmore by Sea, Vale of Glamorgan CF32 OPJ U.K. Tel: +44 (0)1656 881071 Fax: +44 (0)1656 881072 Email: sales@uptonservices.com EFI to acquire nR Systems Electronics For Imaging (EFI) has announced it has signed an agreement to acquire nR Systems, Inc., a leader in developing innovative solutions for the management and production of digital documents. It is expected that nR Systems’ shareholders would receive, in exchange for their shares of common stock at the closing of the transaction, approximately $21 million in cash or $1.57 per share, subject to certain adjustments. All of nR Systems’ directors and officers and certain of their respective affiliates have entered into a Shareholder Support Agreement pursuant to which they have agreed to vote their shares in favour of the transaction. “nR Systems’ products are a very good fit with EFl’s portfolio,” said EFI CEO Guy Gecht. “By expanding our workflow offerings, we will offer our worldwide customers a greater range of productivity tools to enhance their operational efficiency and profitability”.

It is now OFFICIAL - Microfilm Id S tS 500 years! By Why? Because Kodak now state this information as a fact in their advertisements. It is human eye readable for 500 years. On the back page of this publication, April - July 2003.

1 am a believer in microfilm and I support microfilm as the medium for longevity or, as the official wording states “LE-100”. Where is the proof and where is the honesty that we, as an industry or profession, should be adding to any claim of this type in regard to the LE-500 for micrographic material?

Where are the ‘see clause below’s. “If stored at less than 10 degrees Celsius, at a relative humidity of 30-40% pus or minus 10%, not to be exposed to ultraviolet light, to be brought up to room temperature e.g. at 20 degrees Celsius at no more that 1 degree per hour and the same in the reverse cycle going back to the 10 degree Celsius storage room and similar criteria for relative humidity.”

I attended the Australian Records Management Conference held in Melbourne in September 2003 and I overheard a conversation by some Micrographic Industry personnel talking about the LE of microfilm at 1000 years, which was to appear in a publication shortly. Where is the proof of these lofty figures? Will Kodak be held legally responsible for their 2003 advertisement in several hundred years, or sooner when the microfilm is unreadable by the human eye?

An interesting thought.

Polyester may be a stable medium, but expose it to the lovely Australian summer sun on your vehicle dashboard for several or more days and see how valid the 500 years longevity LE stands the test for brittleness and yellowing.

The Gelatin binder that keeps our microfilm images attached to the polyester film is unstable and has a much variant expansion and contraction characteristic to that of the polyester base which is inherently stable in these characteristics. If one wishes to grow fungi cultures in a controlled environment the best substance to grow them in is gelatin (produced from animal hooves and skin). This doesn’t sound like the stuff to hang your hat on for that LE -500 years for longevity.

What am I trying to say?

In my opinion, honesty is always the best policy and if we have the proof that Microfilm, suitably processed and tested after processing to some criteria will last X hundreds of years in certain conditions we should honour that proof and publish the ability and the limitations of this wonderful, stable, long lasting LE?? Media can do and not get carried away with the hype which will, I am certain, impact on our Industry or Profession’s credibility over time.

Is there an alternative to microfilm? - Probably yes!

The Rosetta disk is being used by several parties for long term preservation of information which challenges microfilm. Is it eye readable? And the answer is no! But the process has other strengths in LE at the 1,000 years some would like to believe that microfilm can deliver. A bit smaller than microfilm at 2 inches in diameter and based on a page size of 8.5” x 11”, you may store about 196,000 pages with electron microscope retrieval and between 5,000 - 18,000 pages with optical microscope retrieval. Physically durable with its magnetic immunity, a life expectancy of at least 1,000 years and a temperature threshold of 500° C, nickel is the HD-Rosetta material of choice. The nickel holds etched images clear, while resisting all of the trials that time and the elements can deliver.

Quoted form the Norsam WWW site.

Is this a product to remove microfilm from it place of eminence as the leader of miniaturisation of images and longevity of media? I think not, but it may be another product for us, as information and records management specialists, to take under our wing as an additional bureau service IF, and a big IF, the Rosetta disk ever reaches the mainstream of commercial reality. This product has been around for a number of years and was shown at the AIIM USA shows some years ago in the early 1990’s.

Have a look at the Norsam www site located at http://www.norsam.com/hdrosetta.htm for further information.

Fiche

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Going for G r o w t h

The 1st annual conference of IMR UK__________________ Due to a change of policy by IMR, Inc. the US developer of the famous ‘Alchemy’ suite of software products - an exclusive UK Alchemy distributor was required.

In the past the distribution had been shared by MBS and CC Data with IMR, Inc. supplying some customers direct. This is currently in a state of flux but, as from the start of 2004 at the latest, MBS Ltd., trading as IMR UK, will be the exclusive UK and Ireland distributor of all IMR, Inc. document management software products.

Announced originally in July this year, it was as a follow-up to that announcement and the launch of the new Alchemy Release 7.4 that the conference at the Holiday Inn, Coventry, was arranged.

The Master of Ceremonies for the event was Paul Smith, Sales and Marketing Director of IMR UK. After welcoming the delegates, Paul introduced the rest of the IMR UK management team, including Gary Mardlin (Managing Director) and Douglas Harding Technical Director).

Paul then went on to introduce the first speaker, Steven Grandchamp, the CEO and President of IMR, Inc., which is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Steve spoke extremely well, outlining current market trends, predicting future trends and explaining where he saw the future growth and the market positioning of the IMR range of software.

He pointed out that the biggest stumbling block to securing an order was not the commercial competition, but the constraints of the customers’ budgets. He did observe, however, that the increasing number of regulations concerning the management of information, both in analogue and digital form, will alter the mental approach taken by organisations. The priority of records management will change from “would like it” to “MUST have it”.

One new product that he seemed excited about is Alchemy RecordCare software. Aimed initially at the Healthcare market,

RecordCare assists in the management of all documents and records from whatever type of system they are sourced. It makes the need for physical storage space a thing of the past and, according to IMR, it can be up and running within days.

Following Steve to the rostrum was Gabriel Weitzner, who is the Vice President, International for IMR, Inc. He was equally optimistic about the potential growth of the IMR business, worldwide. International sales already represent 40°/o of total IMR revenues.

Both he and Steve before him stressed the benefits that Alchemy UK customers would receive due to the closer partnership with MBS and the formation of IMR UK. He also touched on the new 7.4 Release of Alchemy and the several, optional Alchemy Extensions.

Finally it was the turn of the IMR ‘techie’, Juan Nietch, officially designated ‘Technical Support, IMR International’. Although Juan came over as a very nice guy and cleverly managed to inject quite a bit of humour into what was a very technical subject, I must confess that most of the technicalities of the Alchemy software went way over my head; I am, after all, only a humble editor from a microfilm background.

However, he certainly made it sound as though Alchemy could be the solution to most Records Managers’ problems, particularly with the addition of some or all of the available extensions which include Scan, Web, DataGrabber, Audit Logging, Document Routing, Role Based Access Control and Database Encryption. I will leave it for another time to delve more deeply into what the various extensions are capable of or, perhaps, wait until Juan has time to write it up for me.

At the conclusion of the formalities we, the delegates, were invited to partake of a pleasant huffet lunch and then the afternoon was to be dedicated to one-on-one demonstrations for potential customers, at which stage I discreetly withdrew.

Anyway, to sum up, we had a very interesting introduction to IMR UK which demonstrates a refreshingly buoyant outlook on the future - hence their conference title “Going for Growth”.

Contact: Paul Smith, Sales ft Marketing Director, IMR UK, IMR House, Church St, Gamlingay, Sandy, Beds. SG19 3JH Tel: 01767 651004 Fax: 01767 650656 Email: paul@imruk.co.uk Web: www.imruk.co.uk

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G E N U S OPEN DAYS OPEN DAYS OPEN DAYS As was reported in last month’s issue of they set up The Microfilm Factory to manufacture their own The Green Sheet, “Genus” is the new microfilm jackets, leaders and trails. They own their own name for the group that encompasses moulds for producing plastic cartridges, boxes and spools.

The Microfilm Shop and OITUK. These Still on the microfilm front Real Duplicators was purchased, ‘Open Days’, which were held at the as was JRK imaginGraphics, Graphic Press (for specialist Hinckley Golf Club on Tuesday 7th and printing) and, more recently, Silver Lining to secure chemical Genus' Helen Perry registered Wednesday 8th October, were designed the delegates to explain the future plans, to promote supplies. new products and partnerships and to launch Genus to both Now, stepping into the digital arena, they have acquired OIT trade and end users.

UK and with it the exclusive UK distribution rights of the award winning DocFinity EDM software.

Vijay Magon, Technical Director of OIT UK then gave a presentation aimed at educating the delegates about the advantages of DocFinity in all sectors but with particular emphasis on Companies represented on the day were Wicks Et Wilson, SMA, Finance, Government and Health.

Canon and Kodak, all of whom are working closely with Peter de la Rosa of Micro Business Genus.

Systems, Gibraltar presented his IMIS The first presentation was by Managing Director Paul Negus software, suitable for the smaller user. who went through the history of The Microfilm Shop and the Available through Genus. acquisitions made on the way to where they are today.

I attended on the Wednesday and, as Neil Hedges, Godiva Imaging, Most of those acquisitions were planned to strengthen their well as being informative the day also Visitorchatting with MD Paul Negus position in the micrographics market place and to ensure a turned into quite a social event. reliable supply, particularly of consumables, independent of outside sources which can be fickle. Initially, several years ago, For more information visit www.genusit.com Incorporating: THE

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PAGE 2 0

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DATA H A R M O N Y

Data Harmony

Software awarded GSA Contract.

Access Innovations, Inc., a leading U.S. provider of customised database, information handling tools and technologies, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, announced recently that their Data Harmony software suite is now listed on the United States General Services Administration (GSA) schedule.

•As organisations and enterprises struggle to manage their information, taxonomies and other tools have become a critical part of their information strategies. Data Harmony has been developing taxonomies for 26 years, and has now made their tested taxonomy and thesaurus management software available.

“Over the years in working with US government clients, who have always had interest in more efficient handling of large scale document collections, we have consistently heard that being on the GSA schedule makes it much easier to take advantage of our services. Being on the GSA schedule enables Access Innovations to work with our government clients in a more effective and timely manner. It is easier and faster for government clients to purchase off the GSA,” said Marjorie Hlava, President.

“I am very proud to announce that the Data Harmony software for taxonomy development, thesaurus maintenance, automated indexing and filtering, and a DBMS for producing structured content stored in native XML is now available on the GSA Schedule,” said Jay Ven Eman, CEO. “For producing meta-data rich information databases, our enterprise solutions help staff be considerably more productive, eliminate editorial drift in indexing, and improve overall quality. The government is rich in information resources and has on-going needs to capture, organise and disseminate that information under an ever increasing time crunch. The public demands reliable and precise access to government data.

Data Harmony software enables the process as no other software suite can.”

The Data Harmony software suite has been developed for rapid deployment and high value production in fast moving content environments. Access Innovations has released its Data Harmony software based on frequent customer requests.

Developed for broad compatibility with client systems, Data Harmony is compliant with current, and soon to emerge, ANSI/NISO and ISO standards. “We have been handling other people’s data for 25 years. It has become increasingly obvious that the software we use to provide a competitive advantage in productivity, accuracy and other quality measures is in demand. After four of our customers had it successfully installed at their sites, we decided to release the software as the Data Harmony line,” commented Maijorie M.K. Hlava, President.

The GSA award is to Access Innovations for its Data Harmony software line and supporting services. Access’s GSA Schedule Contract Number is GS-35F-0820N. Contact: Access Innovations, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Tel: 505-998-0800

Email: mhlava@accessinn.com

Wicks and Wilson Microfilm ScanStations deliver:High Speed 16 and 35mm bitonal and greyscale scanning 600dpi resolution Powerful software Exceptional image quality 1000ft spool option Affordable prices

'Excellence by design' Wicks and Wilson W icks and W ilson Limited, Morse Road, Basingstoke Hampshire, RG22 6PQ, United Kingdom Telephone: +4 4 (0)1256 842211 Fax: + 4 4 (0)1256 840997 Email: sales@wwl.co.uk Web:www. wwl.co.uk

READERS

READERS

READERS

READERS

Dear Editor, In your feature article on Nationwide, Bob Stubbs refers to 1.5 million mortgages held on paper files. I hope that when planning this department he remembers the catastrophe of a similar organisation, Bradford ft Bingley Building Society, who lost tens of thousands of customer deeds and legal documents destroyed by fire, due to the method of storage and a 10 year old arsonist with a box of matches. I agree with David Aspinall that a hybrid system should be used with microfilm for security as well as convenience.

I am interested to note that support for long term storage of data on microfilm is still favoured by most of your contributors. I am concerned, however, by the absence of any reference to the archival testing of film, especially as the new hybrid system microfilms are frequently sent out for processing by sub-contractors.

Any quantity of films sent out for processing by an outside contractor, should be returned after processing, accompanied (in the UK) by a certificate indicating that an independent methylene blue test to British Standards has been carried out on the batch of film processed. This should indicate the results and confirmation of their archival quality. No film can be claimed archival unless certified testing has been carried out to British Standards.

Don Abbott, Managing Director, Dass Laboratories Ltd., P.O.Box 852, Birmingham, B5 4DU, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)121 550 3518

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