The Green Sheet 039

- ISSN 1476-3842

AIIM REVIEW FROM PHILADELPHIA ....SEE PAGE 3

Service Providers .... From Page 9

For Case Studies see page 27 - 29

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contents advertisers’ index Altek S y s te m s ........................................ 31 Anacomp

............................................... 31

Automated Resellers Dass Laboratories

............................31

.................................31

Fujitsu E u ro p e ........................................ 23 Genus Group ................................... 15.25 K o d a k.......................................................32 K o fa x .......................................................29 MicroVue

............................................... 31

M S T C .......................................................31 OIT

..........................................................12

Pegasus Im a g in g ................................... 11 Penny Im a g ing ........................................ 21 Solar Imaging ........................................ 13 Upton Services ...................................... 17 Western M icrographics......................... 31 Wicks & W ils o n ........................................ 7

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3

designed to sit separately from the PC in its

per minute, greyscale or bitonal at the same

with microfilm and associated products making something of a comeback. Once again, of course, it was mainly electronic

own box, which is only the size of cigar box. The C-Drive X has USB 2.0 connectivity

output speed. The included Fusion software allows the operator to quickly and easily

and is designed for scan to print simply by

with each software house promising a little

connecting to any windows driver PC. The C-250 is a stand alone batch scanner based on the C-Drive technology.

move from one scanning module to another.

The software simplifies set-up, image

AIIM 2006 was quite a good exhibition

more than its rival on the adjacent booth.

Although I don't have any official figures to hand, the attendance seemed slightly down with visitors apparently coming in waves, thus leaving quiet interludes between the "waves".

A contributory factor to the reduction of attendees could be the fact that it was held at the same venue as last year. I mean no disrespect to Philadelphia, but I'm sure many overseas visitors use AIIM as a way of seeing different parts of the USA each year.

I understand that the chosen venue for 2007 is Boston, Massachusetts and that that will be the first time AIIM has been there, for many years at least, and it sounds like a venue that should attract many visitors, although the general trend for trade shows seems to be for dwindling attendances.

There follows a brief summary of what some of the exhibitors had on display.

Inevitably there will be companies who are omitted who feel that they should have been included. To you I apologise, but if you feel that an opportunity for free publicity has been lost, simply send in your own press release and I will try to publish it in a future issue of The Green Sheet.

Wicks and Wilson

Wicks and Wilson had a number of new developments on show, the most obvious of which was the new C series of Aperture Card scanners to accompany the existing CS range. The C range consists of three products using the same, new, low cost, compact microfilm scanning engine - the CDrive, the C-Drive X and the C-250.

The C-Drive had been developed since CeBit so that it is now available for release in the summer. The C-Drive sits inside a PC tower, occupying two 5.25" CD-ROM drive bays, so that you can insert one card at a time (as4f inserting a CD disk to the PC tower) and scan it directly to PC. The C-Drive X is basically the same device as the C-Drive but it has been

This can scan at 250 cards per hour, hence the name, with a 150 card hopper and front

enhances and will optimise scan speed by automatically adjusting for potential network bottlenecks.

feeder. The retail prices are expected to be in a very price competitive position and much lower than the current CS range of out and out production card scanners.

The FS300 Fiche Scanner now has the ability to fully batch scan fiche/jackets in greyscale. Before, the scanning process had to be halted after scanning each fiche for the operator to review and accept the images.

Now, when scanning in greyscale, it can

This scanner is targeted towards the

run in true batch mode by putting the images into the memory and allowing the scanner to carry on scanning whilst the Q A

bureau environment or end users who have multiple microfilm formats to scan and who want to reduce their capital spend by buying

is performed later, thus allowing for quicker overall throughput. Up to 5 fiche can be put

just the one unit.

The new NextStar software was officially launched at AIIM after Beta testing with

into the processing queue.

Previewed at CeBit but officially launched at AIIM was the new Virtual Fiche software which removes the Q A stage away to a different PC, but is still controlled and organised by the scanner PC. Up to 3 or more separate Q A PC's can be connected using the new Virtual Fiche software, thus allowing the scanner to run as fast as possible, whilst having all the Q A matched on the separate PC's.

The high speed RS325 16/35m m roll film scanner has also been improved with a new illuminator to give better light distri­ bution, new electronics to give better greyscale images and some improvements to the operating software in response to specific customer demands. www.wwl.co.uk Nextscan

Nextscan launched two new products at AIIM - the FlexScan 2-in-1 scanner and their new NextStar software.

The FlexScan 2-in-1 scanner can scan 16 and 35mm roll film at up to 220 images per minute and microfiche at up to 125 images

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myfamily.com. It is available as an option on all 3 Nextscan units - the Eclipse, Mercury and FlexScan.

This software uniquely scans the whole 16mm or 35mm roll as just one image and in greyscale, ensuring that nothing is lost from the image. The individual microfilm frames are then broken down, by the software, as part of a separate Q A function on separate PC's using all of the Nextstar image enhancement features. Nextscan claim that this software is particularly effective on poor quality films, plus it allows for maximum throughput on the scanner, as rescans and reloads are eliminated. Set-up is particularly simple to establish with a simple four tab set-up window.

The new FlexScan 2-in-1 scanner and the new Nextstar software compliment the existing range of scanners including the Eclipse 300 and 500 1 6 /3 5 roll film scanners (300ipm and 500ipm respectively) and the low cost Mercury 150ipm roll film scanner. www.nextscan.com

A IIM R E V IE W

Microform

Indus

DR1210C below work group scanner. This is

Microform promoted their high volume document scanners with a head-turning

Indus were not on the main floor but down in hall D by the conference sessions and registration. A t first this seemed as

a 12ppm Full colour scanner with a price tag of sub $500.00. It is only a simplex model but comes with a built-in flatbed and

though they may be stuck in the middle of

35 page ADF. It also features three Scan-toJob buttons to allow the user to Copy, File and E-mail direct from the scanner control pad (via separate PC). The DR-1 210C also

display using a scanner filled with German beer and Stein glasses!

Unfortunately all the beer stayed inside the scanner with no jams!

nowhere, but there seemed to be more traffic in Hall D than on the main floor, so Indus should have had a good show.

Indus is the US and Canadian distributor for the Imageware range of large format book and document scanners, badging the Imageware products under the Indus brand, As such they were showing the normal

has a USB 2.0 interface for plug and play connectivity.

j

5002C and 5002GS Colour and Greyscale A 2 book scanners. However, new for AIIM were the 5005C and 5005GS Colour and Greyscale A1 book scanners, both of which are capable of 400dpi.

They feature precision Rodenstock LINOs scan lenses and have a built-in book cradle to help overcome the unevenness of thick books. They include a mobile light strip with Microform were promoting their existing range of high volume scanners which consists of the S-415 120ppm bitonal (upgradeable to greyscale), S-455 120ppm colour, S-615 160ppm bitonal (upgradeable to greyscale), S-655 160ppm full colour, MFS-61 240ppm bitonal and S41 150ppm

high power white LEDs and feature a telescopic rail system for adjustment of book cradle plates.

The normal full range of Canon document scanners was also on show.

In addition Canon had a "Long term archival with microfilm scanning" section of their booth showing the DR-5060F

bitonal scanners. These scanners feature electronic work surface height adjustment, replaceable feeder, belt-less feeder, ball bearing paper path, up to 2.5mm thick

filmer/scanner and the MS800 film scanner.

document scan, and up to 4m document length scan.

www.usa.canon.com

The product launch for the show was of a new colour dot and colour paper driven software package. This is quite a different approach for a scanner manufacturer and adds some nice features. Basically conven­ tional separator sheets can be replaced with either coloured dots stuck onto the first document or coloured sheets of paper. The software identifies the colour dots, or pages, as coded information to programme the index fields.

The dots in particular can be used to identify things such as simple, duplex, batch start, multi batch start, etc - all the usual types of parameters. The dots can signifi­ cantly reduce the number of separator sheets normally scanned, thus increasing overall throughput on already fast scanners. The dots are electronically removed from the image before being stored and saved .

Fujitsu

The Colour version was on show and gathered a lot of attention with a sale reported on the booth. These units are supplied with BCS-2 software to drive the scanners. This software also has modules that are integrated with ARIEL and ILLIAD document delivery systems.

Both scanners are available with either manual or motorised book cradles.

Indus was also showing the Solar Universal on-demand Microfilm scanner for both fiche and roll film. www.indususa.com

Canon had a very large, busy booth just inside the On Demand section of the exhibition.

photos and colour images to be scanned in colour, whilst scanning colour backgrounds in bitonal to save pre-sorting. Proper and complete Bar code detection can also be enhanced by the colour dot system.

A IIM R E V IE W

Fujitsu had a W innebago as the central part of their booth with a number of scanners dotted around. There were no brand new scanners on show and the recently launched fi-5900C production scanner was the newest unit available. www. fcpa. fujitsu.com Ristech

Ristech are the Canadian distributor for the German DRS Digitiser Fiche Scanner and had the unit on show. This is a relatively new product to the scene, but now boasts a sale at DTIC in Washington DC and an installation in Australia through its Australian distributor DatacomIT -

Canon

The Microform software can also help to auto colour detect, which allows items like

www.microform.de

j

In the document scanner division they were showing one new scanner - the Visit

www.datacomit.com.au This unit scans in greyscale with a new improved speed, for AIIM, of 1.5 seconds per image on average. A very rough guide to throughput time is one fiche every two minutes, but this obviously depends on image quality and required dpi.

It has an auto feeder and the ability to scan unattended for up to 8 hours, making it a low man power scanner. Q A is performed on an external PC to allow for maximum throughput. W ith an 8 million pixel camera • Directory on www.green-sheet.net/directory

scanning positions depending on the nature

head the normally achieved resolution is 250dpi.

colour A 2 book scanner. This was launched at CeBit last year, but the model on show at

www.digitiser.info or www.ristech.ca

AIIM was the fully finished and revamped model. The Copibook is a nicely designed unit with no extra lighting, making it a UV-

separate flatbed unit is available as an option and this remains separate to the main scanner unit to provide more flexibility in

and IR-free scanner. It scans in ambient light conditions, with its software compensating

terms of footprint space.

The il 200 range has all of the above features of the i l 300 range except that they have slower scan speeds of 30ppm in

Bowe Bell + Howell

Bowe Bell + Howell had a good sized booth with a full range of document scanners. New for AIIM was the Truper 3600 which is based on the current (launched at AIIM 2005) Truper 3200 but without the built-in flatbed. As such this is a rotary, small footprint, 62ppm, duplex, full colour scanner with a very good 10,000 per day rated throughput. This is classed as a mid range scanner and has a list price of $6295.00.

for shadows and bright points, producing a true 300dpi resolution. It has a TWAIN interface with full API. Since its launch at CeBit last year i2S report many multi-unit sales in Europe. AIIM 2006 was the first major US launch of the product, with the intention to gather US resellers and partners. The Copibook is reportedly a very high quality scanner with lower retail prices than many of its competitors.

Also on the i2S booth were the Suprascan 6002 and 10000 A1 scanners that come in both colour and greyscale models. i2S also have an A 0 scanner in the Suprascan range. www. i2s-bookscanner. com

i and volume of the scanning batch. A

j j

bitonal and greyscale and 15ppm in colour, The i l 210 is the simplex unit and the il 220 is the duplex unit with very low retail prices in the region of $800 and $1 200 respec­

tively.

The big move with these lower volume | scanners is that they are built and designed

by Kodak, showing a positive move for Kodak.

Also on show on the scanner front was the Scanstation 100, which was launched at CeBit this year. This has grabbed a lot of j attention due to it being a network scanner | with touch screen display. It allows the user to scan to e-mail, folders, to print, to portable USB drives and to searchable PDF.

| There is no need to buy extra software and hardware as it just fits straight into an than in previous years. This was predomi­ existing network infrastructure due to its nantly down to its position just inside the On inbuilt PC. Demand section of the show, thus catering It scans at up to 25ppm in colour, Kodak

Kodak's booth this year was much larger

Also on show were the Sidekick 1200 workgroup and 1400 department scanners with 23ppm ($1195) and 42ppm ($4095) respectively. Both are duplex and full colour scanners with a 4000 daily throughput, but the Sidekick 1400 has an optional imprinter.

The production Bowe Bell+Howell

for the newer print side of its business.

so will cope with most office situations. All images can be seen in colour preview on the integrated screen.

On the microfilm side Kodak showed the

scanners were represented by the newly upgraded Spectrum XF (Extra Fast!) range

i7300 16mm film scanner and the i9620 Archivewriter.

with prices from $20k to $45k. This consists of the XF 8090 90ppm, XF 8120 120ppm

www. kodak, com /go/docim aging

and XF 8140 140ppm (this has recently been upgraded from 125ppm) scanners at 200dpi.

These scanners featured the new Sharpshooter CCD camera which improves image quality and, therefore, ICR and OCR read rates. All Spectrum XF scanners are rated at 60,000 scans per day and can be bought initially with just bitonal, with the option to upgrade to colour later.

All Bowe Bell+Howell scanners come with VRS VirtualReScan for advanced image enhancement. For the Spectrum range VRS is built in, plus there is the option of VRS plus, which features auto colour detect to save on document prep and file size.

Bowe Bell+Howell push the point that their scanners are rotary, as this allows documents to be returned in order after scanning. www.bbhscanners.com i2S

___

The French manufacturer of book and large format scanners had a large booth.

On show was the Copibook greyscale and

greyscale and black and white and is duplex

e-image data

e-image data had one of its BcanPro 500 microfilm scanner models on show. However However, the full range of document scanners was on show, showing Kodak's increased portfolio of scanner products.

the big news from the show was the very exciting and brand new 5canPro 1000 universal microfilm scanner.

There was also a good microfilm presence.

A lot of attention was shown to a brand new scanner for the show, the il 320 low end scanner from the il 300 range. The i l 300 series scanner is a very neat and compact unit and consists of two models the il 310 simplex unit and the il 320 duplex model. Both scan at 60ppm bitonal and greyscale and 30ppm in colour, which is impressive for a scanner of this compact size. These scanners feature "Smart Touch" scanning with 9 different pre-set functions available from one button, including scan to

This is a very compact and well designed unit that uses the very latest digital

PDF, TIFF, JPEG, disk, e-mail, fax and printer.

Searchable PDF output is another interesting

16mm and 35mm roll film all in the one model. It features one 7x - 54x zoom lens to

feature.

The il 300 scanners also have 3 different

cope with all micro formats, it has 360 degree image rotation and a scan speed of

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technologies to scan fiche, aperture cards,

A IIM R E V IE W

sub one second. As on on demand scanner this has been thought through very carefully.

Although not on show Crowley are also responsible for Agfa film distribution in the

For the roll film it can be set up to scan a

US and they have the full range of Extek

whole roll automatically, using edge detection to scan a whole roll in approxi­ mately 100 minutes. This is obviously not in

duplicators and processors, plus their bureau operation.

O f great interest, and launched at AIIM, were some new Mekel film scanner models.

the production scanner arena, but not bad for an on demand scanner, especially at its price of $6500 for the fiche version and $10,000 for the roll film version plus

The new Mach VII fiche/jacket scanner was on show, which can scan at between 125

software.

The ScanPro 1000 will also scan micro

and 150ipm. The Mach VII has a new camera, new optics, new lights and new software to give a much improved image

opaques. It is capable of scanning Jumbo fiche in part, although it is not designed to do that.

quality and throughput.

On the roll film side Mekel have the low price entry model of the Mach III which can

www.e-imagedata.com

scan at 150 to 170ipm and then they have the high speed Mach IV which has a 1000 ft

Fujifilm

Fuji Photo Film USA introduced its digital Document Archive System for the US market.

The recording device, the Fuji AR 1000, and the archive recording media, AM 66, will both be sold and supported directly by Fuji USA. This means that it is currently only available in the US and Japan. It will be sold in the US through a network of resellers and bureaux and supported by Fuji's minilab technicians.

The AR-1000 can record business-sized documents at about 130 pages per minute and features parallel processing of jobs onto two rolls of 16mm film. Index frames are automatically generated at the beginning of a film roll from file names or text file. Large film size documents are matched to the film by reduction, rotation and division of the image. The AR 1000 supports Windows 2000, Professional and Server operating

The user receives an e-mail from the library with a web link. The user clicks on this to get an encrypted and fire-walled peer to peer connection. There is no software to download and no license. The user can then actually control the scanner from their home PC, they can zoom into an image, and they can move the film backwards and forwards and then scan the image they require - all remotely!

At AIIM a client in Chicago was actually controlling the 5T200 scanner to obtain the images they required. This unit will retail for approximately $15,000.

spool attachment as standard and now has integral tacky roll film cleaners to ensure that dust is removed before scanning to optimise scanned image quality. The Mach IV scans at up to 300ipm at 200 dpi which equates to 600ipm with dual output.

All 3 models feature Fastfilm software for image enhancement and scanner control, plus all units are self diagnosing. www.crowleymicrographics.com

RFA, which was introduced at the midwinter American Library Association

Sunrise Imaging

Sunrise launched their brand new 3-in-1 Speedscan and Rapidscan microfilm scanners. Unique in the market, these scanners have 3 carriers that can be quickly and easily changed to allow the one scanner to scan 16/35m m roll film, Fiche/Jackets and Aperture Cards.

Both scanners feature the upgraded

Show, was originally developed to meet the needs of a Singapore library customer who asked ST for a system that would allow the library's patrons to access images remotely, and not have to go into the physical library.

ST has a patent pending on the product and expects approval within 6-8 months.

President Tom Anderson said there are no

systems.

ScanFlo 3000 software which allows for up to 12 bit greyscale scanning. The main

other patents registered or approved in this area and he expects no competition.

Archive Media AM -66 comes in i 6mm x 215' rolls on clear polyester base. The film

difference between the Speedscan and Rapidscan are the better processing power

is designed to allow faithful reproduction of digital information with high resolution, high contrast and sharp image quality. It has

on the Rapidscan, different cameras and that Rowscan software is standard on the

Another feature for the ST200 is the one touch to print ability with the new Scanwrite 4.Ox software with enhanced ST ViewPrint.

Also new at AIIM was the Companion

optimal exposure sensitivity for red LED. Resolving power is 850 lines/mm.

It has the nice feature of being able to write metadata onto the start of the film and between batches. It can also record up to 3 level blip. For larger size engineering type images the AR-1000 can print a low resolution full image onto the 16mm film followed by four high resolution quadrants of the image. This is not a perfect solution for engineering images, but a very good option. www. fujifilmusa. com Crowley Micrographics

Crowley had a wide range of products on show, including the Zeutschel large format document scanners and the Mekel range of production microfilm scanners.

A IIM R E V IE W

Rapidscan unit. Also features such as Image density compensation, Gamma correction and greyscale are now standard as opposed to being optional extras before.

Suggested scan speeds are not mentioned but expect them to be in the Wicks and Wilson, Mekel and Nextscan arena.

Scanner, which is basically an Epson 4990 flatbed scanner which has had the software and fire-wire reworked so that it can scan fiche up to 48x, aperture cards, books, 35mm slides and normal paper documents.

The result is a paper and microfilm scanner in one unit.

For fiche, the whole fiche is viewed as a lower resolution image and then, when the

www. sunriseimaging, com ST-lmaging

user to use the ST200 film scanner in a library, whilst the user sits at home on the internet. A request is sent by e-mail to the

image required is found, a high resolution scan is performed.

Parent company of ST Imaging is Digital Check Corp, which was showing its very popular check scanners which have been sold worldwide in large numbers. There are a number of different check scanners under the TS range.

library to load a particular film on to the ST200 scanner and then authorise remote

www. stimaging. com

access.

www. digitalcheck. com

ST-lmaging proved that they are still innovating in the microfilm scanning market.

They were showing live their new Remote Film Access (RFA) System, which allows a

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Expect a Lot and Get Even

MORE! CS 750 Aperture Card Scanstation U p to 7 5 0 c a rd s p e r h o u r AGI g re y s c a le o u tp u t H ig h p ro d u c tiv ity , 2 4 - 7

RS325 Roll Film Scanstation • •

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FS300 Microfiche Scanstation

U p to 3 2 5 fra m e s p e r m in u te

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Over 1 7 0 fra m e s (C O M fic h e ) p e r m in u te

b ito n a l o u tp u t

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H ig h p ro d u c tiv ity , 2 4 - 7

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S im u lta n e o u s g re ysca le and

7Excellence by design' Wicks and Wilson Wicks and Wilson Limited, Morse Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22 6PQ, United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0)1256 842211 Fax: +44 (0)1256 840997 Email: sales@wwl.co.uk Web:w w w .wwl.co.uk

8

Addendum to the AIIM Review

First scanner company to w in TW O Best of A IIM Show Awards in same year Spectrum XF and new Truper 3 6 0 0 from Bowe Bell+Howell take top prizes at annual ECM exhibition Two Bowe Bell+Howell document scanners, Spectrum XF and the new Truper 3600, won Best of Show Awards at the

W ith the industry's most advanced camera, the SharpShooter TriLinear CCD, and

AIIM 2006 Exhibition in Philadelphia, making Bowe Bell+Howell the only scanner manufacturer ever to win multiple AIIM E-

image enhancement technology, Spectrum XF has a maximum speed of 140 pages

DOC Magazine Best of AIIM Show Awards in a single year.

onboard VirtualReScan (VRS) 4.0 Plus

per minute (ppm) - up to 20 percent faster than other scanners in its class.

excellence and an attention to the needs of organisations (large and small/private and public) across the globe."

"It is a great honour for Bowe Bell +

awards in the same year," said Russell Hunt, president of Bowe Bell+Howell Scanners.

"The AIIM Expo is where all the best companies in the industry come to showcase

of significant ROI (Return on Investment) potential," according to a statement by AIIM, the international authority on Enterprise Content Management (ECM).

their latest technologies. It's a testament to the strength of our full line of products that

Introduced in March 2006, the rotary-

a proven, high-volume scanner platform.

E-DOC Magazine Editor Bryant Duhon said, "These products exhibit technology

Howell Scanners to be the first scanner manufacturer to receive two Best of Show

The annual awards recognise hardware and software technologies exhibited at the AIIM Expo that "demonstrate exceptional capabilities and quality, and show evidence

Spectrum XF was recognised in the 'Production Scanners' category. Available since autumn 2005, Spectrum XF is built on

the winning products. In a statement, AIIM

both our high-volume and our low-volume production scanners were recognised as truly exceptional in their respective

only Truper 3600 won the AIIM E-DOC Magazine Best of AIIM Show Award for the 'Mid-volume Scanners' category. The Truper

categories."

3600 features exceptional speed and a very high duty cycle for a low-volume production scanner.

exhibited and demonstrated the Truper 3200, a flatbed-plus-rotary low-volume production scanner introduced last year, and Sidekick, a powerful, all-in-one-box desktop

Designed for the everyday document imaging needs of businesses in finance, insurance, healthcare, transportation and government, the scanner is compact, powerful and easy to use.

A panel of 22 industry experts selected

In addition to Spectrum XF and the Truper 3600, at AIIM 2006 Bowe Bell+Howell

scanner and past AIIM E-DOC Magazine Best of AIIM Show Award winner.

More information on Bowe Bell+Howell Co. can be found at www.bowebellhowell.com.

Kofax's Document Scan Server wins Best of Show Kofax takes home Best o f Show for second year in a row Kofax proudly announced that the company won the Best of Show award for the second year in a row at this year's AIIM Conference and Exposition. W inning this coveted award is Kofax's new Document Scan Server that allows organisations to add scanning capabilities to any enterprise business application without the need for additional software or disruption of their current business process.

In addition to receiving the prestigious AIIM Expo Best of Show Award, Kofax garnered two Business Solutions' Channel Connection Awards and one finalist nomination in recognition of Kofax's

I

Convention Center. Also at the AIIM show, Kofax received one Integrated Solutions' 111 Award and one finalist nomination on behalf of its customers.

Finally, Kofax was a finalist for the AeA High-Tech Innovation award that recognises outstanding local technology companies and acknowledges individual contributions to the local high-tech business community.

"We have once again raised the bar at this year's AIIM Expo, and it is gratifying to know that the industry has recognised our new Document Scan Server as an innovative product in the market," said Anthony

Certified Solution Providers (CSPs) at the

Macciola, vice president of product management at Kofax. 'The Kofax

AIIM Expo 2006 at the Pennsylvania

Document Scan Server was created to

A IIM A d d e n d u m

address the growing need for organisations to digitally capture documents at the point of entry into their business process. The Best of Show award confirms the product's value proposition and welcomes its introduction into the market."

The Kofax Document Scan Server was launched at AIIM this year and was given this award from AIIM E-DOC Magazine that recognizes Enterprise Content Management (ECM) hardware and software technologies on exhibit at the show that demonstrate exceptional capabilities and quality, apd show evidence of significant Return on Investment (ROI) potential.

For further information visit: www.kofax.com

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*

9

S E R V IC E P R O V ID E R S Despite rumours to the contrary, service providers are still doing very well.

Outsourcing to professionals is regarded by many as the most cost effective w ay to ensure that information is kept secure and accessible.

The state of the document management service provider industry In Autumn 2005, the AIIM conducted an online survey of service providers. It was the third year such a survey was conducted, but for the first two years it focused exclusively on service company executives.

In 2005 the survey was broadened to include VARs, systems integrators and consultants. AIIM says the additions reflect "the convergence we have seen among the multiple channels for delivering document management systems".

The key findings were released at the November 2005 DMSPC forum. Subsequent to the meeting AIIM released, as part of its Industry Watch series, the "2005 State of the Document Management Service Provider

service providers in 25 countries with 182 of the participating companies based in the US and 55 companies outside the US. Respondents were pretty evenly divided among the different kinds of solution providers - 37% characterised themselves as service bureaux, 29% said they were primarily resellers (VARs), 21% claimed to be consultants, and 15% entitled themselves systems integrators. A majority of the respondents were small and medium-sized companies.

Service companies, because they typically deal with less big-ticket hardware items, average more employees but less revenue than resellers. The median revenue figure for

Industry". The overall conclusion of the survey was that there was strong growth during 2005 for document management

resellers was US $5 million with 15 employees while service bureau median numbers were US $2 million and 30

service providers in four specific areas revenue, employee count, customer base, and profitability.

employees.

For 77% of the responding companies, revenues "increased" or "increased signifi­ cantly", making companies even more optimistic for 2006. Nearly 38% expected employee numbers to grow more than 10% this year and the same percentage reported a 10% or more increase in the customer base. In 2005 profit growth within the industry was strong, with over 46% reporting net profit of more than 10%, up from only 34% as recently as 2003, and less than 10% of reporting companies reported losses.

W ho responded, w hat they do

The 2005 survey was completed by

Micrographics still has a role, albeit diminished

Among service companies, scanning services were the biggest offering (85%)

greater emphasis on digital and "state of the art applications" than do service companies and VARs. Conversion services are an important part of the business mix for all the companies. That's no surprise among service bureaux, but conversions also make up a significant source of revenue for VARs. Microfilm is now a relatively small part of the business mix of conversion services offered by most companies but remains most important for service bureaux.

Marketing services

Among all the companies profiled, the top four types of marketing mentioned were: (1) vertical trade shows, (2) telemarketing, (3) web advertising, and (4) print advertising. According to the survey, only vertical events generated any sort of marketing enthusiasm. All the companies recognize their prim ary source of competition is companies similar to

while micrographic services made up one-

themselves. Service bureaux especially view customers who "do it themselves" as an extra challenge.

third of offerings for service companies.

(Numbers exceed 100% since respondents offered multiple services - Ed.) The survey noted that common across all

The complete 32-page "2005 State o f the Document Management Service Provider

types of service providers is a focus on document control, records management and information capture. Service companies

Industry" survey and report, currently the

have a clear emphasis on records management and archiving applications as their top priority while VARs and consultants

authoritative work on the subject, is available for US $195 from AIIM International's bookstore. For information on the survey o r DMSPC, contact Terry Moore, Marketing Strategist, Trade &

put more emphasis on document control applications. Systems integrators place a

AIIM trade members get the report free.

Channel, at tmoore@aiim.org. DMSPC and

Enter DMSPC for all service providers In recognition of the changing service provider scene, AIIM International last year merged its Service Company Executives Forum (SECF), a 30-year old annual meeting and exhibition organiser, with the Film-based Imaging Association (FblA), to create the Document Management Service

Providers Council (DMSPC). The 30th and final SCEF event, held November 10-12 2005 in San Antonio, Texas also became the first DMSPC executive forum. It was highly successful, drawing more than 200

broadened to include, not only service companies, but also resellers, distributors, and integrators - anyone who offers document management services as part of their product line.

attendees and 26 exhibitors.

Membership eligibility in DMSPC was

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Visit www.aiim.org for further information

SE R VIC E P R O V ID E R S

10

SERVICE PROVIDERS Far different today than yesterday - and likely to be even more different tomorrow A view of what's happening on the US scene By Mitch Badler, US editor As time passes faster and faster (for some of us) in the still-new 21 st century, a growing number of things that were once considered immovable staples of the records and document management industry are now changing or disappearing at an everaccelerating pace. One such is the service provider segment that many still think of as "service bureaux".

Originally many of the providers began life in the mid- and later 20th century as microfilm service bureaux. Today there are very few "pure" microfilm bureaux, per se.

The majority of those pioneers that are still around have also branched into the scanning and imaging services. For many,

microfilming services are among the

two divisions are docHarbor Document

solutions. ACS' prime objectives are multi­ year contracts, such as a five-year pact, valued at US $76 million, just signed with

Services, a largely online services provider, and Multi-Vendor Services. Through

NJ Transit, New Jersey's public transport corporation.

Another US-headquartered and Dallasbased international BPO giant is SOURCECORP, which evolved out of imaging and computer services provider F.Y.I. The latter came into existence a dozen years ago by acquiring and starting a series of service bureaux. In 2005 SOURCECORP had revenues of US $415.9 million and net income of US $9.9 million. Most recently it

the latter services provide the majority of business with microfilming now in the

agreed to be acquired by a public investment firm, Apollo Management LP. SOURCECORP focuses its BPO activities

minority. O f course there are always notable exceptions, but fewer and fewer of them.

Another major change has been the evolution of what had been localised, or at

on information-intensive industries, including healthcare, legal, financial services, government and transportation logistics. Its most recent major contract announcement

best regional, service providers into outsourcing providers that operate on a

was a five-year, estimated US $31 million deal with the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Somewhat smaller in revenues and

national, and in some cases international, scale. Many times they concentrate on specific industries in which they become specialists.

Often these giants will not offer services alone, but only in the context of the broader information programmes that they promote. There are even times when these giant firms do their own outsourcing, sending specific services to be done by one of the remaining specialised service bureaux.

International and national services giants

ACS (Affiliated Computer Services), an international firm based in the US and with nearly US$ 5 billion in annual revenues, has grown out of an amalgam of individual organisations that joined, or were acquired by, ACS. These other companies offered computer services, records preservation services, imaging solutions and microfilming services. Today the giant ACS supports client operations in nearly 100 countries and has more than 55,000 employees. The Dallasbased "Fortune 500" company regards itself as a premier provider of BPO (business process outsourcing), information technology services and solutions to commercial and government clients worldwide. Imaging and

SE R VIC E P R O V ID E R S

current reach, but not ambitions, is LASON, which has global BPO facilities in Mexico, China and India as well as 35 locations in the US and Canada. LASON, currently beaming over its selection to the top 20 list of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, offers BPO solutions that include imaging services, output services, data capture, printing and mail processing.

LASON also focuses on vertical markets such as healthcare, accounts payable and receivable, insurance, financial services, publishing and collection letter processing.

However, it also seeks out work from

docHarbor, Anacomp touts itself as a "strategic outsourced partner" for securely capturing, managing, delivering and preserving any and every piece of information that is important to a business.

Multi-Vendor Services partners with OEM manufacturers to provide authorised support of storage equipment, network devices, specialty systems and peripherals. It offers on-site maintenance, depot services, training and micro-imaging resources. The latter includes equipment resales and also services of, as well as supplies for, microfilm systems.

Even though it no longer manufactures, Anacomp remains the acknowledged leader in COM systems and services. It is the largest global provider of computer output to CD. Anacomp is headquartered in San Diego with international HQ in Workingham UK. DataBank IMX is a nationwide US services provider with 11 production and service facilities across the country as well as technology services partnerships outside the US. It was created last year when DataBank, a computer and microfilm services firm held by two veteran US microfilm industry executives, CEO Dick Aschman and CO O Chuck Bauer, acquired the facilities and business of ImageMax. DataBank IMX offers the full range of microfilm and imaging services and solutions, concentrating on medium- to small-sized companies. W ithin the first 90 days of the launching of DataBank IMX, the company invested more than US$ 1 million in improvements to all its bureaux.

According to NY-New England GM Bob

companies in many other areas and provides a full range of microfilm conversion services. In addition, LASON resells and provides maintenance support for a wide variety of document management systems as well as offering film and scanner supplies.

As a reseller it is the exclusive US agent for Wicks and Wilson rollfilm /fiche Scanstations.

Anacomp, once the world's biggest name in COM recorders and services, is now a two-division privately-held company with revenues in the US$ 200 million range. The

Zagami, microfilm services continue to be important to DataBank IMX, particularly as it picks up business others may be leaving.

For example, recently the firm's Boston bureau did over 1 million aperture cards. In addition to services, DataBank IMX also remains a reseller of microfilm equipment and supplies.

W hat happened to other firms? Different routes but successful journeys

The stories of some well-known US microfilm service bureaux that have stuck it

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out, changed and grown, show that there is still life, and a good living, in micrographic and imaging-related services. It also shows there can be a good life after micrographics.

Here's a look at four who have taken different, but successful, routes Crowley Micrographics has been, arguably, the fastest growing organisation that centres on the micrographics field. It is a 25-year old company that began as a service organisation and has added products and services at an increasing pace.

It provides document conversion and reformatting systems tailored for libraries, archives, local government agencies and commercial clients. Crowley's conversion services include archival preservation microfilming, digital document imaging, • document and image reformatting, microfilm and microfiche digitising and the sales and support of hardware and software solutions.

In addition to services, in recent years

But micrographics services still do very well Micrographics Inc. was founded in 1980 as a 16mm source document service company to provide microfilming services to the University of Florida. Since then the company has converted tens of millions of documents and is recognised as one of the most successful U.S. microfilm conversion companies.

Still located in Gainesville, Florida, it now captures more than 2 million images during an average month. In addition to microfilm

assessing clients records management and workflow environments and then to design, implement and support solutions to meet clients needs.

Jim Craig, founder and chief executive officer of Micrographics Inc., says that even with a broadened document management field that has many more technologies at its disposal, the same arguments and facts hold up in making the case for using a specialised outside services provider as against doing it in-house. These involve upfront costs, best use of human resources, and quality.

conversion and related services, its major business, Micrographics Inc. also offers conversion to and from digital, software

The case for using outside services

implementation, data entry and data processing services, scanning services, and intelligent data extraction from all media.

W orking with clients from across the US, Micrographics Inc. cites is goal to be

"Using a service company defers or negates the need to purchase equipment, software, hiring and training staff," said Craig. "Almost always, the decision to start an in-house service bureau is the result of

Crowley acquired the assets, manufacture and distribution of the Mekel, Extek and Houston Fearless (HF) product lines. These include Mekel's microfilm scanner lines, Extek's camera and duplicator, and HF's film processors. In addition, Crowley is the North American distributor for the German

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12 over simplification of the conversion process.

Not knowing what you don't know and an overly optimistic expectation of production rates has led more than one organisation to build inefficient in-house service bureaux.

A t any point you can fire a service company; it's much harder to cut when you need to in-house.

"When in-house staff are routed to conversion services, they have limited long term benefit for their companies. If the same staff are trained to supervise outside service companies, that same staff become more valuable..... In today's global economy staff should be looked at as an income generator, not a overhead.

"In terms of quality, it's fundamentally impossible for an in-house service bureau to maintain and verify high quality conversion results without a serious and separate quality control process. Such a process requires enormous managerial support and financial commitment," warned Craig. He also suggested that in many cases, "the first obligation of the in-house service bureau is to perpetuate itself." He added that, by their very nature, in-house service bureaux serve a captive and limited client base. Quality can be rare because underlying production assumptions are overly optimistic, Innovation becomes rare because there is no one to judge what might be needed, since

the company decision makers who made the decision to found the in-house service bureau "didn't know what they didn't know."

Mackin Imaging Systems has five major lines of business, none of them

Succeeding without micrographics services

(1 )The company sells EMC's content management software products; (2) In addition to being a value-added

W here Crowley has centered on micrographics-related business, and Biel's and Micrographics Inc. have integrated digital services with their microfilm services offerings, Mackin Imaging Systems, which

micrographic:

distributor for the products, Mackin also sets up, trains and supports. Currently it supports more than 3,000 imaging modules at 1,600+ client sites;

anticipates about US $15 million in revenues this year, has almost turned completely away from microfilm. The firm is a descendant of

(3) Its Professional Services Group provides custom software and integration services;

what once was MICOR, a major microfilm

(4) Mackin has a sizable customer support

services and conversion firm, headed by Ed Mackin, Sr. MICOR went out of business in

and software maintenance business; (5) It is an electronic imaging conversion services bureau which does scanning,

1992. Two years later, Mackin returned to the services field but in a totally different way. The new approach has taken off even better than expected.

The business tagline for Mackin Imaging Systems is that it "unleashes the power of document-based information." Mackin's firm today specialises in putting isolated "islands of information" into electronic document management systems that provide real time access to all of these document types.

"In many ways, what we're doing now resembles the old microfilm services business, but on a much larger scale and using entirely different media," Mackin told

indexing, data capture and imaging.

W ithin this business line falls the little micrographics Mackin still does, using an Archive W riter to write client images and information from digital output onto secure microfilm. Not yet totally developed as a sixth business line, but rapidly increasing, is ASP business.

"Moving into the digital world has been a wonderful transition for us," said Ed Mackin.

"And, interestingly, it enables us to keep in touch with many of our old microfilm service company friends. They are now dealers for us a n d /o r subcontract digital work to us."

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13

The Benefits of Outsourcing

By Steve Holmes, General Manager, DeepStore The reasons why companies outsource their records management can be easily summed up: cost, efficiency, security and protection.

Cost is usually the prime motivator; most organisations have a pretty much constant eye on the bottom line and in the vast majority of cases, it will be more efficient to move records off site rather than keep them on site. In central London the average rental cost of office space is £500 per square metre per year, so a medium sized filing room of 50m2 can easily cost £25,000 per year. Moving that storage offsite results in additional office space which can then be used more cost effectively. But there are other factors to be taken into consideration.

We always tell clients to be sure they fully understand the pricing structure of any records management company they are

police forces that we work with fully supports this view, "The security of the facility was a hugely important factor in our choice, since clearly some evidential records are highly sensitive".

Sometimes it's apparent that companies are keeping their records at their offices because of a perception that having them

is important to prolonging the life of paper

close by is more secure. This is not necessarily true since security is often one of

records. The natural humidity underground in DeepStore is around 62% so it only takes a relatively small amount of dehumidification

the key selling features of an off-site records management company. But we would advise people talking to records management companies to ask them specif­ ically what security measures they have in place and whether their staff are security checked. The security systems should be part and parcel of the facility not an add on extra.

talking with, to ensure they have no 'hidden' charges. It is also worth asking if they

The final benefit of outsourcing is ensuring that records are kept in the best atmospheric conditions so that they are preserved for as

charge a permanent withdrawal fee, should a client decide to move their documents at the end of the contract, and the level of such

long as necessary. Ultimately, the point of keeping records is to safeguard them and there is no point in holding on to them if,

a charge. Sometimes these 'rusty handcuffs' are so expensive that it becomes impossible to leave.

when you come to need them, they have deteriorated.

Records management

There is another element to cost, which is the time it can take staff to search for

service providers should offer optimum

particular documents. The partner of one of our legal clients, a law firm call Hacking Ashton, put it this way, "W e have saved

storage conditions.

At DeepStore we are fortunate that the

money both by relinquishing the lease on the old warehouse and the better use of staff

naturally occurring and stable

time. Previously, if we needed a file a member of staff would have to drive down to the warehouse and retrieve it, now it's just

atmospheric conditions provide the perfect

a phone call or a fax and the documents arrive on the desk the next morning." So it's an easy choice between having staff wasting time searching through boxes of files or

environment for storing documents and sensitive or fragile materials.

making a quick call and then getting on with something more productive.

There is no UV light, no risk of flooding or

As part of the process of outsourcing the records management function, previously

lightning strikes, no moisture and no pests.

disorganised filing can be put to rights, so companies know exactly what records they have and where they are. This last element is particularly important for local government and public bodies that are subject to the Freedom of Information Act and must, therefore, be able to locate records quickly when requests are submitted.

Security is also a benefit of outsourcing.

Many companies' records are sensitive and often confidential. This is certainly the case with medical records, certain financial information and police files. One of the

The temperature remains at a constant 14°C all year round, together with a tight humidity band. One of the benchmarks of BS5454, the archival 'standard' for the storage and display of records, is a humidity band of below 60% since this

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to reduce it. This also has a wider environ­ mental benefit since we're using less energy to achieve those conditions than an above ground facility would.

So, outsourcing and records management seem like natural partners but, as with anything, companies will only get real benefits by careful research and a detailed consideration of their individual circum­ stances. We would always suggest that the first step should be a detailed cost/benefit analysis, which any records management supplier worth their salt should be happy to help you out with.

Contact: Steve Holmes, General Manager, DeepStore o r visit www. deeps tore, co.uk

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14

Revolutionising IT Service Delivery

,

By Rick Marshall Managing Director of Comunica Limited IT, users

next few months or, at the latest, in the next

The pressures on existing networks will

and the business

two years.

Voice over IP (VoIP) is a way of delivery

continue to grow which again points to the need for an approach that allows IT to have

have had an uneasy but interesting relationship over the last three decades. The arrival of the Personal Computer heralded a revolution in the workplace. Users discovered that they could do things that previously IT had said were not possible.

j

telephone calls over the business network and then the Internet. It is seen as offering

a complete view of what is happening and the impact of any new deployment or traffic

substantial reductions in call costs. Yet it has to overcome user reluctance and that means explaining how Quality of Service (QoS) will

increase. W hile there are a myriad of

work.

Hardware monitoring, software monitoring and end to end transaction times

management solutions out there, they all seem to deal with different issues.

The business discovered huge productivity gains, although some of those were quickly

Users have an expectation that when they pick up the handset, they will be able to

lost as process failed to cope with the influx of technology.

The "them and us" world of IT and its

hear the caller and understand the message.

That's what the International j Telecommunication Agency requires for a ; PSTN call and that is the current user experience. Users are also aware that their

image of ivory towers, was supposed to have been confined to the history books.

Sadly, while IT may have lost its absolute control with the arrival of the PC, it has been fighting to reassert some of that, every since.

Today, IT needs to move away from a "take it or leave it" approach and become part of the business. The rarefied skill sets

network can often take time to make things happen.

are rarely monitored by the same system. If a piece of malware gets onto the network and causes massive amounts of traffic then every application is likely to suffer, some more than others. Few of the monitoring systems will detect this until it is too late.

After all, it's something that the security team should have dealt with.

Inside very large organisations there has been a trend to break the infrastructure down into teams for management. This

IT needs to be able to immediately address these concerns and ensure that it | delivers a solution that meets expectation.

that used to set the Data Processing department apart from everyone else are

This means knowing how the business intends to use VoIP, testing the infrastructure and then ensuring that they have the metrics

might seem like a good solution but unless the teams talk to each other, unless there is a process that brings together information

now used by workers on a daily basis. Users write their own SQL queries against databases, build complex spreadsheets,

in place to prove the quality of the service.

Failure to do any of these will lead to the "yet another IT foul-up" reaction from the

from all of the teams into a coherent view of IT, then problems will be missed.

manipulate data warehouses to find new trends to exploit. The mystique that was IT

users and the business.

The use of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is seen as one of the tools that the

has, in many people's eyes, been as debunked as being mostly magic tricks.

So how does IT become part of the business process?

The short answer is by understanding what the business wants. IT has a history of deploying technology for technologies sake.

Systems are often more about making the life of IT easier than pleasing the users and benefiting the business.

Yet business needs to accept its own responsibility here. Business needs to plan ahead. By telling the IT department what the business goals are for the next year or even two, three or five years, it can sit down with IT and look at how to deliver on those needs.

Users can help both the business and IT by not meekly accepting new systems. A "what's in it for me?" approach might seem confrontational to some, but why would you use something that isn't going to improve what you do? Users are often caricatured as either sheep or serial complainers and those complaints are always after the fact.

As an example let's look at a technology which, according to Gartner, is probably already coming to a desk near you in the

R E V IE W & P R E V IE W

Electricity, gas, water and telephony are all utilities. If IT is to be seen as a service, if it is to be as transparent as a utility, then it needs to learn from these people. That does not allow business to avoid its responsi­

business can use to track the performance of IT. Among the things they attempt to regulate

bilities. Unless it engages with IT and provides information on what it wants and

are the responsiveness of IT systems, the performance of help desks and what metrics

where the business is planning to go in the future, IT cannot deliver a new service approach.

will govern the success or failure of IT. As systems evolve, they become increasingly dependent upon each other. The same is

IT must also tell the business what information it needs and provide clear

going to be true of the way that SLAs are deployed. A failure in just one system could

metrics covering performance and reliability.

The use of SLAs to justify new spending must

have unexpected consequences elsewhere.

This highlights the need for IT to understand the fundamentals of being a "utility" when it comes to delivering a

be backed by transparency in proving they can be met. A key area where IT can show its willingness to align with the business is in business process. All too often application development takes place without being tied

service. Without an intelligent infrastructure providing metrics on performance or the ability to simulate future traffic trends to stay ahead of the curve, IT cannot be sure that the implementation of new technologies will meet the needs of business or the users.

Over the next few years, many of the new technologies that are being touted as "business killers" have a high QoS requirement. A t the same time, the amount of data being moved around the existing infrastructure is expected to explode as data mining and Business Intelligence (Bl) tools i are deployed to a significant portion of users.

j

to specific business processes. IT can help itself and the business by always asking of new requests, "what business process does this improve?"

Communication is a two way street and | revolutionising IT Service Delivery should come as a joint project, not be dictated by either party. W hile it was Bob Hoskins and BT who said "It's good to talk", IT and the business need to communicate in order to deliver.

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Digital long-term preservation on microfilm

By Roland Dreyer Most keepers of analogue cultural assets in archivists' deaf ears. However, this is all about to change: digital microfilm recording archives, libraries and museums still have reservations about entrusting their treasures to equipment is about to increase the life of all kinds of digitised content by a major factor. data storage. The main reason for this lies in the long-term preservation horizons which are | And at a quality which is almost unachievable measured not in years, but in centuries. The with conventional exposure techniques. This applies in particular for colour microfilm. young digital IT world is not at all used to With its extreme light- and age-stabilised thinking in such dimensions. Concrete proposals for long-term preservation have azo colours, colour microfilm is virtually been restricted to a few Olympic Games, peerless. Technically it has very little in common with conventional colour films and is involving time-consuming and costly conversion now only produced by Ilford (Switzerland) processes. under the brand name llfochrome.

Microfilm, by its nature an analogue Its only disadvantage is its very high light medium, is to date the only preservation medium capable of providing centuries of requirement in standard light C (3200 K): in order to illuminate an A2 document for the maintenance-free use. Mostly used in film photographic exposure you need a powerful 8 cameras as a steep black and white film, in kW lamp and a self-assured archivist who is some cases also in colour, it is wound onto large film reels and loaded into steel containers confident that his valuable originals can which have been stored for many decades now withstand the heat generated. in the central Federal storage site in Oberried Lasers bridging the digital gap near to Freiburg; Oberried is now the largest At present there are a number of techniques microfilm store in Europe. which are well advanced, some of them already available on the market, for Storing digitised content in undergrund vaults reproducing digitised content as an analogue While the half-life of digitised content image or as a perfectly automatically remained so short and incalculable, IT experts' claim that the digital acquisition of cultural reproducible code on colour microfilm. The most promising of these are laser-based assets was much cheaper, more convenient and microfilm plotters because only an RGB laser more protective of the originals fell on

A2 Colour Book • • • & Document Scanoer

•••

can achieve the high-precision levels of high energy needed for the task: the red emulsion in the llfochrome film requires high energy levels.

These techniques differ in the film formats which can be used (36 mm roll film vs. flat films) and the level of resolution which can be obtained. The technically feasible spot size of the laser beam is currently 3...4 p, corresponding to a writing density of roughly 8000 ppi.

However it has not yet (March 2006) been determined which noise problems such high resolution levels bring about in llfochrome film.

Possibly the flat film exposure method of 2500 ppi already available and being used for smaller quantities is sufficient in many cases and the expensive colour edition only makes sense for especially valuable objects.

Dipl.lng. Roland Dreyer is a specialist journalist for applied research, printing and archive technology.

The nestor long-term preservation competence network project offers professional specialists the opportunity to find out about state-of-the-art, and any future possibilities, for securely storing digitised content over many centuries. The author is always grateful to receive specific feedback by email regarding daily practice.

Email: dreyer@contentmanagement. de

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FEATURE

16

Inform ation Security There has recently been lot of interest in Information Security, so I am including the following items, hopefully to answer some o f the questions that abound

Companies see risk but still turn a 'Blind Eye' In the last y ear almost double the number o f people in the workplace are estimated to be using m em ory sticks to download corporate data and IT staff believe the majority aren't secure According to a survey on "Removable

★

Media in the Workplace" companies' information security expenditure could still

Only around 21% of removable devices

all be for nothing, as they continue to turn a "blind eye" to the threat of removable media for a second year in a row. The research,

★

conducted by mobile security specialists

★

USB memory sticks can now store 8GB's of memory which equates to around a million

in the workplace are secured with passwords or encryption.

65% of those surveyed were aware of the

documents.

To secure your company from the security

potential danger that removable media presents.

implications associated with removable media and mobile devices Pointsec

4% of the IT professionals interviewed felt

recommends that you:

Pointsec, shows that removable media devices such as media players, memory sticks and USB flash drives are now routinely

that the best form of defence against loss or theft was to keep the device in their

★

used by a huge number of employees in the vast majority of UK businesses, but with little regard to the security threat they pose.

sound!

A staggering two-thirds of IT profes­ sionals who use removable media at work admitted that they did not protect them with encryption, even though they are aware of the associated dangers.

Most IT security policies are written by the IT department and yet, when quizzed on the security risks, 65% of IT professionals knew they were a potential security time-bomb and yet 66% admitted to neglecting to include mobile devices in their current security policies.

The survey highlights that a large number of organisations are yet to address the problem of removable media. W ith removable media plummeting in price, memory capacity soaring and more people using them at work, companies need to be aware of how easy it is for staff to use them, lose them or take competitive information away on them, all in the palm of their hands. If lost or stolen, vast amounts of valuable company information could seriously expose a company to extortion, digital identity fraud, or damage to their reputation, integrity and brand.

Some of the headline statistics from the survey, conducted amongst 248 IT profes­ sionals during Infosecurity Europe 2006, reveals that:

pocket and one chap slept with his USB stick around his neck to keep it safe and

Twelve percent of organisations ban the

★

workplace.

On average 56% of employees are

use of removable media devices in the

downloading corporate information onto their memory sticks, compared with 31% last year.

S E C U R IT Y

includes corporate directives that states the importance of proper handling of mobile devices such as removable media.

The most popular use of memory sticks is to store corporate data such as contracts, proposals and other business documents with customer information coming in a close

★

second. Twenty two percent used them to

★

Ensure that all members of staff are aware that their employment does not allow non-company devices to be used within the company network.

Use encryption software such as Pointsec

store their customers names and addresses, with others using them to store presen­

Media Encryption which enables centralised policy enforcement of strong

tations, budgets and other documents. One respondent used his memory stick to store

encryption of all data stored at mobile devices and removable media.

his hacking tools while 3% found them useful to store passwords and bank account details! Seventy percent used them for downloading music files.

★

| ★

controlled they can become a potential security timebomb.

Have methods in place which enables encrypted data to be decrypted in a controlled way outside the corporate network.

Pointsec UK said "It is no surprise that we've seen such an explosive use of removable media in the workplace as they are convenient, cheap and easy to use.

However, if not properly managed and

Use policies to control the amount of login attempts that people may use to try and get at information they shouldn't.

Martin Allen, Managing Director of

★

The encryption process should be transparent and quick to the user, so that it does not interfere with their work or put any extra requirements on the user.

★

"O ur advice is to introduce strict guidelines on the use of removable media devices in the workplace, and invest in encryption software which will allow administrators to force the encryption of all data put onto a mobile device. Companies will soon realise that this type of software is just as vital and inexpensive as using anti­ virus software."

The proliferation of high capacity media

★

Deploy user mobile guidelines or ensure that your corporate IT security policy

players and USB flash drives on the market makes it possible to save anything up to lOOGB's of information on one. This means an employee could download 8 million documents of valuable data on what appears at first sight to be just an entertainment tool. USB pen drives and

Have methods (independent of the end user) which enable decryption of all encrypted data within the company network Preventing people bringing removable

media devices into the office is an extremely difficult problem. However, although they are fun and convenient, they are very easy to lose or abuse and, therefore, a real security threat. If companies are to prevent breaking legislation such as Sarbanes Oxley, Basel 2, The Data Protection Act, as well as not falling victim to the havoc these tiny portable devices can cause, companies need to rapidly get to grips with the risks associated with removable media and protect themselves against these risks.

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17

Staff misuse of the Internet risks damaging company reputations Internet connection and 88% of these are broadband; in the 2004 survey Internet

Staff misusing the Internet by accessing inappropriate websites or engaging in excessive web-surfing remains the second largest cause of reported security incidents after viruses for large UK companies,

usage was at 93% but most small business connections were dial-up. ★

according to findings from the 2006 Department of Trade and Industry's biennial | Information Security Breaches Survey,

17% of UK businesses suffered staff misuse of web access and 11 % had misuse of email. Larger companies are

conducted by a consortium led by

more likely to have incidents involving staff misuse - 52% had web misuse and

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The full results of the survey will be launched at Infosecurity

43% had email misuse.

41% of the worst incidents involved staff

★

Europe in London, 25-27 April.

accessing inappropriate websites and a further 36% of worst incidents related to

Some 90% of all companies said protecting their reputation was one of the

excessive web surfing. The most serious of such incidents involved access to illegal

most important drivers for information security. Some 88% of business Internet connections are now broadband, increasing the risk of damage to reputation through staff misuse of web or email. In recognition

material; several companies reported incidents of staff accessing child pornography. ★

The average cost of individual incidents

of this, one and a half times as many companies have an acceptable policy for

of misuse was relatively low compared with other types of security breach, with less than 10% causing business disruption

Internet usage as two years ago: 63% of all companies and 89% of large ones have an acceptable usage policy. This is more than have an overall information security policy.

or direct cash costs. ★

Technology, telecommunications and utility companies were most likely to report incidents; retail and travel were

After the sharp rises in staff misuse levels J seen two years ago, the number of companies affected has now stabilised, reflecting the impact of the improved levels

the least likely.

There has been a big increase in the

★

proportion of UK businesses that filter

of control. One in five companies overall was affected. Two-thirds of large businesses had at least one misuse incident in the last

incoming email for unsolicited messages (spam); two thirds of the businesses that do not scan incoming emails for viruses

year. Some small companies reported

do filter for spam and block suspicious

hundreds of email abuses every day.

However, there are many UK businesses that are not taking the risks seriously. Threefifths do not block access to inappropriate websites. Only one in six scans outgoing email for inappropriate content.

Key findings from the telephone survey of

attachments.

Protecting confidential information sent

★

by email is still rare - in only a quarter of UK businesses can staff send encrypted email to the company's business partners.

Roughly one in five UK companies allows

★

staff to download free auto-address software onto their PCs despite the fact

1,000 companies include:

UPTON

* Some 97% of companies now have an

confidential information such as email addresses on a third party's servers.

These findings are published in a factsheet 'E-mail and web usage' - sponsored by security software specialist, Clearswift.

Chris Potter, the partner from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP leading the survey, said: "As companies implement better controls around email and web usage, they tend to detect misuse already happening. Where those businesses have an acceptable usage policy in place, they are nearly three times as likely to detect misuse as those that don't. It is very hard to police this area if you haven't agreed what an acceptable usage policy is.

"An increasing number of companies are using email to communicate with customers and business partners. Given how important reputation is to businesses, it is surprising that five-sixths do not scan outgoing email for inappropriate content. Companies that scan their outgoing emails are much more likely to detect any misuse, but the w orry is that the others may be letting inappropriate content slip through, to the potential detriment of their reputation."

Ian Bowles, senior vice president, global operations, Clearswift said: "These findings back our belief that prevention is indeed better than cure when you're talking about managing email traffic. The problem with giving employees easy access to email and the web is that the potential for damage is immense. Despite an increased awareness of the issue, employees are still the weakest link in the security chain".

Contact: Chris Potter; partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Tel: 020 7212 3640, E-mail: chris.potter@uk.pwc.com

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ANNO UNCEM ENTS

N ew Keyboard security Cherry set to adopt BiometricPIN technology on keyboards - Senselect to provide software Cherry Electrical products is set to enable its range of G 8 3 -14400 and G 8 3 -14500 range of keyboards (developed using UPEK fingerprint sensors) with software company Senselect's new BiometricPIN technology.

conventional PINs, can be changed if required. The technology also allows for integration of further identifiers such as iris,

in high security applications such as eborders, national ID cards and patient | healthcare records.

facial, palm and voiceprints into the authen­ tication and identification process.

The software is compliant with Common Criteria, The European Data protection Act

Information is stored as a non-indexed Binary Large Object (BLOB) rather than an

and HIPAA Security Compliance.

image which prevents reverse engineering.

Cherry Electrical Products is a global leader in the design, development, and

BiometricPIN is said to be at least manufacture of computer keyboards and 100,000 times more secure than most single i mice. fingerprint systems. Further, a 4-fingerprint Contact: Michael Groom, General Sales sequence matches the strength of an

BiometricPIN enhances security by

alphanumeric password between 8 and 11 characters long. The software maintains individual privacy and security where

Manager, Cherry Electrical Products Ltd., Unit L, A irport Executive Park, President Way, Luton, Beds LU2 9NY, UK Tel.: +44 1582 506140

requiring a multi-finger log-on to access restricted files, folders and environments.

multiple users exist and can be easily integrated into existing ERP, KMS,

The sequence in which fingers are read determines successful access and, like

Groupware and legacy applications.

BiometricPIN keyboards are suitable for use

Fax: +44 1582 506176 E-mail: michael. groom5@btinternet. com Web: www.cherry.de

TSP Portfolio extended to support Unified Threat Managem ent TSP release 6 .4 UTM software, new TSP 7 3 0 0 and TSP 3450J hardw are and centralised management for large deployments with Global Command Center 3 .2 Secure Computing Corporation, the experts in securing connections between people, applications and networks has announced major additions to the former CyberGuard TSP portfolio to support the company's Unified Threat Management (UTM) offerings. These products include TSP Release 6.4, which integrates Webwasher secure content management features, along with enhancements to the TSP firewall and VPN capabilities.

Two new products were also added to the TSP product portfolio; the TSP 7300 for large enterprises and the new TSP 3450J for the medium-sized enterprise. In addition, the Company announced version 3.2 of the Global Command Center, which provides centralised configuration, management and monitoring of very large secure IP networks.

Secure Computing merged with CyberGuard Corporation on January 12, 2006.

The TSP Release 6.4 software brings award-winning Webwasher Web filtering, anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, content protection, SSL scanning and more, to the Common Criteria EAL-4 certified TSP firewall/VPN software. TSP customers can enable individual Webwasher components by activating license keys.

TSP Release 6.4 also adds iPv6, link aggregation, active/active high availability

S E C U R IT Y

and multicast routing support to address the needs of large data centre deployments for bandwidth efficiency, the seamless failover of security services and more flexible routing capabilities. Release 6.4 is available as an upgrade to most TSP customers.

"More and more large customers are looking for a way to integrate very high-end security capabilities into their networks," said Gavin Adams, president of VIYU Network Solutions, a Secure Computing partner.

"They like the simplicity of the all-in-one UTM security model, but they don't want to pay a performance penalty or be overly burdened with administrative headaches. Secure Computing has taken those customer needs into consideration and integrated Webwasher-based UTM capability on the TSP line and the TSP7300 and offered Global Command Center. This shows Secure Computing's dedication to giving customers the best technologically advanced solution to meet the evolving security landscape."

Secure Computing also announced new hardware, introducing the TSP 7300 at the high-end of the TSP line. Based on dual-core AMD multiprocessing technology, the TSP 7300 is specially designed to run multiple security applications simultaneously at very high speeds. In addition, the TSP 7300 supports RAID, dual power supplies and

redundant fans. A t the midrange, the TSP3450J replaces the current 3400J with a RAID-capable platform.

"When Secure Computing and CyberGuard came together earlier this year, we made a commitment to our CyberGuard customers that we would protect their investment in CyberGuard technology," said John McNulty, president, chairman and CEO of Secure Computing. "Today's announcement clearly demonstrates that we are mindful of the evolving requirements of our CyberGuard customers and that we honour our commitments."

Also announced was Release 3.2 of the Global Command Center (GCC). The Global Command Center allows users to centrally configure, monitor and manage TSP, Classic, Webwasher and SnapGear products, as well as certain third party network elements. Release 3.2 adds a powerful VPN configuration wizard, Security Event Management and configuration domains, making it much easier for network administrators to deploy, monitor and manage large, secure networks.

TSP Release 6.4 is available for immediate shipment. The TSP 7300, the TSP 3450J and Global Command Center 3.2 will be available for shipment in Q 2 2006.

Visit www.securecomputing.com.

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19

Easter Eggs Bypass Security Research carried out outside Victoria Station, London, by Infosecurity Europe has ,

found that 81% of people were willing to part with all the personal information needed to steal their identity for the chance to win an Easter egg bonanza. The survey

All of the commuters gave their address and post code so that the Easter egg feast could be sent to them if they won. Mother's maiden name and first school are key pieces of identity information used by banks and utility companies in their identity checking

was carried out to raise awareness of the dangers of giving personal information to strangers who could then commit identity theft www.infosec.co.uk.

procedures.

The survey found that 59% of people

The researchers presented the survey as research into the significance of Easter, telling commuters that if they took part in the

give 6 Easter eggs and they expect to consume 3, they had spent on average £30 on their chocolate eggs. Three quarters of communters said that they had a tradition of

survey they would be entered into a draw for an Easter egg bonanza worth £60. To put the public at ease, they were asked questions about their knowledge of Easter and Easter egg consumption. Seemingly innocent questions were inserted into the conversation to find out the details needed to steal their identities, such as date of birth and mother's maiden name.

The results of the survey of 300 people is a wake up call to make people more aware of how easy it is for fraudsters to use social engineering to carry out identity theft. It is important to be very careful about the information people give to complete strangers, either face-to-face, by post or online, as it can be used to open a bank account or even steal their identity.

The first question researchers asked was, "W hat is your name?" which seems reasonable enough if someone is potentially going to give you a huge quantity of

knew what Easter celebrated, 15% go to church on Easter Sunday. On average they

giving Easter eggs and 60% celebrated Easter at school.

Finding out the date of birth was also fairly easy with 82% giving this information, as the researchers pointed out it was needed to establish their age group for survey demographics and to prove they had partic­ ipated in the survey, and 90% gave their home phone number in case there was a

Claire Sellick, Event Director for Infosecurity Europe who took part in the research said, "We carried out a similar survey last year and it is encouraging that less people have given us the information needed to steal their identity with 80% this year compared to 92% last year when we carried out a similar survey using the lure of theatre tickets rather than chocolate.

"Hopefully people are realising that they do not need to make it easy for criminals to steal their identity. The role of Infosecurity Europe is to enable organisations to select the most appropriate solutions to support their security strategy in order to safeguard their customers, their reputation and their assets. This survey shows that although security awareness has improved there is still a lot of work to be done, technology is available to protect consumers from ID theft and breaching a company's security - but security awareness is still a key step to stopping criminals stealing your identity and

problem delivering the chocolate. At the

money.

end of a 2-minute survey, the researchers were armed with sufficient information to start stealing their victim's identity.

"After each survey interview was completed, the commuter was then told the real reason for conducting the survey, most

The researchers did not give any verifi­ cation of their identity, their only tool was a

could not believe that they had been so gullible. One man interviewed said, "I cannot believe I gave all that information

clipboard and the offer of the chance to gorge on chocolate!

"Individuals should never give more information about their Biographical or Attributed Identity than they have to as this

away as I work in finance and should have known better". A lady pointed out that she was asked for this information when she set up her mortgage recently but still answered all the questions. Perhaps the most worrying was a young man who said that

chocolate. Everyone surveyed gave their names. They were then asked a series of questions about Easter and the tradition of

information can be extremely damaging if it is misused or falls into the wrong hands, and they should never give the information to someone that they do not know they can

giving Easter eggs. They were also asked if they gave any of their Easter eggs to their pets (89% said they had) and when asked

trust. If someone calls you to offer you a mobile phone you should not give them your bank details until you have verified who they

questions. If we had been fraudsters these people would have lost a lot more than their

what their pets name was 86% of respondees then went on to give their pet's name. When asked if there was a tradition

are by phoning the company's main switchboard and never send cash to salespeople offering you investments that

All the information collected by the researchers was destroyed by the organiser's of Infosecurity Europe.

of giving Easter eggs in their family, 76% said there was and when asked for the names of their mothers and fathers families,

sound too good to be true, even if it is a delicious Easter Egg!", commented Lord

80% revealed their mothers maiden name.

Erroll, who is giving the opening keynote address on Identity at Infosecurity Europe.

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he had been the subject of ID theft when he moved house but had still answered all the

pride."

For more information on information security visit www.infosec.co.uk

S E C U R IT Y

A Bunch of Five: Your Key Security W eak Spots W hat are the most vulnerable points in your company's overall security stance - and how do you approach fixing them?

David Beesley of Network Defence picks the five that could hit you hardest

Can you put your finger on the main weaknesses in your company's IT security structure? It's a question that many businesses are reluctant to answer fully, because it's a bit like opening a can of worms.

Some security evangelists would advise caution and say that security weaknesses are anywhere and everywhere. However, that's an over-simplification of security issues. Businesses have, by and large, closed off many of their main security vulnerabilities. However, the increasing complexity of company networks and applications make 100% security impossible.

There will always be a chink in the corporate armour that is at risk of being exploited.

So how do IT managers identify the larger, more obvious weaknesses, and approach the issue of securing them? Here is an overview of what I believe are five of the key security weaknesses which could expose a majority of businesses to possible exploitation.

1) W eb watching

The point where the Internet touches your organisation is the obvious starting point when looking for security weaknesses. It's the corporate gateway through which all traffic has to pass. Even with Web servers sitting behind the corporate firewalls in a demilitarised zone, they can still be the fast track into company resources.

Web servers without up-to-date software patches - or even passwords - are unfortu­ nately encountered all too often. The only remedy is to take stock of what patches and other measures are needed, and to make the time to apply them where possible.

Tools such as Microsoft Security Baseline Analyser and vulnerability scanners can be used to test if relevant patches have been installed.

Also, if your web servers allow users to

S E C U R IT Y

input any information, for example online forms, and that information is stored in some form of database, the data may well be vulnerable to an "input validation" attack

good knowledge of what needs patching, and rolling out a diligent and recurring patching strategy, as outlined in my first point earlier.

- commonly known as SQL injection - that is invisible to the firewall.

41 Airborne attacks

So it is vital to apply robust input validation at any point on a web page where a user is able to input data, and

LANs, it means more unsecured wireless LANs are available. It takes only one person

assume that a malicious user will attempt to insert SQL commands at these locations.

After all, no-one really likes injections at any time - especially not IT managers.

21 Don't let staff bring their own stuff

All too often, companies lock down the network perimeter and access, but allow threats to wander into the company offices with employees - for example, notebook PCs without personal firewalls, which could introduce a backdoor onto the internal network, or by allowing free use of USB devices such as pen drives and mp3 players within the office.

There are two issues here: first, hackers are these days often finessing their ways into networks rather than using brute force. They are riding in with your staff and using valid usernames and authentication details. And second, the most serious security breaches are still committed by disgruntled employees.

The key is to simply not allow untrusted, unauthorised devices onto the corporate network with solutions which can selectively lock down USB ports, and using personal firewalling to minimise risks of mobile PCs being hijacked.

31 Treating infection

Although they have a lower profile now than in recent years, worms and malware continue to be a threat, and unpatched vulnerabilities are still rife in leading software. Although AV software is widely deployed and regularly updated, protecting against emerging malware means having a

As companies deploy more wireless

to set up an access point badly - or even to deploy an unauthorised access point to give themselves greater flexibility - and the network is wide open to WLAN attacks. So make sure encryption is deployed on WLANs, and that the WLAN does not bypass existing VPNs or firewalls.

51 On the move ...

Mobile computing devices, from smart phones to notebooks, are vulnerable to multiple threats, from simple theft and unauthorised usage, to hijacking of connections to corporate systems. This makes them a major risk, demanding layers of protection to ensure security.

So ensure the mobile device has adequate user authentication to prevent other people from accessing your information. Password protection is a minimum, and you should also consider token-based authentication.

Next, use data encryption on mobile devices where possible, to further deter opportunists. Certainly, never store any sensitive details such as passport number and bank details unless they are encrypted.

Finally, to limit the risk of an infected device bringing malware into the corporate network, use personal firewalls on each device, as mentioned above.

By bearing these five key network weak spots in mind, IT managers can avoid getting hit by exploits, and make a better fist of their security strategy. www. networkdefence. com

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The Cavalry to the Rescue The Cavalry has arrived, or is arriving on the Records and Information M anagem ent Scene after 2 5 years o f Digital Amnesia

By Laurie Varendorff Maybe, but more likely the reason is the forecast growth of RIM or more specifically what the IT industry refers to as Enterprise Content Management (ECM) of between

As I have said before and I quote "Today is the most exciting time to be involved in this the most critical of resources the FOURTH Factor in the Factors of

10.7 to 12.8% compound annual growth rate from 2005 through 2010. The report

production - INFORMATION".

W hy not join the Microsoft wave along

states - "Organisations are increasing

with Colonel W illiam Henry (Bill) Gates III,

investments to manage content as an enterprise asset that can be used across

hang five and get relaxed as this new phase for RIM will consume all of us, for good or evil!

multiple business units or segments".

Another reason is - If you read all the postings on the Microsoft Blog on RIM at http://shrinkster.com/fe8 one of the things they highlight is DOLLARS and I mean big $ numbers e.g. $2.8 Billion Dollars!

F jjiM jy jm u y in y

Exchange Inc

The Microsoft blog

No, I'm not quoting the Austin

Since the introduction of the IBM compatible PC and DOS in 1981 it has been claimed by many in the Records Management, Archive and History field that the history records of the past twenty five years have been, or will be, lost due to the Digital Amnesia brought on by the introduction of the IBM compatible PC and the DOS operating system.

Have the times changed?

Back in A pril 2003 I wrote an article entitled - Is records management to be the next new buzzword? - available at http://shrinkster.com /fe7 in which I stated that if you searched Gartner Inc's Research www site using the term "Records Management" in March 2003 you would have received 200 hits.

In M ay 2006 and carrying out the same search I located 3100 Gartner Research documents (Includes Archived Documents) using "Records Management" as the search term. Has Records and Information Management (RIM) increased in importance by this degree or 15.5 times in three years?

It would appear so, and the person leading the Cavalry charge is none other than Colonel W illiam Henry (Bill) Gates III. W HY!

Does this mean that the world of Records and Information Management is about to hit the BIG TIME? I believe so!

Is Microsoft attempting to right the wrongs of the past 25 years of Digital Amnesia?

Power's villain Dr. Evil... I'm sharing a pretty surprising figure: This is the 2007 projected budget for electronic discovery services within the USA. You might think I'm joking, but this is real data from the 2005 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey. "How the heck can it cost that much?" you might ask. There are a lot of reasons, but fundamentally it's related to one simple problem: we keep too much stuff!

To obtain an understanding of where Microsoft is going with ECM have a look at the 2005 W hite Paper located at http://shrinkster.com/fe9 and keep an eye on their blog site as more is to be unveiled.

Reading this document will assure you that Microsoft is deadly serious in making RIM, or is that ECM, a money spinner with the release of Office 2007.

The four areas that Microsoft is addressing in the ECM arena of the new product Office 2007 are:1. Document Management 2. Records Management 3. Web Content Management 4. Forms Management MS is not alone in their charge for the RIM - ECM installations around the world. Other organisations from the big end of town have also joined and they include IBM and Xerox, plus many others.

Watch the RIM & ECM space out there in corporate and government land as many more organisations in the IT are corralling their horses and getting

■ ■ f e T . Archive Writing

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FEATURE

Kodak confirms its commitment to the m arket Kodak Document Imaging is delighted to announce its continued commitment to supporting its customers by confirming that the Kodak 2400DSV-E Microfilm Scanner/Printer and the 3000DSV-E

of the business which is entirely untrue" said

Writers, Prostar Archive Film Processor

Richard Broden . EAMER Product Marketing Manager, Document Imaging "Kodak and the manufacturer have agreed a plan for

along with other products, will continue

meeting the RohS ( lead-free) Directive this

Microfilm Scanner/Printer will continue in its range for the foreseeable future.

"We feel the need to comment on this as there are rumours that Kodak are getting out

year and as such will ensure the above two excellent products meet the rules of the Directive" In addition Kodak's i9600 Series Archive

being sold in all Europe, Africa and the Middle East in support of its customers who have been loyal to Kodak Document Imaging over many years.

Kodak's continued commitment to supplying microfilm and consumables also remains unchanged.

Rapter Imaging A new Service Provider from Wales After the combined

Sunrise, Inotec, Xerox, Contex, Epson and

service of both Carl Jones and Steve W illiams of 35 years in the

Konica Minolta they offer a range of

H

services operating with the highest efficiency

doubled up on all equipment with a view to achieving 100% uptime on their services so

Micrographic and Reprographic industries,

that the customer gets the full service every time.

the boys from the front line of Transmedia have decided to go it alone.

Contact: Rapter Imaging Ltd, Unit 13 Oxwich Court, Fendrod Business Park

Offering services to trade and help in completing large or diverse multi-format projects to aid in your delivery of one uniform digital product.

Employing the latest technologies from

mising on quality.

As part of the quality of service policy Rapter Imaging is operating, they have

attractive pricing structure without compro-

Valley Way, Swansea SA6 8RA Tel/Fax: 0 1 7 9 2 5 1 0 5 1 8 Email: enquiries@rapter. co. uk Web: www.rapter.co.uk

US 2 0 1 0 Census: W h at w ill be microfilm's role?

Once regarded as settled, it now m ay be up in the air As time draws closer to the next US census, periodically the question is raised as to whether or not plans have been made and announced for the microfilming of the census. To get an answer - or see if there is one - The Green Sheet turned to Russ Burkel.

Russ, a respected long-time microfilm industry executive and champion, followed the issue in the 2000 census on behalf of the now gone Film-based Industry Association.

He also helped the industry lobby for continuing microfilm's role. A t the moment there is no definitive answer but there is an interesting story going on behind the scenes.

Every US census has been microfilmed, the earliest ones, of course, retrospectively.

In 2000 a fierce battle was waged to continue microfilm's role. Initially the Bureau of the Census and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) planned to omit filming of census forms.

Only fierce resistance by genealogists, historians, librarians and key members of the Government Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives, saved the day.

This happened at virtually the last minute and the records were committed to film using Kodak Digital Archive Writers.

TRADE NEW S

After the census was complete, it was indicated and expected the same approach would be followed for the 2010 census.

Now that may - or may not - be the case.

A "born digital" mind set

The 2010 census will allow households the option to submit their data on-line.

Burkel believes there is a mind set among some at the Census Bureau and NARA to preserve "born digital" records strictly in digital format, making microfilm an option rather than a requirement. The rationale seems to be that interactive searching data would be the predominant search mode, and that the search data must be in digital format.

Burkel further believes that the $308 million contract given by NARA to Lockheed Martin Company to develop an ERA (electronic records archive) preservation system may signal to some in the Census Bureau that the need for microfilm might decrease. Their hope is that ERA will be accepted by the genealogy community and the House Government Affairs Committee, thereby increasing acceptance of digital preservation for all needs and allowing

microfilm's role to be limited or, perhaps, eliminated.

This, of course, presupposes development

by ERA and acceptance by users of a digital preservation technology that will not be subject to software and hardware obsolescence, and which would always be easily translated into eye-readable images.

It always postulates digital technology with a usable lifespan that at least matches the 100+ year proven and 500 year estimated storage and retrieval lifetime for microfilm.

The ERA contract covers data capture, telephone and internet services, but also includes archiving of the 2010 census.

Because of the tight restrictions on spending in the US federal budget, caused by the country's escalating federal deficit (Ed: temporarily relieved by raising the federal debt ceiling by an additional $781 billion in March to a total of $56 trillion) the timing on the later phases of the contract ran until after the dress rehearsal of the census phases are concluded.

It seems to mean that, although by law preserving images of the census is a requirement, the timing and cost (and perhaps the technology) is not now fixed.

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23

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N ew Euro partnership announced ABBYY expands distribution channels in UK and Belgium through new partnership with H eadw ay Technology ABBYY Europe GmbH and Headway Technology today announced a new European distribution agreement that promises to expand the availability of ABBYY products in document management

experience and knowledge in this channel,"

Canon, Fujitsu Europe, Kofax Image

explained Jupp Stoepetie, managing director for ABBYY Europe. "Their sales, marketing and technical support teams

Products and LizardTech.

ABBYY FormReader is a solution for high

understand not only our products, but those

performance, easy to deploy, recognition of data from forms and other documents for input into databases and content

and data capture reseller channels across Europe. As a result of the new agreement,

of our partners as well as the hardware which supports these products. This

Headway Technology, a division of ACAL IT,

agreement will enable ABBYY to expand its channel partnerships and channel support

management systems. This out-of-box solution offers easy form template creation and management and powerful tools for

infrastructure, especially within vertical markets and specialised areas."

processing, verification, and validation.

Together with ABBYY FlexiCapture

United Kingdom and Belgium. The agreement expands upon ABBYY's current

Headway is a value added distributor (VAD) and the UK's leading supplier

technology ABBYY FormReader can be

relationship with Headway which has served as an ABBYY distribution partner in

of document scanners and has experience selling a variety of document

expanded to recognise form fields on a variety of documents with different layouts enabling easy processing semi-structured

Germany, Austria and Switzerland since spring 2005.

management and data capture solutions.

"Headway's goal is to offer the best combination of hardware and software tools

forms and documents such as invoices, claim forms, contracts with headers, etc.

ABBYY Recognition Server is a robust

for our partners to put together enterprise document management business solutions,"

server-based solution for automating recognition and PDF conversion processes in

explained David Lewis, co-founder and managing director of Headway Technology.

"By adding ABBYY products to our portfolio,

enterprise and service-oriented

will begin distributing and promoting ABBYY document recognition and data capture products through its reseller channels in the

Starting immediately, Headway's offices in the UK and Belgium will begin selling and promoting ABBYY form processing, semistructured document processing, and document conversion solutions and technologies. Products which will be available through Headway include: ABBYY FormReader, ABBYY FlexiCapture Studio, and the recently announced ABBYY Recognition Server.

we can offer high performance, proven, software that is clearly recognised as a market leader."

The Headway group has established a solid client base which includes major

"Headway was the first European distributor to enter the document management / information management

Systems Integrators, Systems Developers and Value Added Resellers. Companies currently

market and has built up many years of

represented include: Adobe Systems Inc.

environments.

Recognition Server provides independent, server-based OCR processing with minimal user involvement and centralised management, and is easily scalable to large volume document processing.

Contact: Janine Douglas, ABBYY Europe Tel: + 4 9 (8 9 )5 1 11 5939 janine. douglas@abbyyeu. com o r visit: www.ABBYY.com.

Launch of new M anaged Services Solution for Invoice Automation Organisations can benefit from high-volume, end-to-end automated invoice processing without capital outlay, saving costs and boosting efficiency Graphic Data, a leading managed services company, is partnering with Contempus, the electronic document management division of Component Software and developers of Contempus.

Invoice software, to launch a new managed services solution for invoice automation.

"W e're delighted to be partnering with Contempus in this exciting new development of our business," said Mike Davies, MD, Graphic Data. 'W e process millions of purchase invoices, converting paper into automated business workflows, enabling clients to derive the benefits of electronic invoice processing. We have a proven

TRADE NEW S

outsourced managed services model within which the Contempus.Invoice solution can deliver cost reductions and efficiency gains, while helping businesses avoid capital

with relatively minimal capital outlay."

The agreement also incorporates other Contempus products, including Contempus.

Supplier and Contempus.Procurement to improve the efficiency of supplier management and purchasing processes

outlay and associated risks."

"O ur vision of ProActive Cost Management fits perfectly with Graphic Data automated invoice processing model," said Petter Hansen, International Sales Director, Contempus. "Contempus.Invoice has been developed to ensure profitable and efficient invoice automation and we believe Graphic Data's outsourced managed services will enable more organisations in the UK to benefit from using our software

respectively and thereby provide a manageable and modular route map for clients to achieve full Purchase-to-Pay automation.

For further information visit: www.graphicdata.co. uk www.contempus.com

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25

DocuWare announces partnership with ARX The ARX - DocuWare partnership provides customers with an integrated solution that enables DocuWare users to electronically sign documents within applications such as Microsoft W ord, InfoPath, Excel and Adobe Acrobat. Using electronic signatures, organisations may replace handwritten signatures, sealing

"Organisational concerns relating to cost, time and security, typically associated with paper-based signatures and hardcopy

a wide range of high-end and state of the art products and services designed to

documents, result in a low TCO, virtually zero management, zero logistic penalties and a speedy ROI," adds Aharoni.

CoSign's electronic signatures are based on standard PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), a

documents with verifiable signatures as well as saving the costs and time associated with paper-based processes.

mature and proven technology that ensures signer authenticity, data integrity and non­ repudiation of documents managed within DocuWare.

Compliance with worldwide legal and security regulations, such as the FDA's 21 CFR Part 11 for the Bio-Pharma market, HIPPA for the healthcare industry, and

simplify, secure, and accelerate electronic transactions. ARX specialises in designing

others, is also ensured.

"We have seen a growing customer

and implementing easy to use, simple to deploy, digital signature and security solutions, combining software and hardware

demand for electronic signature solutions initiated by legislation requirements as well as the need to save on time and costs related to printing, signing and mailing documents," says Juergen Biffar, President "CoSign's tight integration with DocuWare offers users a turnkey electronic signature solution that, for the first time, enables them

products, for small, medium and large computing environments. ARX has more than 18 years of experience in helping

and Board Director of DocuWare."The addition of CoSign to the DocuWare Partner portfolio of solutions ideally positions us to meet this demand."

Algorithmic Research Ltd. (ARX) is a

to guarantee the data integrity and signer authenticity of all the documents they handle," says Dr. Gadi Aharoni, CEO of ARX (Algorithmic Research).

leading provider of digital-signature and data-security solutions. The company offers

GENUS

financial institutions, governmental organi­ sations and commercial sectors to secure and streamline their processes and transactions.

Contact: Patricia Herion, DocuWare AG , Therese-Giehse-Platz 2, 82110 Germering Tel: +49 (0)89-89 44 33-54

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Product news from Kodak An innovative new type o f office solution - the KODAK Scan Station 100 The Scan Station combines high-quality scanning of paper documents with intuitive operation, it enables people to then share documents via e-mail, save them to a

Marketing Manager, Document Imaging,

It can scan documents into JPEG, TIFF, PDF,

Kodak's Graphic Communications Group.

"W hile sharing paper documents in a digital environment shouldn't be difficult, a lot of

or Searchable PDF file formats, using Kodak's Perfect Page technologies to

network folder, send them to a network printer or copier, or store them on a portable USB drive - all from one device and

copier-based, multi-functional peripherals

produce high-quality scanned images, with resolutions up to 600 dpi and 25 pages per

(MFPs) make it that way for the average user. The Scan Station 100 is designed to

minute.

"In order to be successful in today's

without the need to be connected to a

improve the user experience and office productivity by keeping a simple office function just that - simple."

competitive business environment, scanners need to deliver walk-up simplicity whilst

dedicated PC.

offering enhanced document communi­ cations," said Mark Nicholson of InfoSource,

Unlike other products on the market today, the Scan Station 100 does not require a dedicated computer, additional software

a leading industry analyst firm. "W ith the launch of the Scan Station 100, Kodak has

or training to operate, because it connects to existing network infrastructure using 1 0 /1 0 0 Base-T Ethernet. It features intuitive and interactive operation - including image

addressed these requirements directly by introducing a fully-featured network scanner offering one-touch operation."

"The KODAK Scan Station 100 is easy to

preview of scanned images prior to sharing - from the touch screen. Instead, the KODAK Scan Station 100 is specifically

install, easy to use, and easy on the supply budget - all while increasing productivity

geared to work with existing networked

"The Kodak Scan Station 100 has taken the design qualities that people appreciate most in our digital cameras and walk-up kiosks, and brought them into the office environment," said Hauke Fast, Product

printers with lower per-page costs, making it a smarter purchase for an office or purchasing manager.

It can scan a wide variety of paper

and delivering outstanding image and colour quality, especially on challenging documents in terms of colour rendition and physical condition," Fast said.

The KODAK Scan Station 100 is ideal for use within large, and small-to-medium or

documents of up to 34 inches in length - as well as smaller and thicker items including

paper-intensive businesses typically in the finance, accounting, insurance, healthcare,

plastic insurance cards or driver's licenses.

transportation, law and government sectors.

N e w workgroup and departmental level scanners - the KODAK H 2 0 0 and H 3 0 0 Series Eastman Kodak Company announced the launch of the Kodak il 200 and il 300 Series, thereby setting new industry standards in terms of design and functionality. Capitalising on over 75 years of document management know-how and commitment to deliver the most innovative and feature-rich scanner product portfolio, the new scanners have the smallest operational footprint available today, combined with a series of new unique

for further IT or software costs - Kodak is including a feature-rich software bundle

scrutiny, scanning is becoming an integral part of the corporate environment. The need

which has applications to enable basic document management and optical character recognition - Kodak Capture

to achieve high image quality as quickly and easily as possible - while keeping both

Software Lite, Nuance ScanSoft PaperPort

prices and the actual equipment space requirements low - are what these scanners

and OmniPage respectively.

are designed to do" said Plauke Fast.

The i 1200 Series is designed for workgroup applications with a scanning speed of 30 pages per minute, while the

Pictured is the K o d ak i 1320 with flatbed

i 1300 is aimed at departmental level usage with up to 60 pages per minute in black &

features to improve ease-of-use and practi­ cality.

white, greyscale and colour.

The four models are available in versions

The new Kodak Scanner Series consists of four distinct models: il 210 simplex and il 220 duplex for workgroup applications, and the i l 310 simplex and il 320 duplex for departmental applications. All scanners feature ultrasonic multi-feed detection.

The Kodak il 200 and il 300 Series can scan a wide range of documents from wallet-sized plastic ID cards to A 4 paper, even long documents like credit or insurance applications, loans, medical monitoring strips and geological exploration monitoring logs. To ensure customers achieve immediate benefits from the scanners - without the need

P R O D U C T NEW S

The i l 200 and il 300 Scanner Series offer maximum capability and flexibility for any paper intensive environment including finance, accounting, insurance, corporate, healthcare, education, transportation, law offices, government agencies - indeed any organisation looking to streamline its paper workload.

"As the volume of business documents increases and compliance issues place document management under added

for single-sided and double-sided scanning, and come with Kodak's enhanced Perfect Page image-processing technology to ensure high-quality scanned images. Perfect Page has features to de-skew and crop images, along with dynamic iThresholding which automatically adjusts the brightness and contrast of documents, no matter whgt order they are scanned in. This immediately improves staff productivity, as images don't have to be rescanned or settings altered on a per document basis.

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27

CASE STUDIES In this issue we have collected together as many Case Studies as space would allow related to the Finance Sectors.

Insurance Brokers in Safe Hands with Railex Railex Systems, the filing and storage solutions specialist, was the supplier of choice for Robert Flemings Insurance Brokers Group (RFIB) when the company refurbished its extensive London offices.

documents and personal belongings.

Although selecting the DesignLine cabinets with practical uses in mind, project managers at RFIB also benefited from the cabinets' stylish appearance and architects were even able to specify a distinctive aluminium colour, a modern shade of grey, unique to Railex.

DesignLine cabinets are also available with a variety of different closures, including drawers, flipper doors, double door combination units and side tambours; maximising efficiency whilst taking up minimal space.

Attention to detail is a key characteristic of the range. From slope and curved top options to promote office tidiness and reduce clutter, through to collapsible drawer keys to prevent snagging, DesignLine

The company selected a mix of DesignLine and DesignLine Contract cabinets for both general office storage and person­ alised storage, with every member of staff being given a cabinet to store business

cabinets have it covered.

The installation at RFIB, which was completed over five floors, also included 2,000 Visage files. Made from translucent, durable polypropylene, Visage files last much longer than any cardboard file.

They are also well designed, with cut away sections for easy access to documents and smooth edging that prevents cut fingers.

It is also easier to keep related files together because all Visage files feature a UOmm long magnified index tab that can be used to link files together.

Steven Grant, from RFIB said: "When refurbishing our London offices we were looking for the best available office equipment in terms of usage and appearance.

"Being an extensive refurbishment taking place over five floors of the building, we were also looking for a specialist storage company which would be able to carry out the job professionally and efficiently, which is why we chose Railex Systems. The cabinets fit into the design of the office perfectly and are very ergonomic and the files, being clear, are easy to organise."

For further information on storage and filing solutions from Railex, please visit www.railex.co.uk o r call 0870 600 6664.

Capital Capture rings the changes at Dial-a-Phone Capital Capture, an independent provider of total content management solutions, has announced that Dial-a-Phone, the UK's No 1 specialist direct supplier of mobile phones has selected Capital Capture to automate and streamline the processing of up to 1 million customer claims a year.

Dial-a-Phone operates a redemption process that applies to certain contracts. In order to claim their redemption, customers post their mobile phone bills into Dial-aPhone within a specified timeframe; the documents were then manually checked and processed^ The solution will utilise industry leading

this solution enables us to reimburse customers faster than ever before," said Richard Whitehouse, Dial-a-Phone's Chief Technology Officer.

He added, "The solution will allow us to improve the efficiency of our staff, giving them more time to spend on high value tasks whilst significantly reducing the cost of manually processing the redemption claims."

Mark Kirpalani , Managing Director of Capital Capture said, "O ur experience in delivery of information management solutions that fuse market leading technology with bespoke system development was critical in Dial-a-Phone's decision to select

Contact: Warren Daniels, Marketing

document capture technology and bespoke system development to speed claims processing.

"W e pride ourselves on delivery of

Capital Capture over other vendors for this project. We look forward to continuing our work with Dial-a-Phone to help streamline and automate other critical form and

Manager, Capital Capture, Churchill House, 142-146 O ld Street, London EC IV 9BW Tel: +44 (0)20 7314 7700 Fax: +44 (0)20 7314 7 777 Email: warren.daniels@capitalcapture.com

exceptional levels of customer service and

document driven processes."

o r visit: www.capitalcapture.com

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CASE S T U D IE S

Digitising Legacy Information for Fast, Efficient W eb Access Property Insight was established January, 2002 by Fidelity National Financial (FNF), the USA's largest provider of title insurance and real estate related products and services.

In May of 2005, FNF acquired American Pioneer Title Insurance Company, an existing LASON customer, and merged American Pioneer's IT department into that of Property Insight. Property Insight provides property information and document and map images through a regional network of offices and operations engaged in data collection,

various states and counties across North America, they often run into title records housed on legacy microfilm and microfiche.

Property Insight needed to quickly ingest images into their system. They also needed

while keeping conversion labour costs to a minimum.

Wicks and Wilson scanners provide high[ quality title record images converted from

THE SOLUTION

| legacy microfilm / microfiche and placed

In 1999, Property Insight (then American Pioneer) came to LASON seeking a solution

Wicks & Wilson scanners and purchased two roll film scanners to meet their conversion requirements at that time.

access to these title records through Property j Over the years, as Property Insight has Insight's web product is a vital revenue grown and as their conversion requirements stream. Having digital title records provides have become increasingly greater, now immediate access and necessary validation converting over 50 million images for over of all requested information. As Property 300 counties across the U.S. each month, Insight enters into new agreements with

' o r

quickly online for immediate online retrieval.

They also benefit from extensive j maintenance coverage to guarantee I Property Insight the ability to meet or exceed conversion volume and throughput requirements via maximum system uptime.

W ith LASON, all of Property Insight's support requests are logged into LASON's Help Desk software allowing LASON to track the support request through completion. All Field Service Technicians j are contacted via Nextel phone for immediate response to all customer support inquiries.

they have acquired a total of 22 Wicks & Wilson Microform

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Scanstations (21 Rollfilm and one Microfiche). Property Insight has also purchased necessary installation and training, and ongoing on-site maintenance coverage with scheduled monthly preventative maintenance visits to multiple conversion sites.

The two year maintenance contracts cover all parts, all labour, monthly preventative

Contact

tim@green-sheet.net or call us todiscuss your requirements on

Tel: 024 7638 2328 CASE S T U D IE S

As Property Insight completes agreements with various states and counties, they benefit j from the ability to have their numerous

to rapidly ingest legacy images into their web-based system. LASON introduced the products and services help customers quickly j company to the Wicks & Wilson line of locate, assemble and analyse information micrographic scanning equipment. They needed to assure the safe transfer and were impressed with the speed, image financing of real property. quality, flexibility and ease of use of the As the leading provider of title information, offering clients immediate

THE BENEFITS

the ability to count on an installed conversion system for maximum uptime,

research and electronic data delivery. Their

THE CHALLENGE

properly maintained. All 22 Wicks & Wilson Scanstations are currently still in [ operation.

maintenance visits, software upgrades and revisions, unlimited phone and web support. This packaged solution allows Property Insight to handle all of their conversion requirements and keep their equipment

Wicks & Wilson product line," states Shawn Buchanan, Property Insight's Scanning Supervisor for all East Coast Image Processing. "The scanners are very stable and durable, and also produce excellent quality images which are paramount to our business. However, LASON's support of the product is what truly makes the difference.

For any equipment or maintenance issue, I place one phone call and the problem is solved. LASON will go to any extreme to solve a problem. W ith a strong product and a strong support team, our scanners are always ready to go."

Contact: Erin McCarthy, Lason, Inc., Tel: 8 4 7 540 0823 E: emccarthy@lason.co

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Customer service improved at WestlmmoBank WestlmmoBank streamlines information capture processes through integration of Kofax Ascent Capture with SAP O verview

in its central post office in Munster. The bank implemented a high performance capture system, with all the captured content being centralised in the bank's Munster, Germany

said Dr. Rainer Wilhelm, Direction of workflow at WestlmmoBank. "W ith the new

banking services, including domestic and international finance, residential financing,

office. However, the performance and reliability of the former capture system was suffering over time and it needed to be

The new system addresses a manual process that required a significant

real estate and consulting services and closed-end real estate funding.

replaced.

Finding a new capture system that could

Headquartered in Mainz, Germany, Westdeutsche ImmobilienBank (WestlmmoBank) offers a wide range of real estate financing and real estate investment

system, we have improved process efficiency by as much as 50 percent."

; commitment of resources and yielded j unwanted error rates. When documents or groups of documents arrived in a bank

be implemented quickly to minimise downtime, ensure the integrity and security

office, they were manually assigned a barcode, scanned and then entered into the SAP system workflow.

of inter-office file transfers and integrate with the bank's SAP system was essential.

Furthermore, WestlmmoBank required a new system where the scanning and classifi­ cation processes for documents could be

Due to the improved image quality and barcode recognition that Ascent Capture

j

provides, the new system generates a much lower error rate and the number of

automated, then automatically delivered into the main SAP data repository for easy

complaints or questions from departmental bank employees has been dramatically reduced.

retrieval by the bank's existing business applications.

In conjunction with WestlmmoBank's

Solution

highly specialised, highly efficient and tailor- ] A German Kofax reseller, xft GmbH made solutions for the real estate investment, designed and installed an Ascent Capture the bank receives a voluminous amount of system to address WestlmmoBank's capture mortgage- and finance-related documents needs. Using its SAP NetWeaver certified and materials in the mail, including loan xft queue manager software as an documents, customer correspondence, intermediary, xft GmbH integrated Ascent photos of properties, property appraisals, Capture with the bank's SAP management and much more. All of these items are system. In less than two weeks, the associated with individual mortgage integration was completed and, after records. The bank uses an enterprise-scale quality-assurance testing, the overall SAP management system to aggregate and application was in full production to capture process all of the records with their all of the bank's paper mail in less than two supporting materials. months, more than meeting the bank's Challenge aggressive timeline for implementation.

On a daily basis, WestlmmoBank "Frankly, we were amazed with how processes more than 6,000 pieces of paper and other items (e.g., photos) that it receives

"W ith a better process control through the integration of Ascent Capture and xft queue manager, the effort to rectify errors throughout the workflow, such as double

quickly Ascent Capture could be integrated with our SAP records management system,"

feeds, has become negligible," said Torsten Fenske, managing director at xft GmbH. Results

The Ascent Capture integration with xft

j j j

queue manager, and ultimately the bank's SAP management system, has had a tremendous impact on customer service and satisfaction levels. The processing time was reduced to such an extent, that customer inquiries can now be processed within less than 48 hours. Previously, almost twice the time was required. Additionally, a 50 per cent increase of credit requests could be realised with the existing personnel.

Your organisation handles an incredible amount of information

TTiafs where Kofax comes in.

every day. Some of it is in electronic files. A lot of it is in

We accelerate your business processes and reduce their cost by collecting those paper

paper documents. Some of it is stored in file cabinets, some

documents, forms and e-documents from throughout your organisation, transforming

of it is saved on network servers, and some of it is sitting on

them into retrievable, usable information, and delivering it all into your databases,

the desk of a branch office 2,000 miles away.

content management systems and line-of-business applications.

Kofax is the worid’s leading provider of information capture solutions. No other company has the same global reach, depth of experience, or breadth of technology devoted to capturing business information.

Our Ascent® platform is the most popular information capture C _

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ASCENT

application worldwide, and our VRS (VirtualReScan®) is the de facto standard for scanning productivity and image quality.

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Whether your information is on paper or in electronic files, whether it is handled in a single department or scattered across desktops and remote offices throughout the world, Kofax can help you capture it all quickly and accurately.

Visit www.kofax.com to learn more about how Kofax works in your industry, or call

+44 (0) 8700 668 315 to speak to a Kofax representative today.

CopjxightC 2006 Kota In VrtuafieScan are regrstoi product names and logos .

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Bisley further strengthens Sales Force Bisley, a leading UK brand of office

The key objective for Lea and his team

furniture, has announced the appointment of Geoff Lea as director of trade sales.

will be to leverage Bisley's position as market leader in the office furniture industry

Lea has extensive office products experience gained from senior sales roles

by adding value to their customers

with other major players in the industry. This has included eight years as sales director of Sellotape and five years in the office furniture manufacturing industry.

Lea stated: "I am delighted to be taking on such a role with the best known and respected brand in the industry. Bisley's

Drawing on his proven management skills and broad industry knowledge Lea will be responsible for Bisley's trade sales team of ten.

New appointment at IBML UK

businesses through improved service and competitive pricing.

investment in technology, design and innovation is second to none and the result is great quality, market leading products with great potential of increased sales."

BML are pleased to announce the addition of Gavin Wallis to the IBML team.

Gavin assumes the position of Product Marketing Consultant and raises the level of technical resource available to our clients.

Ashley Keil, Business Manager comments "IBML look to increase efficiencies in the document capture process. Gavin brings both software management and process skills that will add significantly to our consulting team".

Contact: uksales@IBML.com o r visit www.IBML.com

Computhink appoints Paul Carman President Computhink Inc., provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions for the global small and medium business markets, today announced long-time ECM Industry Executive Paul Carman as President. The position is effective immediately.

(BPM) sectors. He has held numerous Executive positions in the industry over the last decades, from key sales and marketing

attractive value proposition for our

positions to President and CEO. Prior to Document Boss, Carman was Vice President of Marketing and Business

stated "We are very enthusiastic to have a person of Paul Carman's caliber join our

Development at Critical Technologies, President and CEO at IMC, the International Information Management Congress, and

management experience will take us to new levels of recognition, performance and

General Manager of Marketing at the Eastman Kodak Company. He has also served on the Board of Directors of IMC, the Board of Directors of AIIM, where he was Association Chair in 1995, and serves on the Board of Document Boss and other private companies.

"I am very excited about taking on the role of President at Computhink. We have the strong combination of talented

Previously, Carman was the Senior Vice President of North America for Document Boss, a global Business Services firm serving the Electronic Document Management (eDM) ECM and Business Process Management

PE O P LE

employees, quality software solutions, strong reseller partners, and a committed Board and Investor team to be successful" said Carman. "Computhink's ECM solutions continue to generate strong momentum within the global market, and the Board and executive team will continue to build a very

customers."

Nidal Zayed, Computhink Chairman,

team. His industry knowledge and years of

success. He comes to Computhink with the full backing of the Board and Investors to grow Computhink to new levels."

Computhink provides best-in-class ECM solutions for secure information sharing and compliance, targeting small and medium size organisations. Using state-of-the-art technology Computhink solutions operate on a wide range of platforms, including Windows, LINUX and Novell. Founded in 1994 Computhink has over 4,400 worldwide customers in government,' financial services, education, healthcare, manufacturing and utilities.

Contact: Lauren Britton, Computhink Tel: (630) 705-9050 Email: lbritton@computhink.com

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Anacomp CD/DVD & Online Document Solutions Document Scanning and Data Conversion Microfiche/Microfilm Services, Systems and Supplies Print Equipment & Maintenance Tel: + 4 4 (0) 118 9 3 6 1 6 0 0 Email: info@anacomp.co.uk

www.anacomp.co.uk

M ICR O FILM SCA N N ER S

All types of Hi-speed Microfilm and Document Scanners, Analog & Digital Reader/Printers, Cameras & Processors, Duplicators. Wholesale Prices.

Please call or E Mail your requests.

Fax or E Mail us your surplus equipment list SPEC IAL OFFERS Kodak 500 - 9520D, i260 - i840 Scanners Bell & Howell 8080D, 8125D $5,800 each SunRise, Mekel, W & W, Fuji Film Scanners

METHYLENE BLUE TESTS:

Required for all “archival" microfilm.

Meets all ANSI standards.

Special contract rates available.

Managed by Photographic Scientist.

MSTC, Inc. 703-754-3213, E-mail: MSTCl@ aol.com

Kodak Archive Writer $13,500 Demo Xidex H SD Diazo Duper $4,500

WE BUY USED EQUIPMENT Fax: 858 268 0592, Tel: 858 278 5501 (U.S.) W ESTERN M ICR O G R A PH IC S SYSTEM S, INC. www.westernmicrographicsimaging.com

FOR TOP QUALITY REFURBISHED

Document Imaging Equipment

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Automated Resellers

We provide quality refurbished Equipment Scanners, Microfilm ers, Reader Printers and more

Cameras, Duplicators, Reader-Printers and Scanners, please contact ALTEK SYSTEMS, 7 1 3 -9 9 5 -1 1 2 3 or Fax 7 1 3 -9 9 5 -4 9 4 0 E-Mail: jimh@alteksys.com We are SERIOUS about serving your needs

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METHYLENE BLUE TESTS:

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Carried out by the people who set the British Standard.

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