The Green Sheet 048

GreenSheet Keeping You Informed

January/February 2008

Issue 48

The forem ost authority on the Information M anagem ent industry, the Green Sheet provides news, views and technical reviews from around the world

greensheetm edia.com

How much time and money is wasted in your organisation looking for documents?

How easily can you lay your hands on that vital email, hard copy document or electronic file?

Business documents and information are often stored in conventional filing cabinets and/or unstructured electronic folders - emails,word processor files, spreadsheets, pdfs etc.

But, why put up with fragmented filing when you could bring together all documents - from your email system, your PC network and your filing cabinets - then store and organise them within one unified, accessible and secure environment? windream document management software is the uncomplicated and affordable way to deliver readily available desKtop access to documents and business information.

The unique and patented feature of windream is that it’s completely integrated with Windows. There is no additional application interface as with other document management systems, making it truly straightforward to adopt and use.

To learn more about how windream can help bring your business information together, contact

Email: info@ccdata.co.uk Web: www.ccdata.co.ukwww.windream.com Telephone: +44 (0)844 884 1400 (UK) +44 (0)1582 463606 (International)

CC Data Ltd. Enterprise House 5 Roundwood Lane Harpenden AL5 3BW UK

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A glance ahead to 2008 Coincidentally, two of the features in this issue gel together rather well. Looking back at the past few years one of the most powerful influences on the Document Management industry has been the need to comply with all the latest legislation.

Each January we look back over the past year and try to foresee what is likely to occur in the future. This is a feature that is usually put together by our US editor, Mitch Badler, but unfortu­ nately he has not been enjoying the best of health lately, so I have tried to put it together myself. We wish him well.

Directory Possibly the biggest single change will be on the Green Sheet Directory as it is going international. This means that any company anywhere in the world involved in the Management of Information will be entitled to a free entry in the Directory.

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to me, Gerald Baker at ggbaker@ctv.es or John Baker to ensure your presence.

Magazine

Compliance

The magazine has already changed quite radically over the past couple of years, but there is still more to come.

From March 2008 onwards This will create the most the main contact will be John comprehensive directory of Looking ahead, 2008 looks Baker as I will be taking early suppliers/manufacturesers in like being a year of yet more retirement at the end of our trade on the planet. Be change for Green Sheet February. part of it! Email your details MEDIA products.

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Bureau Investment

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3 - Editor’s Comments 18 - Formscan 28 - AIIM Preview

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ADVERTISERS’ INDEX Box No. 022 (Recruitm ent)............................................. 29 CC Data ............................................................................... 2 e-image D a ta .................................................................... 27 Fujitsu E u ro p e .................................................................. 15 Genus G ro u p ...................................................................... 9 IB M L ................................................................................... 29 M IS L ................................................................................... 19

MicroVue ...........................................................................24 nextScan .............................................................................7 O IT U K ................................................................................. 11 Scanning Resources........................................................12 Solar Imaging .................................................................. 29 Wicks & Wilson ................................................................ 32

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As we, at the Green Sheet, do at the beginning of each year, we have solicited the opinions of some of the industry’s “Movers and Shakers” on the state of imaging trchnology. In order prompt the sort of information we were looking for I posed the following 3 questions:1) What do you see as the most significant events of 2007?

2) What do you see ahead that will affect the imaging business and its various segments in 2008?

3) What type of information management systems and technologies do you foresee?

There follows some interesting observations, in no particular order.

W O R LD n Sheet vented!

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Industry has been waiting for many years for a robust solution to long term electronic storage of office and other documents.

ISO 19005 gives a solution to the file format longevity issues, reducing the need for future wholesale format conversions and assisting with legal admissibility challenges.

Software tools are now available to take advantage of this technology.

With increasing quantities of information being archived in an electronic form, pressure on IT systems to provide reliable (24/7) access to authentic information will mount. Current national press exposure of security issues with personal data will result in improvements in compliance with the Data Protection Act. Imaging systems will need to upgrade their security measures to deal with these compliance issues. In particular, the ability to remove information from systems for which there is no longer a business need will become a normal requirement.

Some organisations will begin to address the need for off-line preservation of documents where long retention periods are required, but frequent access is not a business need.

The need to store information away from their computer systems will result in third party bureau services offering this functionality.

Long term storage (>100 years) combined with “almost never” access requirements will lead to an increasing use of microfilm solutions - using direct write to

film from the electronic document.

The need for robust business continuity arrangements will also result in an increase in microfilm usage.

One of the major inhibitors to the successful take up of information management systems are the users. Information management systems that easily integrate into the normal office environment without the user being aware will be improved.

The ability to integrate e-mail with these systems (including more reliable auto-classification) will become the ‘norm’.

Significant improvements will be made to search engines, enabling a gradual trend away from classification schemes and file plans to facilitate the location of information.

The huge data stores of corporate e-mail will begin to be tackled, using improved ‘search and classify’ tools.

Alan Shipman, Director Group 5 Training Limited www.group5.co.uk

by d ata p ro tectio n , perhaps s e n io r m a n a g e m e n t w ill finally w ake up and be pro­ active a bo ut the system and s e rv ic e re q u ire m e n ts th a t sta ff have been saying fo r m any years were required.

S u dd e nly b u d g e t requests fo r s y s te m s w ill p ro gress and becom e available. The very sam e ideas put forw ard by staff, will suddenly become m a n a g e m e n ts ' ide a and, b eca u se th e y are leg ally responsible, the m oney will appear from som ewhere.

John Baker, Executive Editor, Green Sheet MEDIA www.greensheetmedia.com

Noticeable in 2007 was the willingness of organisations to embrace EDM & Workflow to create business efficiencies, a significant increase in uptake.

Expect more mergers and takeovers within the market.

Less competition but larger organisations - consolidation in the market.

The resounding success of MOSS will change the way shows and seminars is people approach projects in evidence (to me) that the entire 2008 and will create a mixture IM industry is going through a of opportunity and confusion as burgeoning period of growth MS Sis start to focus more on and consolidation. Every month this market segment. there is news of technology, In future organisations will not services, or innovation that put up with 6 or 7 different/ closes the few gaps remaining disconnected systems within in the entire document life their business. The shared cycle. Key to the UK was the services model will be influential announcement by the BSi that in the public sector. there is a standard for CRM. Malcolm Wilkes, Director N ow th a t so m any aspects Avanquest Solutions o f business life are governed www.avanquest.co.uk Visit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/directory

In 2007 the UK witnessed a number of high profile national events that have significantly raised the importance for organisations to have a disaster recovery plan, improved data security policies and service levels and procedures to ensure business continuity.

The floods that struck large parts of the UK in June affected over 7,000 businesses and highlighted the need for us all to have a disaster recovery plan in place, and specifically one which includes making sure essential paper documents are digitally backed up and stored off site.

The Government’s widely publicised gaffe in November showed that it’s not just natural disaster that puts data at risk, but human error too, as personal details of 25 million families were lost in the post.

The incident provided a stark reminder to businesses to enforce stringent data security policies and procedures.

Predictions from IDC that content from different communication mediums (i.e. social networking sites, blackberries, smart phones) will increase six-fold by 2010 should mean that companies will have huge scope to improve the way they capture, manage and store data in future and regulatory activity should help drive this.

Colour Microfilm not only opens up the whole digital preser­ vation market to scanned colour images but it starts the ball rolling in terms of microfilm being used as the digital preservation medium of choice.

The standards already exist, it has been in general commercial use for over 40 years, you can scan microfilm in seconds and now you can archive any digital information to microfilm. The only step microfilm now needs to make is to become the new “ magnetic tape” i.e microfilm becomes a machine readable media rather than just a superb storage medium for analogue images.

When you scan microfilm, 100% of the machine readable code on the film needs to be translated. When this happens microfilm will see a reverse in its fortunes.

The main driver for new sales will continue to be legislation. I hope the approaching down turn in the economy will have the normal effect of making organisations look at ways of reducing costs by investing in imaging and Document Management systems. As a very general rule our industry tends to do well in times of recession.

Paul Negus, Managing Director, The Genus Group www.genusit.com

continue to be a healthy business for some years yet but, as we move to more electronic/web-based transactions the amount of original documents generated is likely to ease off, but I still don’t expect to see the paperless office in my lifetime!

The biggest area of change is in the range of capture devices.

There has been a huge growth in the use of an established technology - RFID tags - for library books and in logistics operations. We have also seen growth in chip based charge and access cards. Not to mention the multitude of CCTV cameras with number plate recognition. Even when we fill the car with fuel we are operating a computer. Expect to see more and more less obvious systems of data capture.

David Aspinall, Datum Solutions

in the forward progression of the imaging and capture marketplace for next year.

I see the convergence of multiple digital formats such as digitally created documents, digitised paper and film, voice and video, all imported into and managed from one main information system.

'^3 Ernesto Pinal, VP Sales and Marketing, nextScan www.nextscan.com The flow of industry consoli­ dation, presumed to continue rapidly in ‘08. Economics (companies’ haves and havenots regarding technologies and capitalisation) is the facilitator bringing entities together. Small businesses of 1-20 staff adopting complete document management systems; affordable, easy-use automated hardware/software tandems reaching this previously overlooked market. Web-based document management for workflow with small business’s colleagues in any location. It’s recently become relevant, accessible and cost-effective for this category.

The evolution and dissemi­ Working primarily in the nation of powerful internet government sector, I see the search engines are making data increasing tightening of purse in a digital format a necessity. strings and the increasing focus The combination of data on risk rather than just storage costs dropping every governance and compliance. year and faster internet and There has been a growing transmission technologies is awareness of the relationship making the internet a heavy between governance, risk and consumer of digital data. Data compliance (GRC) and an capture and image enhancement increasing number of solution technologies have evolved and suppliers addressing this lucrative continue to evolve so that they are making the dissemination of Tracey Fielden, Head of but complex marketplace. The data possible in a cost effective market is moving from managing Marketing, Canon UK form. The advances in these risk as a transaction or www. canon, co. uk compliance activity, to adding capture technologies are allowing The increase in the Life business value by improving many to digitise information and Expectancy of Colour Microfilm operational decision making make information available online.

The risk of the economy Tim Nissen, Director to 500 years and the and strategic planning. introduction of new equipment Imaging of conventional paper slowing down too much next Marketing, DocuLex, Inc. capable of writing images to and microfilm records will year may be a prohibiting force www. doculex-usa. com

Visit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/directory

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Dorset County Council ensures remote site recovery with EVault Dorset County in the South West of the UK is renowned for its stunning coastline and beautiful countryside, captured in the works of writer Thomas Hardy. Local government in Dorset is divided into six district or borough councils, two unitary authorities - responsible for local government in the towns of Poole and Bournemouth - and the Dorset County Council.

systems but were often recording over the same tape every day - making recovery of information older than 24 hours impossible,” says Gary Phipps, ICT Analyst at Dorset County Council.

At the time Dorset was relying on tape storage, and backup windows were becoming so large that they impinged on normal business activity.

Remote sites relied on IT support and admin from Dorset County Council’s IT team based in Dorchester to some extent, but many had their own tape systems. Unfortunately, without onsite IT support these tapes were not managed and changed regularly.

“The EVault technology was the deciding factor, and the online capability offered a very costeffective way of tackling the issuing of backing up data from our remote sites,” says Phipps.

Rapid Recovery and Better Backups with EVault InfoStage With this increase in servers being backed up to disk using Evault InfoStage, a second vault has been installed at one of the County Council’s sites in the North of the county. Already between seven and seven-anda-half terabytes are stored on the larger vault using Evault InfoStage.

“Added to this, TriSys has local offices and a strong track record “We wanted to move to a in data management solutions, centrally managed disk-to-disk and after considering many The Dorset CC provides backup solution, both to options we felt the EVault education, social care and health improve our data management system was the best solution services, highways management, capabilities and processes, and for us.” trading standards, and local also for long term cost reasons.

Dorset, supported by TriSys services such as libraries for all Disk backup is faster and more and EVault, installed a vault of Dorset. These require a cost-effective than tape storage (server) for storage of the data significant level of administration, for what we required,” explains and the EVault InfoStage online and Dorset CC also provides IT Phipps. backup software at the support to many of the satellite sites that are at the frontline of Discovering the Value of Dorchester central offices.

EVault service delivery.

Phipps continues: “Originally Dorset’s team considered we planned on putting 30 to 35 Ready for Faster Recovery several options and as part of of our servers onto the EVault “ Data volumes were increasing the process invited EVault InfoStage system to backup to of course, but our two main partner TriSys a leading value- the vault, but it proved really problems were the time it was added reseller specialising in successful. Now we have 67 taking to back up to tape and storage management, in to servers on the system. the fact that many of our remote meet them.

Everything including mail sites had their own tape backup

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servers, Oracle servers, Notes and Excel files are being backed up using EVault InfoStage.”

Phipps concludes: “We are really pleased with the EVault solution, it has worked extremely well for us. Dorset County Council remote sites can be backed up quickly and their data is protected as we can now recover older data and we can do so very quickly. The overall cost-effectiveness of moving to a disk-based system and the increased level of automation offered by Evault InfoStage means that backup and recovery have been transformed into pretty straightforward activities, leaving us free to focus on delivering better services in other areas.” ■ Visit www.trisys.co.uk

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WebSearch is a web-based, electronic document management system (DMS) that is part of the Archive Studio family of document acquisition, control and retrieval family of products offered by DocuLex. Modern regulatory and business needs have resulted in security becoming a primary consideration for modern DMS users. To address these needs a number of sophisticated security features have been incorporated into WebSearch. The purpose of this document is to relate the six fundamental principles of information security to the corresponding WebSearch security features, and to provide some detail into how WebSearch addresses these principles.

The basic principles of modern day information security are: ★ Authentication - confirming the user’s identity before they can access the system. ★ Confidentiality - protection from electronic eavesdroppers. ★ Authorization - controlling who has access to documents managed by WebSearch, and how they can operate on those documents. ★ Non-repudiation - having the ability to know who has performed key operations within the system. ★ Integrity - the assurance that data is not tampered with. ★ Availability - the assurance that an IT system will be available any time or place that it is needed.

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Before proceeding with a discussion of these basic principles the reader should first be aware of some basic WebSearch concepts: ★ Single install support for multiple organisations - WebSearch supports the ASP model - which is to say ★ that a single install of the product can provide services for multiple organisations.

These organisations can be separate departments within a large organisation, or separate companies hosted by a third party service provider. ★ Separate logins for site admin and organizations - Because a single WebSearch install can service multiple clients there are necessarily two levels of administration. The site administrators have the ability to manage site-wide ★ resources such as clients, document libraries, etc, while the administrators for individual clients can

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administer their organization -specific settings, users, communities, security level definitions, document status codes, etc. Site adminis trators log into a single site admin login page, while members of individual organisations (including their administrators) log in through a separate page.

Users and communities in WebSearch - WebSearch allows individual users to be associated with one or more communities. System permissions can be assigned not only at the user level, but also at the community level.

Meta data and the role of meta data in WebSearch - WebSearch stores not only individual documents, but associated meta data as well (e.g. name, number, keywords, document date, document type, from, to, subject, etc). WebSearch can process any meta data that is associated within documents entering the system.

Automatic organisation of documents into file rooms - WebSearch allows a valid administrator for an oiganisation o define file rooms into which WebSearch automatically organizes documents for quick access. These file rooms take the form of a tree hierarchy that is organized according to meta data. For example, one branch of the file room may contain the names of client, patient or vender, and branches within each client may be defined for each document type, activity date, etc.

Organisation of documents into virtual folders - WebSearch allows each organisation to define a familiar tree-structured folder

hierarchy similar to the normal folder structures with which most computer users are familiar. In WebSearch these are known as virtual folders. Documents retrieved by user searches may be added to the branches of the organisation’s virtual folders to allow for quick access and sharing among selected users. ★ The SOAP interface and File Gateway - all applications that communicate with WebSearch (including other Archive Studio applications such as Goby Monitor) do so through a .NET SOAP interface. This interface provides a logical interface to WebSearch which has much of the functionality as the web-based interface, including the ability to search for an retrieve individual documents. The SOAP interface features the same authentication as the normal Web interface. Both the SOAP and web interfaces utilised a common, master class for the storage and retrieval of documents, as well as the enforcement of security policy. This class is the WebSearch file gateway, and it provides WebSearch users with the assurance of ironclad enforcement of document access restrictions. ★ Mandatory and Discretionary Access Controls (MAC and DAC) - Stated simply, discretionary access control means that users can set the permissions for files they own, while mandatory access control means that the system automatically enforces security based on document and user security levels.

Most modern document management systems provide for discretionary access control but not for mandatory access control.

WebSearch supports both concurrently.

We will now discuss how the basic security principles are addressed within WebSearch and/or the environment in which it is installed.

AUTHENTICATION WebSearch may be configured, on a site-wide basis, to support one of three authentication mechanisms: ★ Classic authentication - the user must explicitly log into WebSearch providing a login ID and password. ★ Active Directory authentication - users already logged into Windows and who belong to the WebSearch user group in Active Directory may link directly into WebSearch from a web link. If the user is not currently logged into the Active Directory domain, then (e.g. they are accessing the service from a remote location) they are presented

by IIS with a Windows login prompt prior to successfully accessing the site. ★ x.509v2 Digital Certificate Authentication - users may configure WebSearch to accept browser-configured digital certificates from a specific certification authority. Receipt of a valid digital, un-revoked certificate for an enabled user account allows the user to access WebSearch without the need to explicitly log in.

CONFIDENTIALITY The WebSearch site configu­ ration file Settings.config must

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system level such that only authorised users have access WebSearch maintains, within its to documents under storage. internal database, an audit trail of all critical actions taken by AVAILABILITY users while using the product.

Availability of web-based This audit log can be queried services is typically controlled and purged by client adminis­ outside the application level trators. This feature allows through such measures as WebSearch administrators to redundant servers and control know with confidence the of Internet domain name - to history of operations (document address translations. retrievals, deletions, etc) performed by users on the CONCLUSION system.

WebSearch has been designed from the ground up to meet the INTEGRITY security needs of the most The integrity of information demanding environments, and flowing between users and to incorporate security mechanisms WebSearch is assured by which are already widely configuring WebSearch, as accepted within government described in Section 2 , to and industry. As a result, it is accept only SSL-protected expected that WebSearch can, AUTHORISATION In addition to security at the connections. Data that is secured and will, meet the security document level, WebSearch through SSL encryption cannot needs of any current legislation All documents maintained or potential user base. ■ also controls user access to be tampered with in transit. under WebSearch are owned by virtual folders through the ACL. specific WebSearch users, who Additionally, WebSearch stores Contact: DocuLex, Inc. This means that document always has full access to the all documents it maintains in it’s Winter Haven, FL33881, USA compilations may be separately document. Additionally, each own internal ‘staging directories’. Tel: 863 297 3691 secured and protected against user and each document is These directories can be Fax: 863 297 5709 unauthorised access. associated with an organi­ configured at the operating or visit www.doculex.com

be configured to specify which sation-specific security level. executing searches TCP/IP port is allowed to When access the service. In order to WebSearch only presents the provide total assurance of user with those documents that confidentiality this parameter are at the user’s security level or can be configured to constrain lower. This is mandatory access WebSearch to accepting control. connections from ports that In addition to access control utilise industry-accepted strong through security levels, SSL encryption to assure the WebSearch maintains an confidentiality of all data access control list (ACL) that transferred to and from allows other users and user WebSearch. communities to be granted Additionally, WebSearch does permissions to read, write not require that content under and/or delete documents (by management be stored in the client administrator or the folders that are directly document owner). Documents accessible from the Web. This presented to users must not helps to eliminate the possibility only be validated against that content can be accessed security levels, but also against user’s access rights without being subject to the conveyed through the ACL. WebSearch access controls.

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How disk-to-disk backup saves time and money

By Ray Ganong, Chief Technology Officer at EVault, Inc. Information technology (IT) smallest doctors’ offices must administrators in small and comply with HIPAA),” said Peter medium-sized businesses Gerr, an analyst with Enterprise (SMBs) face unrelenting data Storage Group, in a recent with Search growth, as they work to ensure interview “ Compliance the availability of important Storage.com. applications such as regulations already cross the between our accounting, document boundaries management and email. IT staff corporate, government and must also deal with shrinking personal lives. Wherever there windows of time to backup is information, there will be a data, and recover quickly from compliance regulation close a simple drive failure or a more behind to protect the security of or avoid the misuse of those catastrophic data loss. valuable assets.”

Today’s IT staffs also now have the added responsibility of While meeting compliance or disasters adhering to more recent headline-grabbing legislation governing the tend to be credited for storage and access of increased spending in business electronic records. Laws like continuity, the truth remains Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA) that IT staffs must mitigate and more recently, the these difficult, everyday issues Sarbanes-Oxley Act, are direct if they are going to maintain results of ensuring the integrity optimum business continuity. and privacy of electronic These issues include: records. The GLBA mandates privacy requirements for 1. Shrinking backup w indow s companies that provide - This is caused by the prolif­ services to the financial eration of data-intensive, highservices industry. Sarbanes- availability applications such as Oxley, enacted in July 2002 and Web-based services (email, enforced by the federal order processing) and other Securities and Exchange applications now being required commission (SEC), creates to be available around-themore corporate oversight and clock. protects shareholders from 2. Fast-growing data volumes future Enron and WorldCom- The amount of data being like problems. Among its created and stored continues to mandates, Sarbanes specifies be staggering. It is reality, not a how long certain records must trend. If the amount of data be retained and sets penalties wasn’t growing so quickly, for destroying records (physical backup windows would not be or electronic). an issue. These Web-based Heightened awareness around applications are generally the business continuity and likely culprits. regulatory compliance has 3. Lack o f co n tro l over caused IT adm inistrators to distributed system s - IT staff invest in a new or improved managing backup processes data protection and recovery for offsite offices frequently process. Industry analysts, must trust often untrained co­ while acknowledging parallels workers to conduct backup to the Y2K phenomenon, activities such as swapping out believe that compliance will and replacing tape media. This instead affect businesses of all lack of control and having sizes that collectively need to redundant hardware and implement data protection software components in policies that adhere to multiple offices as opposed to a oncoming regulations or face centralised backup process is substantial penalties. cost-prohibitive. Being unable “A key to understanding the to adequately monitor remote impact compliance will have is processes also makes it difficult seeing that it affects all to set up data protection required when industries [and] affects organi­ processes a business sations large and small (the implementing biggest hospitals and the continuity plan.

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4. Increasing rate of recovery failure - Every day in every organisation, business continuity is jeopardised by viruses, accidental data deletion, and data corruption (hardware or software).

Systems grow more complex, increasing the likelihood of failure. Many users and system adm inistrators have not implemented proper backup procedures and, as a result, spend too much time either restoring data or recreating data from scratch.

term retention of data placed on less expensive media. Typically, the information is stored offsite and is held for years if mandated to do so by regulations. If regulations apply, older data is deleted based on company policy and the media is rotated for re-use.

When data access demands were not as high, backup and archive previously were one in the same. However, today data maintains different character­ istics as it ages. For example, its corporate importance may be just as high once it ages a year or two, but access requirements may not be quite as high in terms of recall.

Subsequently, companies need to evaluate and match the data protection technologies that best suit the needs of the company to access the data.

5. IT departm ent turnover and cost red u ctio n s IT departments are under increasing pressure to reduce costs and achieve more results with static resources. They are also experiencing a higherthan-average rate of turnover compared to other corporate T raditional data p ro te ctio n disciplines. This combination of suited fo r to da y’s archive factors creates a difficult situation for IT management, After 50 years, tape-based forcing them to seek assistance storage remains the traditional from tools, utilities or third party and most often used method to backup digital information. services.

Diverse organisations use tape 6. Human error - At the end of as a stable means to ensure the day, IT staffs need to they have complete and mitigate human error, the most portable copies of their data. common cause of data loss Tape drives, much like within an organisation. Whether magnetic hard drives, have it’s accidentally deleting an continued to make consistent email or file or overfilling a disk advancements in access drive that caused a server speeds, capacity and smaller crash, these are daily footprints. occurrences, and data protection methods and Tape plays an important role at schemes must take this into the end of a data lifecycle in storing information not account. requiring frequent access. It As companies consider the would not cause significant data protection portion of its problems to the organisation if business continuity it took several hours or days to programme, IT staff and their restore this type of data. Tape is managers with budgetary optimally utilised as a costauthority must streamline effective way to archive data processes that contribute to that still needs to be retained human error and challenges just for corporate or regulatory laid forth. purposes. IT staff can also leverage its portability Data stages emerge advantages where they can Compliance has also brought to store archives at a secure, off­ light the difference between the site facility. backup and archive of data, and the varying characteristics D isk-to-disk backup that these data stages typify. approaches Simply put, backup ensures a Industry analysts have longed readily available data copy is predicted the fall of disk prices available for rapid restore, if as an economic driver to move necessary. Archive is a long­ away from traditional, tapeVisit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/directory

based backup. However, a more wide-scale convergence of regulatory and economic drivers and technical innovations have made companies consider implementing disk-based, online data protection and recovery solutions.

intervention, backup tapes remain in the tape drive, leaving the data vulnerable to physical events.

* Verification of backup data - Most people do not turn on the option to “verify after write” on their tape drives because this adds 30-50 percent to the While traditional backup’s time required to complete the merits are rooted in low costs backup process. and portability, its downsides ★ 24x7 access to data fo r do not play well for companies recovery - If tapes are removed looking to streamline process from the drives to be sent offsite and deliver must faster recovery (the recommended method), of information. there is a significant delay in ★ Backup Speed - Because those tapes returning for tape uses a linear recording recovery purposes. format it takes more time to For these reasons, disk-based write backup data vs. disk. backup is designed specifically Tradi- tional tape backup for those companies who strategies including full, require immediate recovery of incremental and differential lost or deleted information, yet methods that require significant don’t have a lot of time to deal bandwidth to meet short with the processes associated backup windows. with tape. Beyond its perceived ★ Ability to audit backup - higher cost, disk-based backup With distributed systems, it is has its own barriers to gaining difficult to verify that tapes are acceptance, however some properly written to each daily technology developments have brought viability to the medium backup. as a primary method to ★ M anual interven tion fo r protecting data that needs sa fety - W ithout manual more immediate recovery

before migrating to tape-based technology in due time.

Backup Appliances In the past 18 months, storage vendors have introduced backup appliances to the marketplace. These appliances specifically offer a near-line storage option for companies that have more immediate recovery requirements and may already have a tape-based storage system in place.

Backup appliances leverage disk-based backup and recovery speeds and in some cases utilise content-addressed storage (CAS) which, instead of employing a centralised index or database to find files, identifies each file with a content address to directly locate the file.

Backup appliances provide disk drive speed and faster, randomaccess capability; however, many of the devices have the inherent limitations of tape backup, such as having to conduct full and incremental cycles every week. Ultimately, this can result in more data to manage and then migrate.

backup appliances have certainly taken an admirable step toward differentiating the differences between backup and archive. They can provide more immediate recovery than tape, yet provide a smooth transition to tape once the data ages and is not accessed as often.

S o ftw a re -C e n tric Disk

Utilising tape devices or backup appliances requires a mandatory hardware investment to ensure effective data lifecycle management.

However, well-established software architectures are available that can offer up disk’s inherent benefits, but still leverage a user’s existing infrastructure. Disk-based data protection and recovery software refers to the movement of electronic data over private or public communi­ cation lines from a local (primary) storage device to a remote (secondary) storage device for the purpose of being able to restore the data in the event the primary copy is lost.

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12

► Disk-to-disk backup (continued) independent platform that can operate on a commodity RAID device.

considering backup appliances; Hard Costs however, this may require a mandatory hardware ★ Off-site administration investment.

IT staff, by ★ Tape handling and labelling Efficient monitoring and deploying an online data ★ Backup troubleshooting Online data protection and protection and recovery solution recovery software can efficiently instead of tape for its primary ★ Off-site costs of tapes and backup and restore data without backup, will also see consid­ storage charges simply mirroring the data from erable cost savings by not ★ Additional emergency recall one device to another. Innovative spending as much time on service charges license and delta-block, adaptive differ­ backup administration, offsite ★ Software encing and other related storage, emergency retrieval maintenance costs are a scanning techniques enable only costs and tape inventory. constant per year for tap^ changed blocks of data to be backup software.

Resource Centralisation ★ Maintenance of tape drives backed up, encrypted and moved to hard disk for By leveraging the Internet, are continually being improved protection. Specialised, delta­ online, disk-to-disk backup so people want the latest processing techniques result in affords companies the luxury of technology for speed and minimal data travelling across automating and centralising their reliability. the network to effectively backup tasks.

Instead of Soft Cost recreate a full backup of the assigning a tape drive or more to protected data. The best can each remotely installed server, ★ Cost of remote staff recreate a full backup by software agents can be installed conducting or managing backup transmitting as little as one to on these devices and the tasks tw o percent of the total backed up data can be sent to a backup uncompressed data across the central storage device. This Disk-based technologies historically have communication line each night. technique alleviates reliance on designed so that For example, if the client’s server remote staff and removes the been has 100GB of storage possibility of human error being companies do not have to have designated for backup each the cause for information not as much manual intervention and have to pay for services night, then the amount of data being protected properly. such as tape handling and transferred is typically 2GB or The dollars and sense o f disk- restoration. With manpower less.

If that data were based data protection costs often exceeding those of transmitted over a network with available bandwidth of When a company is considering equipment, organisations need 1.5MB/sec (offered by a T1 or a disk-to-disk backup software to consider technologies that DSL type connection) then the solution, an IT manager must streamline backup processes backup window would be less look at the costs to make the that cost-effectively manage than two hours on a typical business case. The costs capital expenditures.

software is provisioned in two ways: 1) As an online data protection and recovery service offered by an outsourced provider; or 2) Sold as a suite of products enabling a customer to manage their own internal data protection and recovery process.

Utilising software that facilitates disk-to-disk data protection and recovery continues to build momentum as technologies mature and business conditions of the enterprise permeate into the SMB space. Managing growing data volumes across distributed sites have made IT staff more closely consider the economic viability of leveraging hard drives for the following reasons: Streamlined Process

Limited IT resources mean SMBs do not want to manage a cumbersome data backup and migration process with multiple vendors. Automated, online data protection and recovery software enables IT adminis­ trators to set up policies that eliminate manual processes associated with tape-based backup such as swapping tapes for backups and having to retrieve them in a restore situation. Innovative back-end night. Using these techniques architectures built into online puts less data on the backup backup solutions today allow devices, which also enable more data from servers running retentions of the individual multiple OS to backup to and backup in a smaller storage restore from a system- footprint.

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incurred by companies for the backup task will vary depending on an organisation’s unique environment.

Conclusion

The IT staff, or in many cases, the IT person, faces many daunting issues as they struggle Depending on the soft cost to ensure that the company’s savings that a company can data is reliably managed, backed C ost-Effective attribute to an online backup up and retrievable. Whether it’s solution, it is typical for a dealing with compliance The efficiency of company to save significant mandates or inefficient backup having physically less dollars using online data processes, companies of all data backed up to a protection while improving the sizes need to take a personal device equates to level of service for the data inventory of data backup issues having to buy protection function. By referring being experienced and evaluate capacity less to the detailed assumptions new approaches. frequently.

By below for the business case, one leveraging private or can generate their own Disk-to-disk backup has arrived public communi­ customised business case by as a cost-effective option that cation lines, each substituting numbers based on can replace or complement remote site or office traditional backup methods. Its local factors. for an SMB does not If a company is using traditional ability to centralise and manage have to buy their own processes bring backup methods, before backup backup device and evaluating any disk-to-disk significant cost-saving opportu­ the backup data can solution, they should determine nities by reducing redundant be centrally managed. the costs and evaluate the equipment procurement and This advantage also efficiency of the following hard lowering manpower costs. ■ holds true for SMBs and soft costs: Visit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/directory

13

The Enterprise Document Lifecycle:

Integration from Data to delivery

By Jeff Mills, Managing Director Xenos EMEA Just a few years ago our expec­ tations of customer-facing busi­ ness critical documents were far different than today. The typi­ cally batch-driven process involved merging pre-formatted data with a document template that could handle a basic level of customisation, then sending the file to a fulfilment house for print­ ing and postal distribution. A change to the template would often mean waiting weeks or even months as it moved slowly up the ‘to do’ list of the IT department - hardly a person­ alised document and certainly not real-time.

Integrated Document Solutions Integrated Document Solutions (IDS) have been specifically engineered to remove the barri­ ers that those involved with doc­ ument management continually strive to surmount; the uncer­ tainty and risk associated with lack of control over document creation; the dependence on a single vendor for print fulfilment; slow response times, coupled with the inability to react quickly to change, as well as the often costly juggling of multiple soft­ ware products that don’t always integrate as well as the vendor would have you believe.

In today’s highly competitive environment, more is expected from those we do business with, making the capture and reten­ tion of customers a challenge for any organisation, but especially in financial services and insur­ ance. If a supplier doesn’t answer their telephone we will immediately try their mobile and when we send an email we expect an instant and informed reply. We are happy to embrace customer self-service, but if we can’t access our statement when and how we want, or get the information we require then we will quickly look elsewhere.

IDS solutions are end-to-end data and document processing suites that enable businesses to quickly and efficiently create, format, control, transform, store and present critical business documents (e.g. statements, invoices, policy documents and credit reports) in a cost effective way. They are able to manage multiple output formats, ensure brand consistency across docu­ ments and enable self-service channels (e.g. via a web portal) for document presentment. An IDS can offer fast integration with minimum impact on existing back-office applications, by Reduce total cost of owner­ leveraging the existing invest­ ments in infrastructure to keep ship and make it personal the initial outlay costs down.

Never has document manage­ ment had such a key role to play Integration from data to deliv­ in the fortunes of the business. ery: How IDS works Consequently the pressure has The leading IDS solutions arriv­ never been greater to rise to the ing on the market have selected occasion. However, for the vast best-of-breed technologies that majority of businesses there is a give power back to the business constant pressure to reduce user who can now control the operating costs across the enterprise document life cycle enterprise, while speeding up from data to delivery. Rather the way tasks are accomplished. than providing one design tool There are also increasing com­ for all, they use industrypetitive pressures to improve the accepted design tools such as InDesign, Adobe customer experience. Many Adobe organisations are seeking real- DreamWeaver and Microsoft *time, interactive customer corre­ Word to enable different parts of spondence solutions providing the business to implement their the right tools at the right time document design requirements that can be easily integrated without extensive training and together and with their existing knowledge handover or worse back end systems. In response reliance on an already over­ to these challenges, the next stretched IT department. This generation of data and docu­ enables users to quickly and ment management innovation effectively create highly person­ has entered the spotlight - the alised documents that use vari­ able data and complex business Integrated Document Solution. rules to determine content and Visit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/directory

look of a document, while retain­ ing tight control over any regula­ tory issues and ensuring the consistency of brand and layout.

Changes in the business that might require demands for new document types or the re-branding of existing lines can be accommodated quickly and eas­ ily. New documents can be visu­ alised in formats such as PDF for submission and approval at each part of the design stage.

This approach allows the busi­ ness to immediately realise the wider operational benefits of an investment in this technology. It also helps to ensure consistency in document production processes across disparate application environments at an early stage. In addition, a single solution approach means that a common skill set can be used for the design and deployment of future documents, avoiding the ‘silos of knowledge’ trap inher­ ent in many other document composition systems.

component, which publishes the documents for secure access by the appropriate user or customer via a web-based portal.

IDS solutions are built using common, open, industry stan­ dards such as XML, Java and J2EE and designed to run on almost any platform. Scalability to easily manage very large batch volumes, as well as more dynamic and ad-hoc document creation processes is critical.

Compatibility with common application server environments such as WebSphere, JBoss and BEA enable deployment within Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) resulting in easier, more cost-effective management, both locally and remotely within a common application frame­ Three components deliver one work. innovative solution Benefits of IDS implementation An IDS will typically include three key components. The first pro­ Organisations adopting this vides comprehensive connectiv­ best-of-breed approach can ity, data translation, process flow experience significant financial and control functionality. This and resource benefits that allows the solution to be quickly include reduced development and easily integrated with the costs, improved time-to-revenue process of document automa­ and an enhanced overall cus­ tion and with enterprise applica­ tomer experience with highly tion environments. The system is effective one-to-one communi­ able to process any file output cations. One such example is an from any system, or access any investment company based in database without changes to Illinois that replaced its internally existing systems. On receipt of developed system with an IDS. this data it is ready to map, re­ In doing so it was able to format and verify the raw data to streamline workflows and enable a common XML-based standard highly personalised statements for ingestion into the core docu­ to be designed, while reducing production costs by an esti­ ment production engine. mated 70%, equating to nearly The production engine is the $3 million worth of savings over second component, which can five years. transform and repurpose the input data and documents to A similar ROI was achieved by generate output in any industry one of the world’s leading finan­ standard print format including cial services institutions. It was IBM AFP, Xerox Metacode, HP able to significantly lower TOO PCL, Adobe PDF and TIFF and by retiring disparate systems electronic formats, such as and standardise on a single IDS Adobe PDF, PNG, HTML and platform, reducing customer XML for web access and deliv­ communication costs by 90%. ery. It is able to create, for exam­ The cost per piece was cut from ple, indexed documents for $0.43 to $0.04, resulting in long-term archive or indexed annual cost savings of $10 mil­ PDFs for ingestion into the third lion. ■

COMPLIANCE

14

Market Harborough Building Society case study

Compliance AND Storage Savings with Email Archiving SOLUTION SUMMARY Challenges ★

Recovery of one email took up to four hours and required recovery of all users’ mailboxes ★ Email retention and deletion was unreliable ★ Compliance officer needed to alleviate information risk and ensure compliance with regulations ★ Exchange server was over taxed with volume of email Solution Deploy email archiving to: ★ Ensure retention of all emails ★ Ensure compliance with Data Protection Act and other forthcoming regulations ★ Reduce recovery time and cost -*• Reduce volumes of email data and gain storage capacity on Exchange server Results ★

Full compliance with Data Protection Act ★ Enormous reduction in mailbox space taken on Exchange database ★ Despite two years of additional archived email, an actual reduction in overall storage space was realised and only recently has surpassed the original Exchange size ★ Single email recovery time reduced to minutes; back up times of Exchange server reduced significantly ★ Retrieval of archived data with sub-second response times Convergence of Improved Operational Processes and Compliance

database,” said email as they are to see them in Exchange Williams. “But it was our compli­ the branch. ance officer who was really driv­ With six branches, three agen­ ing the process; he wanted to cies and assets of £350 million, ensure we were compliant with MHBS is a small regional build­ the wide array of regulations and ing society. Yet exponential policies being developed." growth in email volume in the A Flexible and Easy to Use past six years and major regula­ tions since 2000 have made Partner MHBS think big about compli­ Neil Williams and his team chose ance and information risk. “We Zantaz Enterprise Archive were very concerned with the Solution (EAS) because of its recovery times of emails, the ease of use, simple integration retention of email and the need with Outlook and Exchange and to be compliant with a growing ease of deployment. He also number of regulations,” said Neil liked the ability to have multiple Williams, assistant general man­ email policies with EAS. “ I liked ager of IT at MHBS. the flexibility that we didn’t have In the first four years of all users to have a global email policy— having email, the size of MHBS’ we could actually have a policy Exchange database grew to 4.5 per user if we chose,” said gigabytes, with mailboxes Williams. accounting for 3.0 gigabytes and Zantaz EAS, the industry’s lead­ public folders for 1.5 gigabytes. ing email archiving solution, is a To retrieve a deleted email, the IT suite of software products that staff needed to retrieve all users’ enables organisations to create mailboxes and disrupt work: It an archive of their corporate was a labour-intensive, four-hour inform ation including email process. messages and files. The More importantly, MHBS did not archive provides two fundamen­ control which emails were tal benefits. Operationally it retained and which were deleted. allows for file and email servers “ Users treat email informally and weighed down with large vol­ often do not keep an email like umes of information to be off­ they would a letter in their box,” loaded in a centrally controlled said Williams. “We relied on and fully automated fashion, dra­ users to put their emails in the matically increasing perform­ right place, and we did not have ance and stability. Storage opti­ a clear view of all digital corre­ misation also plays a key role with EAS’ Single Instance spondence with customers.”

Storage (SIS) algorithm applied MHBS’ compliance officer was across the entire archive at the concerned with the UK Data message and attachment levels Protection Act, which gives indi­ and compression of all archived viduals the right to request data objects. that is held about them and to be In addition, Zantaz EAS pre­ told how that data is used. As a serves and protects corporate lender, MHBS must retain data information assets for compli­ on its customers and cannot ance with industry information purge the data as others do regulations and for supporting under the act. Other regulations litigation events. With EAS, also concerned the compliance organisations can retain their officer, including Basel II, the email and file records for as long upcoming EU banking regulation as regulations stipulate and can that requires banks to minimise rapidly and reliably search for operational risk; legal admissibil­ information required for regula­ ity, which allows digital informa­ tors and/or litigators. tion to be admissible in court; Implementation and Results and, contract laws.

Up until eight years ago, Market Harborough Building Society (MHBS) was a traditional build­ ing society that served the com­ munity around its main branch in Market Harborough, Leics., with mortgages and saving accounts.

But in the late nineties, MHBS broadened its base of customers significantly with the introduction of online mortgage applications “We knew an email archiving and an online customer system. system would help us opera­ Now employees are as likely to tionally by reducing retrieval communicate with customers via times and the size of the

COMPLIANCE

Microsoft Exchange; the EAS system is transparent to the end user.

But for the IT department and compliance officer, the differ­ ence is measurable. The IT department has taken control of information retention and elimi­ nated concerns of deleted infor­ mation. “We now believe we are compliant with current regula­ tions and are ready to deal with future requirements,” said Williams.

Even with an all-encompassing email archiving policy, in which one copy of every email is archived, MHBS has drastically reduced storage size in the Exchange database, and for nearly two years - combined with the EAS archive server - the database was at a lower storage capacity than prior to archiving.

Before Zantaz EAS was installed, mailboxes and public folders accounted for 4.5 gigabytes of space on the Exchange data­ base - despite two more years of email, that size has only in the past year surpassed the original size of Exchange.

“We attribute the reduction in used storage capacity to the sin­ gle-instance storage and com­ pression features of ZANTAZ EAS,” said Williams. “Even keep­ ing a record of every email, we are not at capacity in the Exchange database or EAS archive server. Our storage will grow, but we have a lot of space back and can manage the growth much better now."

Williams’ concerns about email retrieval have also been allevi­ ated. The time to retrieve a deleted email has been reduced from four hours to less than five minutes, and the process is not invasive to users at all. He sums up the impact of the email archiving system: “At the end of the day, we are a small player, but we are set apart by having a fully implemented email archiv­ ing system that improves our operational processes and ensures compliance. I do feel that During implementation of Zantaz any organisation that uses email EAS, users did not need training needs a solution like this.” ■ to use the software since they were already comfortable with Visit www.zantaz.com

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FULLY booked How the British Library looks after some of the printed wonders of the world... and digitises them!

Those of you familiar with the science fiction movie genre, may recall the film Fahrenheit 451.

The title is coined from the burn­ ing point of paper (451° f), the film is from a story by Ray Bradbury. Set in a future where books are outlawed, citizens are too busy watching video walls and listening to their in-ear “seashell" radios to care about the loss of literature. Though originally written in 1953, and set in the future, we are still able to draw comparisons here in 2008.

Witness the proliferation of flat screen televisions, Bluetooth devices and MP3 players or iPods etc. Therein (hopefully) the similarity ends, and there is no fireman called Guy Montag going around setting fire to books for a living.

If it portends the future, the Book Police would have a field day at the British Library (BL). To a great extent, books are the very life blood of the BL's collections.

Curators, archivists, librarians or lovers of any form of printed material must surely be filled with shock and horror at the very mention of the words 'book' and 'fire' within the same sentence.

No surprise then, that the BL takes as many steps as possible to prevent destruction of their collections by fire (or any other means come to that). Where to one extreme they cannot operate within a total vacuum, they do have checks and balances in place to protect what is unarguably one of the largest, and most valuable collections of printed material in the world.

And yet, it is not fire that is the real predator of fragile books and the other printed ephemera in their possession. The bulk of the BL's 150,000,000 item

BRITISH LIBRARY

collection, [Yes, 150 million. Ed.] is at risk from something much deadlier and much more destructive than fire and the resulting deluge of H20 required to extinguish it. In a word Humans!

GSM were invited along to the flagship HQ of the BL in Euston Road, London, to talk about their imaging services division. The move to digital copying of printed matter for reference (or simply for posterity), has transformed

copy means that the item in question has to be handled by humans. In turn, this can cause problems, particularly when working with old, or fragile originals. Not only does physical handling cause deterioration of originals by bending and flexing, but exposure to light and even air is also a problem.

With any form of copying or duplication there has to be a manual intervention process. In the 'old days', requests for

the services that the BL provides. Requests come in daily from all parts of the world.

Typically, the requests are for partial or full copies of items from their vast collection. The requests come from a wide variety of sources such as the public, academic and other institutions, and corporate organisations too. Any request to

copies of originals were accomplished by photocopying or a microfilm reproduction. This meant repeated handling causing further deterioration.

Now the main delivery media option when requests are submitted is digital image files.

On the face of it, that is simplicity itself, but as with many other areas in life, providing a

simplistic end result, usually makes for a complex solution to reach that goal.

The BL's approach has been a pragmatic, practical and cost effective one.

Reduce the options to the public and you reduce your costs. Reduce your costs and you can pay the public back more in many ways such as efficiency and quality.

So how do they achieve this mix, and how does it all fit in to the overall scheme of things at BL? GSM put those questions to Andrew Austin, the BL's Imaging Services Manager.

He replied that, “In recent years there were too many options available to the public. We cut down the 'services list' quite considerably. That immediately made the whole operation much more cost effective for us, and at the same time, made the options available easier for the public to understand.” He added “Where previously there were multiple options for microfilm duplication [in its various formats] and photocopying, now we have in­ troduced digital images, that is what most people go for."

With over 1,000 people working at the BL's main building in London, and many more staff employed at their satellite operations at Colindale and Bo­ ston Spa, security and control was an aspect of handling requests which was of paramount importance to all at the BL. The new building adjacent to St. Pancras Station, which was opened by Her Majesty the Queen in 1998, appears to be quietly low tech, but if you lift the lid on the massive operation that is one of Britain's largest, most important and historical

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institutions, there is a high-tech engine humming away quietly ana efficiently.

After the huge investment in the building, ana the five and a half years it took to transfer all of the BL's collections, focus turned to how all departments could make BL as efficient, and at the same time accessible as possible.

After all, the owners of the collections at the BL are ultimately - the British public.

One excellent example of how an important collection was kept visible, and at the same time at arms length to protect it, is the King George III Collection.

(Reigned 1760 - 1820) When George III came to the tnrone in 1760, there was no substantial royal library. The so-called Old Royal Library had been moved out of St James's Palace in 1708, before being finally presented to the new British Museum by King George II in 1757. (The Old Royal Library is now dispersed elsewhere in the British Library).

George III therefore inherited only small collections of books, located in various royal residences. The King added to that collection and amassed one of the most important collections of books at the time. (For much more on this fascinating collection and a unique insight into its history in much more detail than GSM are able to publish here, visit the BL web site at www.bl.uk and seek out their section on Early Collec­ tions.)

Amounting to a total of just over 85,000 books and pamphlets, the collection (originally entrusted to the Britisn Museum,) was presented on the condition that it remained in full view of the public and that it retained its own identity. In other words, it had to be kept intact and separate from the rest of the British Museum’s (later British Library) collections.

The architect of the new building (Sir Colin St John Wilson (b.

1922)), achieved this with a most elegant solution. The collection is housed in a massive 6 storey free-standing black metal framed and tinted Liv filtered glass 'book cabinet'. Towering up through the centre of the building, many of the books sit on shelves facing outwards to the public area.

Each floor of the unit has the bookshelves on runners so that access by staff is still possible.

With the spines of books hundreds of years old showing, all illuminated with an appropriate type of subdued lighting to protect them, the structure looks like something from the future.

It remains a working library, with staff providing access to volumes under controlled coinditions, and it also contains the library of the statesman and BL Trustee Thomas Grenville.

(1755 - 1846) This adds a further 20,240 volumes to the facility.

The main building goes down 5 floors from ground level for added protection. Quite how the surveyors managed to find such a large volume of space uncluttered by Victorian sewers and London Underground tunnels is as much a mystery to BL staff as it was to GSM. There is a condition of working in the 'basement' if we dare call it that.

As the only way out is UP, you have to be certified fit to haul yourself up 5 floors of stairs in an emergency, otherwise it's a nogo area. [That's me out of contention then. Exec. Ed.l The real technology GSM was interested in however was contained in the high security area that is Imaging Services.

Where previously administration, photography and other reproduction staff were in

FACTOIDS BL collections consist of a total of over 150 MILLION items comprising: • Over 13 million books (including serials, printed music and maps) • 920,000 journals (including the Green Sheet) • 57 million patents • 3.5 million sound recordings • 90,000 historical pictures different areas of the building, the entire operation has been brought into one area. “The impact on efficiency and work satisfaction was felt overnight” says Andrew, who went on, “Bringing administration staff into the imaging unit is also a huge benefit as there is no delay in actioning jobs once payment is made / received.” Working on a similar principle to a factory, with a production flow around the secure area, many different types of material can be copied

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within Imaging Services before being despatched to the recipient.

Covering a wide range of media in differing formats is key to the success and flexibility of the operation. The range of media which can be copied includes books, maps, drawings, microfilm, glass plate negatives and stamps. Yes, stamps! (The BL would be a philatelists dream if only the originals were

• Gutenburg Bible • Tyndale's Bible • Beowulf manuscript (earliest known narrative poem in English) • King George Ill's Library • 8 million stamps • Earliest book - 868AD All housed on 626Km (389 miles) of shelving.

The BL web site at www.bl.uk has over 10,000 pages. accessible. Because of the extremely high value of the stamps, they are in a highly restricted area.)

To cater for this diversity of originals, requires a diversity of equipment. There are two main areas of the scanning and capture operation which have helped turn round the department: Book scanning and copy photography. The copy photography of almost any size of original, is performed on 4x set-ups consisting of Mamiya

645's with P45+* digital backs.

Mounted on huge De Vere copy stands, these units are capable of high throughput of larger originals, and yet maintaining quality.

Traditionally colour scanning of originals over A3 which cannot be passed through a rotary scanner, are captured using planetary scanners such a iCams. However at the BL that process is too slow, which is why there has been a high level of investment in the Mamiya set-up.

For book scanning the real workhorses are the book2net** scanners. The units fit onto desktops, and have a variety of book handling platens available which are flexible, easy to use, and kind to the medium. Low temperature LED strip lighting provides quiet and cool operation which is of benefit to books and operators alike. The equipment, described by the BL's supplier Genus*** as an 'over-A2 scanner' is designed by a consortium which consists of manufacturers and end users.

(In fact book2net will scan originals up to 650mm x 450mm or just over 25% x 17.% inches.)

It seems to be a good example of how 'design by committee should work, as it has many features essential to this type of operation. The fact that end users have had a say in how it is designed and works is reflected in its presence and use at BL. But apart from the key features, for any situation where cost is an important factor, the book2net also has the edge, and as it runs on USB 2.0, (which also keeps the cost down) there is no interface issues as with larger dedicated scanners. [Remember SCSI? Exec. Ed.] There are other key areas of operation. For example BL have a Fujitsu transparency scanning unit which despite its age, is still providing Imaging Services with a robust and high quality solution, scanning originals up to 10x8”. At 600dpi this unit is not the fastest, but GSM reckons that in comparison to some of the new kids on the block, it has many more scans left in it after it is 'retired' from active service at BL. ■ CONTACT INFORMATION British Library Imaging Services: The British Library Customer Services Boston Spa Wetherby West Yorkshire LS237BQ United Kingdom Tel: 00 44 (0)1937 546060 Email: customer-services.bl.uk Web: www.bl.uk * P 45+: 22 megapixel digital back manufactured by Phase One (Available for many makes.) www.phaseone.com ** The book2net alliance Web: www.book2net.net *** Genus Group Web: www.genusit.co.uk and: www.microfilm.com Also of interest: De Vere: odyssey-sales.com Icam: www.icamarchive.co.uk Fujitsu: www.fujitsu.co.uk

BRITISH LIBRARY

18

T r A P P € D IN T H € S Y S T € M Chris Haden, Managing Director of Formscan, highlights the financial burden of late payment on UK business - and discusses how better document management processes could help free up the cash

_____________^ _____ 'MMKm We recently commissioned research to investigate the true impact of late payment on UK business, one of the banes of our business life. We found that an eye-watering £64 billion lies "trapped" in the business sec­ tor, which could be freed up through better management of invoice payments (Accounts Receivable). Furthermore, the vast majority (82%) was found to be frozen in the accounts of SMEs - those who can least afford to shoulder this burden.

As the credit crunch pushes up the price of business credit for many organisations, as well as limiting the availability of liquid­ ity for some, financial managers face pressure to combat late payment over the coming year in a bid to release the trapped cash and improve working cap­ ital management.

Our research is based on a highly conservative, achievable target for average invoice pay­ ment timing (Days Sales Outstanding, or DSO) of 45 days.

Larger businesses (defined as having over 250 employees) have a DSO of just under 50 days; whereas aver­ age DSO for a Small to Medium-sized Enterprise

(defined as having between 11249 employees) is closer to 70 days. These figures serve as a reminder that late payment is not just a problem for the SME sector. It is the popular concep­ tion that large firms can afford to collect on time and pay late, but there have been many welldocumented cases of essential suppliers being forced into business failure through poor payment history, to the extreme detriment of large firms buying their goods or services. For large firms, a healthy supply chain has become a prerequi­ site for stable business.

system. There are certainly a multitude of software and serv­ ice solutions available for this function. For organisations with a wide range of suppliers, there is considerable scope for sav­ ing on staff costs by automating the process of generating copy statements, remittance advices and allowing suppliers to ‘selfserve’ over the internet in terms of their queries about where an invoice is in the purchase-topay cycle. The major current development in this area is the creation of centralised ‘shared service centres’ for branchbased, franchised or otherwise fragmented organisations, in In fact, successful cash man­ order to find additional agement is a careful balancing economies. act between effective collection of outstanding invoices (Accounts But few organisations have yet Receivable) and controlled tim ­ invested in combined AP/AR ing of suppliers invoice satis­ solutions, despite the fact that faction (Accounts Payable). In the underlying technology sup­ many cases, a large part of the port is essentially the same, effectiveness of AFi/AP work- combining workflow, data man­ flows concerns the underlying agement and document man­ documentary evidence, espe­ agement. In the debt collection cially for smaller firms trying to process, organisations that can improve their payment record offer the buyer reliable proofs of from larger customers. delivery, signed purchase authority, authorisation of staff The need to capture docu­ attendance, confirmations of ments, as well as data, in the receipt, certificates of good Accounts Payable process is condition, etc, are most likely to self-evident. Most businesses, receive prompt payment. The particularly SMEs, receive buyer’s Accounts Payable invoices in paper form from department will almost always their suppliers and, to imple­ prioritise invoices which come ment an efficient and effective with good documentary sup­ AP operation, these need to be port, so having this capability is scanned, indexed and stored likely to have a major impact in for easy retrieval in a central

reducing average DSO, and freeing up trapped cash.

Systems that combine workflow, documents and data are now offering web-based pre­ sentment of invoices plus sup­ porting documents.

Hybrid systems will deliver paper invoices, but quote a web-link where the supporting docu­ mentation is to be found.

In conclusion, UK business is in a position - on a conservative estimate - to free up vast amounts of cash flow annually through better Accounts Receivable process manage­ ment. Pressure to release some or all of this working capital is particularly topical in the cur­ rent financial climate, as the price of credit is rising whilst availability is falling. FDs and CFOs will be paying particular attention to working capital management in the coming year in the search for new cash sources. But this needs to be done in a way that is sensitive to the importance of maintain­ ing health in the supply chain.

Document, data and workflow automation are critical to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of AR/AP processes.

Moreover, both applications use fundamentally the same underlying technology and services - presenting com­ panies with an opportunity to improve both functions using the same solution. www. formscan. com

Haden buys Formscan’s document solutions business Chris Haden, a well-known entrepreneur, has re-appeared on the scene heading up a doc­ ument solutions business newly acquired from Formscan, and with serious ambitions for the company's future.

An Investor Group, led by Chris, has taken over the Document Solutions International Ltd divi­ sion of Formscan pic. In addi­ tion to acquiring the DSIL busi­ ness, the agreement also states that the newly independent

TRADE NEWS

DSIL business will retain the disaster recovery solutions, all rights to the Formscan name in based on Haden's track record the UK and most European in this field and that of his new team. countries.

The Group now plans to use Formscan as a platform upon which to build a significant Document Solutions business throughout Europe. Formscan’s established data capture serv­ ices will be extended to encom­ pass outsourced hosted solu­ tions, archive and retrieval serv­ ices, along with compliance and

Commenting on the acquisition, Chris Haden remarked, “The current situation in the US, UK and Europe regarding issues such as security, disaster recovery, customer service standards and regulatory com­ pliance, have all thrown docu­ ment storage and management processes firmly under the

spotlight. “ Few firms are offering the kind of flexibility, client service and attention to detail that we. The new team at Formscan have all the experience that the market could now wish for in finding an outsource partner to whom crit­ ical document archives can be safely entrusted. We are all very excited to be in the marketplace at such a vibrant time of demand and opportunity.”

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Looking to reduce paper volumes?

A t MISL, w e are e q u ip p e d to h a n d le all o f y o u r d o c u m e n t s c a n n in g re q u ire m e n ts .

W e e m p lo y a w id e v a rie ty o f th e la te s t to p end

d o c u m e n t im a g in g te c h n iq u e s a nd e q u ip m e n t to p ro v id e y o u w ith q u a lity im a g e s fro m th e s m a lle s t re c e ip ts to th e la rg e s t b lu e p rin ts a n d m aps. D ig itis in g c ritic a l d o c u m e n ts w ill s tre a m lin e y o u r business, a n d save y o u tim e a n d m o n e y .

MISL also o ffe r a c o n fid e n tia l b u re a u o u ts o u rc in g se rv ic e at h e a v ily d is c o u n te d prices.

Why not call us now for a no obligation free consultation and quotation.

FOR ALLYOUR can

0870 421 5640 or

Email

sales@docscanning.co.uk

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

N EED S

For fu rthe r inform ation: www.docscanning.co.uk

• Document Scanning • Microfilming • Data Entry Services • Microfiche • Microfilm Conversion • Scanners • Large Format Scanning •

SOFTWARE REVIEW: vPDF SoftwareType: PDF Compression GSM RATING: 9 (out of 10) Host PC: Dell Inspiron 9300 + 1Gb of memory Installation: 90% Functionality: 90% Despite the fact that disk space is so cheap these days, transmis­ sion of large files via email or a network is still a problem unless your organisation has the widest and fastest bandwidth available.

The wide use of PDF as a trans­ port mechanism for many types of files is very common, but when that PDF contains large graphics or images, file sizes can still hurt a network, or indeed bring a internet connection to its knees when the download of a large file is in place. vPDF addresses the file size problem in a unique and ex­ tremely efficient manner. The com­ pression algorithm is so efficient in fact, that GSM has seen file size decreases of the order of 15 to 20 times, with NO quality loss.

Depending on the type of docu­ ment within the PDF, when zooming in to an extreme magni­ fication in a vPDF processed PDF, the quality of the image is re­ tained, and certainly enhanced.

(By enhanced, that is to say ’more legible' than the standard Adobe compression.)

At the Construction Industry Soft­ ware Exhibition in London in early 2007, GSM viewed a demonstration where a scan of a

newspaper page was blown up to 1200x magnification on screen. The comparison was Adobe compression v’s vPDF, and not against any other compet­ itive product. The Adobe image was totally illegible at extreme

Employing what appears to be some form of layering technique, the only difference a user will see between loading a standard PDF and a vPDF processed file, is a slight delay when the file appears on the screen. However

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vPDF Compression zoom, but in the vPDF version, the text was still readable. In the il­ lustration we show here, both ex­ amples are extreme zooms of a PDF of a page of the Financial Times. The right hand image is standard Adobe compression.

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Standard Adobe compression this is almost unnoticable to the viewer. vPDF is the brainchild of Crisp Documents based in Glasgow, Scotland. In the short time they have been in the marketplace they have gained several

awards, many accolades, and are already working with some of the biggest names in the imaging industry. For example Kodak have appointed Crisp a preferred partner, and they are set to partner with large U.S. based coproration.

Crisp have a whole range of con­ version software available in ad­ dition to the vPDF converter, and a full review of that range will appear in GS in the New Year.

The tools make batch conver­ sion and other compression tasks very easy to handle.

SYNOPSIS The fact that bureaus (and end users) can now seriously con­ sider having all large documents scanned in colour, must surely put the onus back on bureaus to provide a vPDF option.

With modern scanning equip­ ment capturing a colour image at the same speed (and sometimes faster) than mono scanning, it is time for all to consider where this type of software takes the whole DM and IM marketplace.

Crips Documents are on: Tel: 00 44 (0) 141 554 0818 Email:info@crispdocuments.com

HARDWARE REVIEW: Wicks & Wilson C-Drive X Equipment Type: Aperture Card Scanner Host PC: Dell Inspiron 9300 + 1Gb of memory The quality of the Wicks & Wilson (WW) fitted foam pack­ aging gave the game away before the unit was even out of the box. The evidence was that this was to be a quality product!

Following the instructions, the WW supplied SCANCARD soft­ ware needs to be installed before power up and connection. The in­ stallation was relatively easy despite the fact that Windows XP Pro Plug and Play does not plug and play. [Ha! No surprise there.

Ed.] XP forces the WW install soft­ ware to do a double pass on the driver install, before the PC can recognise the unit for what it should be in the USB chain.

(WW do warn you in the instruc­ tions.) WW also warn you that un­ expected results may occur if you have other USB devices at­ tached to the computer. Best advice is probably to make the scan unit the only USB device in use, and definitely not to run it off a USB hub. (USB 2.0 is the spec.)

Once powered up, the simply de­ signed and small footprint unit is noticably quiet in operation. It is flexible in that it can stand on its own, or can be mounted into a

PRODUCT REVIEWS

(double) drive bay in a standard PC casing.

In use, the card take-up mechan­ ism in the aperture card slot is silky smooth and the load and scan mechanisms are very quiet

too.

The unit will work with third party scan software as well as SCANCARD, which automatic­ ally recognises the device. Func­ tionality of this type of software always appears to fall into one of two categories. Either there is not enough control over the scan operation, or there are so many knobs and twiddly bits you need a degree in quantum physics to understand it all. WW have overcome this to a great

GSM RATING: 8 . 5 (out of 10) Software: 80% Hardware: 90%

extent by providing both levels of control within one software package.

For a quick scan, the DMP mode (Demand Microfilm Printer) allows the user to print from a scan, scan to file, review on screen, or jump to the full func­ tion scan software. Even with the minimal control available in DMP mode, a decent image can easily be acheived from good microfilm.

Settings for more difficult media, (scratched, unevenly lit micro­ film, film mounted incorrectly in the aperture card etc.,) can all be further adjusted by switching to the full functionality software by a single mouse click.

Within that area of the software is where you find all of the set­ tings for changing the paramet­ ers for image quality, (e.g. threshholding, de-speckle, de-skew, ro­ tation, cropping, etc.)

Compression supported is CCITT Group 3 (1 and 2 dimen­ sion, with and without stripping), and CCITT Group 4 (with or without tiling or stripping).

File formats supported are TIFF, CALS, JPEG and BMP. Each format offers further options, the choice of which would be determ­

ined by the user, and based on what content is being scanning.

(Bi-tonal, continuous tone, etc.)

There is a further option which allows users to define their own file header format. This is well documented but likely to be outside the remit of normal mortals using the C-Drive X. SYNOPSIS As a reasonable cost aperture card scanner which provides high quality results, the C-Drive X would be a great buy for bureaus and low volume / occa­ sional users. For more complex and / or higher volume activities, WW have other kit which covers batch scanning and for reading (increasingly more uncommon) Hollerith code.

UK supplier Genus supplied the review equipment.

Tel: (+44) 024 7625 4955 Email: info@genusit.com Web: www.genusit.co.uk Contact Wicks & Wilson at: Tel: (+44) (0) 1256 842 211 Email: enquiries@wwl.co.uk Web: www.wwl.co.uk

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2008 and beyond

Now that the magazine goes to over 10,000 recipients, if you are not a subscriber you will only get a complementary copy every ....

U MONTHS OR LESS

That's not the best way to keep up to date with the fast moving information management industry! We have simplified the subscription options, and, for the first three months of the year we are offering a

FREE USB SIM CARD READER to all new subscribers* There are many exciting new features planned for 2008, including feature articles, H/W and S/W reviews, test reports, show reports, interviews, + MUCH MORE. We can accept payment by credit card or cheque and by PayPal. You do not need to be a PayPal account holder to pay!

Why not do it now? It couldn't be easier.

Subscription Options • PDF Only: £50 / $110 / €75 • • Magazine Only: £60 / $125 / €85 • • PDF + Magazine: £70 / $145 / €99 • • Platinum**: £100 / $215 / €141 • TELEPHONE: 00 44 (0)24 7638 2328 (Pay over the phone) FAX: 00 44 (0)24 7638 2319 (Email for a form) EMAIL: subscriptions@greensheetmedia.com greensheetmedia.com/subscribe.htm name may differ from that illustrated ** Platinum Subscription consists of an (optional) hard copy of the magazine, (optional) PDF version of the magazine, access to membership restricted online content within www greensheetmedia com and www ggbaker com All rights reserved by Green Sheet MEDIA and terms and conditions subject to change without notice. This does not af­ fect your statutory rights as a consumer. All terms governed by English law Errors and ommissions excepted All details correct at the time of going to print.

it

Software Review Product: windream Supplier: CC Data Type: EDMS / CRM Platform: Windows An Introduction to windream The windream name has been around for many years and the software is used worldwide.

Introduced into the UK by CC Data, the windream GmbH (Bochum, Germany) authored software has become synonymous with ease of use and operation. In the main this is because it is so closely integrated with the Windows interface.

Not only does windream appear as a 'drive' within the Windows environment, but it also has the ability to replicate any corporate directory structure. Permissions on drives can also be set to corporate security values. This is essential when working within common network drives where departmental or work group security and integrity is required.

Also at a corporate level, windream is able to integrate closely with many existing systems running on a variety of platforms. On any level of use, the license cost is much less than with traditional client / server price models. This is due to the authoring and operating environment approach, allowing lower cost development, (by working closely within the Windows environment,) and yet allowing the same or more functionality than other software offerings. This approach benefits both the small user with a require­ ment for only a few licences, and the corporate multi-site user.

Scalability There are over 20 software modules available within the windream suite. (More on this later.) This makes the software infinitely scaleable and extremely rich in functionality.

Configurations can range from simple storage and retrieval of documents (in native or image form), to a full blown corporate document management system with replication, auditing, workflow, and all the other requirements for compliance, traceability and accountability.

For this review GSM focussed

PRODUCT REVIEWS

on the windream Client, and windream Imaging, which were fortunately both installed on a pre-configured laptop. [I am very familiar with client / server requirements and software / hardware configs; - but it's been a while! Exec. Ed.] windream Imaging is the scan and document import client.

Users can capture documents

via a TWAIN compliant scanner, or import images generated by a volume scanner from a nominated directory. There is also an OCR option, so the OCR database can be built at the time of capture. (Or run later as a batch process.) Deskew, clean-up and other options are available within this module.

The windream Client is available in End User and Admin versions.

There is also a windream Server which is suitable for Microsoft SQL or Oracle data­ base environments. The Server handles communications across the network and operates between end user software and the stored documents / images.

Software Install & Config The consensus is that if all of the instructions and recommendations are carried out as prescribed in the (excellent and comprehensive) documentation provided, then

there should only be minimal further configuration required after the installation of either the server or client software.

A windream Run-through The instructions for using this particular demonstration setup were simplicity itself. The first hint of a windream install is within Windows Explorer. In WE

the windream drive shows up as a mapped network drive.

(Objects on 'Windream' (W:)) On the review system the heirarchical structure was already in place for content named Compliance, HR and Library. It was easy to see where target documents of interest might lie. (On a live system, with different disciplines and departments there would be mutually exclusive access to the data and documents.) There are further options for basic and advanced search facilities, as well as full text retrieval.

What is refreshing about windream is that it totally lives up to its key selling point. 'Ease of use'. With many document management systems there is a serious requirement to train staff to use any new system. With windream it is a no-brainer. If the user can use Windows they are already trained! To prove the point, and without resorting to any instruction

manuals or help screens, GMS was able to get a scanned document up on screen within seconds. Try doing that as a first time user of a corporate EDMS! A system which has probably been years in the making and totally driven by a company edict!

Special Features Integration with Windows is one thing, integration with a corporate EDMS is a whole different ball game. Fortunately windream comes to the fore with ready made modules for integration with SAP R3 and EMC Centera. However as there is a full SDK available for those who need it, integration with your favourite EDMS is (theoretically anyway) only several click away.

THE windream MODULES windream SBE / SBX / BE The patented technology on which windream is based is VFS. This stands for Virtual File System, and it allows users to capture files or documents in the DMS via the "Save as" command in Windows and standard applications via the respective functions of Windows Explorer. windream Archive The windream Archive can be used separately as a standalone application and in combination with the windream document management system. A further option is to integrate a module for jukebox control. windream Web Portal (Pro) The web portal offers worldwide access to any information saved in windream DMS. It is secure, quick, reliable and independent of location and time. The only re­ quirements are a valid windream user account and of course access to the Internet. windream BPM Business Process Management enhances the windream DMS by a powerful and easy to

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handle application for tracing business processes.

The workflow system allows windream users to generate, edit and supervise any business process. windream BPM supports the processing of different process types.

Software Development Kit The SDK offers Software companies and system integrators an opportunity to implement the DMS into solutions provided by third party suppliers or to develop their own solutions.

Ascent Capture to windream A complete solution for the automatic capturing of mass receipts and an automatic transfer to windream.

All documents and forms are first acquired by Ascent Capture via scanners.

In a following process, the system analyses the documents captured and generates index information from their contents, which can be administered in windream. windream DocView Displays a document preview for objects stored in the DMS. This module can view more than 200 file formats. With DocView, users will be able to read documents without having to open the corresponding application program, windream Office-Bundle A solution package for automat­ ing document administration re­ gardless of company size. It provides modules for the archiving of emails from MS Outlook 2000 or Lotus Notes 5, and the forwarding of images from Kodak Imaging Professional 2.6 to windream.

(Including convenient indexing.)

Data exchange from MS Word documents for indexing, and a follow-up module for windream documents is also available. e-MARC fo r windream e-MARC (by CC Data) provides integration with email clients storing and retrieving emails held in the DMS. Forwarded messages can be administered with windream specific DMS functions. Operating on the server side with MS Exchange, e-MARC also integrates with any email client. Because of this close integration, emails can be added directly into a document management system, windream Jukebox Control Allows users to archive documents in jukeboxes in a

V-:.

secure way with complete revi­ sion control.

This module supports all modern storage media. windream SecurArc SecurArc software uses digital timestamps to quickly identify possible data manipulations, and also checks the archiving dates of documents.

Management Extension (WMX) Enhances the windream administration program by two special features: System Monitoring, where current data of a windream environment can be edited as graphics, and DMSbrowser, which allows users to access documents stored in windream directly from the administration program.

software to the document, and the archiving system. This allows users to automatically receive, index and archive fax messages in the DMS. XML Im port Manager A solution for the automatic indexing and archiving of documents in windream. Binary files and the accompanying index data of available XML files (which are used as index files) are archived here, windream To Go For distributing and forwarding documents of a fixed windream system to other users. This enhances the document management and archiving system by a component that allows users to export

Barcode batches

single receipts

Incoming mail

ArcLink acquisition and capture flow windream Imaging For scanning, indexing and archiving incoming paper docu­ ments, this module is specifically designed for workgroups operating in net­ worked environments. it supports multifunctional Konica Minolta devices, which can be integrated into windream. It is also possible to integrate devices by other manufacturers without any functional restrictions, windream PCL-COLD Documents and index information from PCL printfiles are extracted and automatically passed over to windream.

Extracted index information is converted to the XML file format, while the documents themselves are converted to TIFF or PDF files. After conver­ sion, the extracted documents and associated indices are auto­ matically forwarded to windream. windream Fax WinFax Pro (Symantec) offers a modern, server based fax solution. As an enhancement, windream Fax extends the WinFax Pro solution by an interface which connects the

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documents from a windream DMS (e.g. to a CD-ROM), as a completely self-supporting project which also includes the associated object properties.

A rcLink fo r SAP /R3® In many companies, the introduction of SAP /R3® software results in a separation of workflow processes, as common access to documents is missing.

With ArcLink, electronic documents can be managed in an additional DMS. This allows common access to all receipts with their respective documents, either from the SAP-application used, or from the Desktop using Explorer.

Alternatively the Internet can be used for access, windream

ArcLink has been certified for use by SAP. windream scanLink scanLink is an interface via which electronic documents and associated metadata (such as indices) can be imported into windream independent of their file format. Integration with any scan program is possible, with Kofax Ascent Capture and Pixel Translation's QuickScan Pro already proven.

SAP R/3 applications can also be integ­ rated. windream Signature Allows users to digitally sign documents stored in windream.

The command for signing files has been integrated into the context menu of the Windows Explorer. This integration allows users to sign several selected documents via a quickly accessible command in one easy step.

CCImport Another CC Data originated pro­ duct, this allows users to batch import from a CSV file.

(CCImport works alongside XML importer, therefore users can go down either the CSV or XML route.)

SYNOPSIS The entire windream system offers an extremely high level of scalability and functionality. Suit­ able not only for SME's and cor­ porations, but also for data and document capture bureaus who require any level of control over capture, indexing and distribu­ tion of data. ■ CC Data can be contacted via: www.ccdata.co.uk or by em ailing : info@ ccdata.co.uk windream GmbH are at: www.windream.com

GSM Verdict Installation: 85% Configuration: 90% Ease of Use: 95% Special Features: 90% Documentation & Help: 90%

O V E R A L L : 90%

i PRODUCT REVIEWS

SOFTWARE REVIEW: Remark Office OMR 6.0 SoftwareType: Recognition / Data Collection

GSM RATING: 8 (out of 10)

Host PC: Dell Inspiron 9300 + 1Gb of memory Introduction Authored by Gravic inc., Remark Office OMR (Optical Mark Recog­ nition) software allows you to collect data from surveys, tests and other forms using your own stationary, scanner and PC. This makes the software selfsufficient and keeps control of the data within your organisation. Part of the Principa Products brand, which has been leading the way in OMR software since 1991, Remark OMR is in use by thousands of users around the world.

Installation / Configuration As you would expect from a ma­ ture software vendor, Remark should be a relatively straightfor­ ward install on to Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 or Vista.

Once installed there are 3 op­ tions in the Windows Start menu; Documentation, Data Centre and Template Editor.

Documentation: Comprehens­ ive, well written, and in PDF format.

All documentation guides the user in logical steps through the processes required to set up, configure, use, and get the best out of the software.

Data Centre: This is where all of the preferences and most of the

configuration takes place. It is easy to use and very descriptive for each option. It has to be really, as it is a fairly complex concept subject, particularly for a novice. Preferences fall into 3 categories of General, File Loca­ tion management and Recogni­ tion parameters.

Template Editor: This is the mod­ ule that allows general template configuration as well as defining the OMR, Image and Barcode re­ gion settings. Three barcode types are support: 3 of 9, Inter­ leaved 2 of 5 and Codabar.

These three should cover most applications the software would be expected to handle.

However problems may arise if the barcode has been deformed or stretched when printed, or in instances where coloured paper (or even colour barcode!) has been used. (Even large projects have been know to falter be­ cause generally poor print qual­ ity has negated any advantage a barcode might have offered, par­ ticularly in high speed scanning applications, or where the origin­ al documents have been poorly handled since their creation.)

Functionality For the money, Office OMR

Flexibility: 80% Functionality: 80%

does give great value. There are with high end production scan­ so many options and so many ners. Any TWAIN compatible configuration choices that it scanner will do, preferably with would be impossible to try to an ADF (Automatic Document cover everything in this short re­ Feeder). This provides paper view. Suffice to say that if you feed accuracy. (Required as have an OMR requirement, this user defined areas are specified. software can probably handle it Once data is captured there are for you, and at a reasonable tools to allow reporting and ana­ cost per seat. The approach to lysis on the findings. Remarks the software design is such that QuickStats features a surprising because there is a great depth array of statistical tools such as of functionality and functionality, Mean, Variance, Standard Devi­ it his hard to remember that this ation and Kurtosis. software runs on a standalone , PC or a server, has a pricing SYNOPSIS model that would be the envy of OMR can be complex and frus­ many other similar vendors, and trating, but Office OMR takes a carries the accolade of being lot of the hassle out of setup able to process PDF files. Al­ and data mangement. That though not enabled by default, a makes it easier for the user to simple configuration change al­ focus on processing the data. lows Office OMR to process Remark Office OMR offers an easy to use, extremely configur­ PDF files and to output to them.

Completed data can be format­ able and flexible solution with a ted into a variety of native file depth of functionality seldom formats ranging from MS Office found within this price range. ■ formats to more obscure names most of us are unfamiliar with un­ Contact (UK) Tekognition less operating in the OMR sector. Tel: 0044 (0)1562 883511 Finally, a word about scanners. Email: sales@tekware.co.uk TWAIN is supported and recom­ mended, as is USB and SCSI. Contact (ROTW) Gravic ISVS support is also available, al­ Tel: 001 610 647 7850 though this is more common Email: www.gravic.com (Form)

MICROFILM READERS

S-T IMAGING UNIVERSAL FILM CARRIERS & DIGITAL MICROFILM SCANNERS MicroVue Products has

been dedicated to the production of micrographic equipment since 1981.

MicroVue

m anufactures 16mm and 35m m film re a d e r s th a t a r e s old th ro u g h o u t th e w o rld .

MicroVue Products nas extensive R&D faculties, which are com bined with uncompromising quality and flexibility to the customer's specifications.

MicroVue offers quick replies for all related technical questions as well as the personal touch so rare in today's world.

Contact us for further information: T e l : + 9 7 2 - 4 - 6 0 6 2 1 71 Fax: + 9 7 2 - 4 - 6 0 6 2 1 6 8 we b : w w w .m ic ro v u e .c o .il e-m ail: info@microvue.co.il

□ IIS PRODUCT REVIEW

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PRODUCTS

Visit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/directory

By GSM's John Baker

POTLIGHT: B u re a u In v e s tm e n t

Key to the success of bureau business these days, is keeping up with industry trends and being prepared to invest in technology. MiSL have done just that, and now reap the benefits.

MISL, based in Hoddesdon, north of London, have been around for a good few years now. 26 in fact. Still a family run business (despite several 'suitors' over the years), as a capture bureau, the company has survived the downturn of the microfilm industry which was once their sole diet. With clever investment in hi-tech scanning solutions, they have not only increased turnover and profitability, but also managed to expand on their range of microfilm related services. This at a time when microfilm is continually referred to as a 'sunset industry'. [See issue 46, page 4. Ed ] Mixing both document and microfilm scanning keeps the company extremely busy, particulary as their two ScanOptics ma­ chines give them a capability to scan over 5 million documents per month. On the microfilm side the story is one of adapting and improving services to meet changing customer requirements.

Founded as a microfilm bureau

by Terry Harvey in 1981, MISL have found that (unlike many other bureaus in the UK,) adapting to change has been key to their recent success. With microfilm business simply * keeping the company ticking over, it was ready for a change.

By 2004 they were ready to take on -that challenge, and the transition began by their investing in ColorTrac, SMA, Kodak and Wicks & Wilson scanning equipment. Now they are well placed to cater for almost any type of scanning job.

Working closely with one of the UK's leading equipment suppliers (Genus Group), MISL have gradually built up a portfolio of production equipment, allowing them to take on most j i

microfilm scanning work. With UK local authorities coming under legislative and Government scrutiny on a number of fronts (such as planning applications) the timing was right for the move to

then MISL occupied an atypical microfilm environment of darkened rooms and small work­ spaces. Now they are in a larger, more secure, more productive, modern, open and brighter environment.

aperture cards. (WW CS750).

With the additional ability to output scanned images back to 16 and 35mm roll film (in black and white or colour) using their SMA51, there is a depth and diversity at MISL allowing them to cover most scan jobs.

MISL also maintain their own online repository for customers storage and retrieval require­ ments. "We manage our own servers, with raid arrays for storage. We also own the software customers use to retrieve their images, so that makes it very easy for us to customise to a customer specification" says Francis Taylor, MISL Operations Director.

Of the future for MISL, Taylor goes on to say that they see the 'mix' of bureau operations continuing as is, and that they expect increases in volume throughput rather than any specific new direction to the business.

As they also provide niche services for other document capture bureaus throughout the UK, MISL are well placed to continue their success story well into the next decade. ■ MISL are at: The Scan Centre, Geddings Rd. Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, EN11 ONT, UK Tel: (+44) 1992 470060 francis@docscanning.co.uk www.docscanning.co.uk

Scanning 178 frames per minute (from COM fiche), the ScanStation FS300 provides high throughput with minimal attendance complete the hard-copy / microfilm cycle.

Another move was required, that of premises, and that project was completed in July 2006. Until

Visit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/directory

In production scanning, there is a capability to perform medium to high volume scanning of fiche / jackets, (WW FS300) 16 and 35mm roll film, (WW RS325) and

Genus Group are at: Hammond Close, Nuneaton Warwickshire, CV11 6RY, UK Tel: (+44) 24 7625 4955 Email: info@genusit.com or visit www.microfilm.com

SPOTLIGHT Bureau Investment

TR A D E NEWS Keeping abreast with what your colleagues and competitors are doing can be vital to deciding your next move

partners with UBTC Partnership provides expanded Asian market for Snowbound’s high-speed imaging, viewing and col­ laboration technology and technical support, with UBTC’s proven industry expertise Snowbound to offer our clients imaging solutions that deliver the speed and reliability Snowbound is known for within the industry. Our customers expect us to supply top of the range applications to enhance their productivity and remain competitive in their respective marketplaces. Combining our solutions and expertise with technology offered by partners such as Snowbound enables us to continue to meet these expectations.”

capabilities, enabling users to process documents more effi­ ciently.

RasterMaster is Snowbound’s flagship imaging SDK and Library that provides automated document imaging functions that decrease appli­ cation development time. Its user-friendly API enables devel­ opers with limited or no imaging knowledge to include robust imaging capabilities, expert functionality and features such as conversion, annotation, and image manipulation into their applications.

Snowbound Software’s Director of Business Development, For more than a decade, William Martin commented Snowbound has been developing Snowbound Software, a leading deliver Snowbound’s high-speed “ UBTC’s expertise in content highly-efficient imaging solutions provider of powerful, flexible, imaging technology, including for document management and and reliable imaging technology, its RasterMaster Imaging SDK management and visualisation records management developers, applications is a great fit with Web-based FlexSnap has announced that it has and managers, and integrators Snowbound’s core offerings. formed a partnership with Viewing and Collaboration Universal Business Technologies application to its clients. In Partnering with UBTC will worldwide. Snowbound’s global Corporation (UBTC) to further addition, UBTC will also be extend Snowbound Software’s customer base includes thou­ offering local technical support. global reach and further meet sands of developers and mil­ expand its presence in Japan. the needs of our customers in lions of installations spanning a Headquartered in Tokyo, UBTC “Snowbound’s technology delivers Japan.” variety of industries, including provides businesses with the critical functionality for the con­ banking and financial, insurance, software and services that tent management, imaging, and Snowbound’s FlexSnap Web- government, healthcare, and based viewer and collaboration address imaging and archiving, archiving solutions available in manufacturing. database marketing, and visu­ the marketplace,” stated Kazuo application delivers high-speed Visit www.snowbound.com alisation requirements. The Kato, CEO, UBTC. “We are viewing combined with flexible or www.ubtc.jp document and image handling to partner with partnership will enable UBTC to pleased

Ricoh Partner of the Year DocuLex Awarded as Ricoh Technology Alliance Partner of the Year DocuLex provides Instant Document Access with Archive Studio 4, comprised of Goby Capture, Office Capture and WebSearch.

Archive Studio provides users with easy to use, automated, networked and Web enabled document management capa­ bilities. The software was cre­ ated specifically for use by businesses seeking affordable, thorough organisation and management of must-keep

TRADE NEWS

information. Archive Studio fea­ tures secure Web 2.0 based document access from any location via the Internet, includ­ ing permission assigning and Active Directory integration. “ Ricoh is very proud of all its partners that participate in the Ricoh Alliance Program,” said Hede Nonaka, senior vice pres­ ident of the Document Solutions and Services Division of Ricoh Americas Corporation. “ Each and every member of our

to work together with Ricoh to provide innovative and effective hardware, software, digital imaging and content/document management solutions for the business community.

The Alliance Program was created for companies whose products and technologies can integrate with and support the competi­ Ricoh Alliance Program encour­ tive stance of Ricoh products ages leading hardware and and solutions in the market­ software companies, content place. management systems integra­ tors and consulting companies Visit: www.docuiex-usa.com

partner program provides exceptional technologies and solutions that benefit Ricoh customers and we are pleased to be working with all of them. I salute all our winners for their excellent achievements and for standing out above very tough competition.”

Visit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/directo*

DEEPSTORE

adopts new image

New look for DeepStore reflects its enhanced, secure, second-to-none service DeepStore Records Management, a Compass Minerals Company, is today launching its new cor­ porate identity following recent acquisition of London based, IRM (Interactive Records Management).

Both companies will operate under the same new identity which includes a new logo, re­ designed sales and marketing collateral and an updated web­ site (www.deepstore.co.uk) all created by integrated marketing agency Ambition Communications.

The re-design comes hot-onthe-heels of the com pany’s strategic acquisition of IRM which has enhanced and expanded the companies over­ all offering. The more contem­ porary and unifying look now reflects the company’s compre­ hensive, countrywide, active, end to end document manage­ ment service.

Steve Holmes, Managing Director at DeepStore com ­ mented; “The acquisition of

IRM was a really exciting devel­ and hope will help us attract available. opment for us and has signifi­ new customers.”

DeepStore works with many UK cantly enhanced the service we DeepStore provides document wide organisations, including are able to offer customers. management and storage facili­ The National Archives, The We wanted to develop an iden­ ties to private and public com­ Bodleian Library, police forces, tity which reflected our new panies with unlimited potential hospitals, local authorities and strengths and would unite both for long-term archive expansion numerous large and small pri­ companies. Ambition has come with over 20 million cubic vate businesses. up with an identity for us of metres of void space currently which we are extremely proud Visit www.deepstore.com

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ScanPro 1000 All-In-One Microfilm Viewer, Scanner-to-PC, Printer -,

Microfilm, Cartridge Film, Fiche, Ultra Fiche, Micro Opaques, and Aperture Cards

The Auto-Scan™ plug-in software for the ScanPro 1000 adds autom atic scanning for roll film.

Outstanding features provide ease-of-use so you can complete look-ups and research quickly and efficiently.

• Exclusive TRUE-View™ operation.

C om pact, D esktop S canner ....fits alm ost anyw here

• High resolution scan in just ONE second.

• Optical zoom lenses cover 7X to 100X. • Scan, print, e-mail, save to USB, CD, & HD. • Save in popular file formats and Multipage.

• Customizable toolbar for simple operation.

• Efficiently save and restore your settings.

S can P ro 10 00 shown with Combination A pertu re C ard, Fiche. and m otorized 16 /3 5m m Film C arrier

• Secure screen mode for public use applications.

• On screen help for convenience and ease-of-use.

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Where can I see a ScanPro 1000? For the latest information: http://e-imagedata.com/tradeshows

http://e-imagedata.com

340 Grant St. Hartford. Wl 53027

vtsit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/directory

Ph 800-251-2261

image data m ic r o film s c a n n e rs

Fax 262-673-3496

TRADE NEWS

Show da S clash h dach Worldwide conflict im GSM COMMENT The show organisers for Bostons AIIM and Hannovers CeBIT have done nothing to endear themselves with exhibiting companies and attendees alike for 2008. With an overlap of key dates, two of the biggest shows have clashed appallingly. The up­ shot of this is that it is physically impossible for a person to attend the entire duration of both shows. Companies are going to have to double up on stand rep­ resentatives, which at best is a costly exercise, and at worst a lo­ gistical nightmare. Many compan­ ies also do not have two com­ plete sets of demo kit that they can send to different continents for a whole week. Apart from the exhibitors nightmare, anyone wishing to take in both shows faces a week of jet-lag regard­ less of which order they do the shows. Hannover and Boston are not exactly around the corner from one another!

For some reason known only to the respective organisers, the shows not only overlap by 2 days, but are earlier than usual.

(CeBit 4th to 9th March, AIIM 3rd to 6th March) This would not be so bad if the shows were chrono­ logically one after the other.

Clearly a bit of thought required on both sides of the Atlantic for 2009.

CeBit The organisers have changed the format for this massive show.

GSM attended in 2007 and found it hard to focus on relevant exhibitors of interest to Green Sheet readers. Apart from the heat (and the foot blisters,) the event was well worth a visit and 2008 is going to prove to be the same, or even better. In '07 there were over 6,150 exhibitors vis­ ited by over 480,000 attendees from over 70 countries. A phenom­ enal set of figures.

This large scale event, which has been cut from 7 to 6 days dur­ ation for this year, has had a re­ vamp of its usual format (already announced in GS 46). There are

SHOW PREVIEWS

now only 3 primary categories of visitors interest. To re-cap, with a united theme of technology of in­ frastructure, the divisions are: • Business Solutions • Public Sector Solutions • Home & Mobile Solutions Themed presentations for all cat­ egories will be available. There are still 33 halls of varying sizes to plough through, and it will be in­ teresting to find out after the event if the organisers have got it right with the category split. Par­ ticularly as there is going to be one less day to do the show in.

CeBIT has an excellent web site which as always, is a good place to go to when planning to attend.

The sheer weight of numbers which come up when selecting who to see is a little off-putting.

t as 2 key show dates clash to say that if you are interested in any aspect of the information management industry - you will find vendors to talk to about it.

Not only that, but you will find companies at CeBIT that you would not normally find at any other major IM related shows.

For many exhibitors CeBIT is the one venue in the show calendar where they can reach a truly worldwide audience, not just be­ cause GSM will be joined by over 8,000 members of the media, but also because of the sheer

volume of quality industry specif­ ic visitors.

However, regardless of which sec­ tor of the IM industry you are inter­ ested in, it will clearly be difficult to attend both shows.

On the one hand that is what CeBIT is about, having many com­ panies under one roof. (Or under several roofs in this case!) On the other hand, they do make it easy to plan with online visual aids to let you see who is where.

With so many quality companies going to CeBIT, all that we can hope to achieve in this preview, is to put across the message of how well it is organised, and a paint a broad picture of what to expect out of CeBIT. It would be unfair to single out any particular company or its products for review, but it is fair

AIIM Expo The organisers will be hoping for better weather this year. There were atrocious storms across the Eastern Seaboard in 2007, with many flights cancelled and roads closed due to flooding.

Attendances were still good des­ pite the conditions, and indica­ tions from AIIM are that 2008 will see record numbers attend.

Key to every AIIM Expo is the conference. (Note that although conference begins on the 3rd of March, the show itself does not open until the 4th.) Bob Mancini

is doing a ’State of the industry address' entitled "Corporate Knowledge: Share it, secure it", but you need to wait until 09:30 on the 4th for that. And with 17 tracks and 140 sessions to choose from, visitors will bq pressed to squeeze in everything they want to see or hear on this side of the event.

It is important to remember that the AIIM show differ from the norm in that training programs form part of the sessions, and it is not all self promotional presentations from vendors.

On the show front, there are over 200 exhibitors covering the 85,000 square feet of space.

They are expected to be visited by over 10,000 attendees inter­ ested in pursuing the event theme, which is 'Take back con­ trol o f your content and informa­ tion'.

The AIIM show is split into 24 business categories for this year, and you can start planning how you are going to go around the show by visiting their excellent web site at www.aiimexpo.com.

At least that way you can ascer­ tain who you might want to visit before the event, so you can maximise your time there. ■ John Baker Executive Editor johnbaker@greensheetmedia.com GSM Note to readers ....

The early dates for both CeBIT and AIIM this year, means that we will be bringing you reviews from both sides of the Atlantic in our 50th issue of the Green Sheet which is due out in the first week of May. However, keep an eye on the web site at: www.greensheetmedia.com, as we will post a precis of the revue during March.

Remember to be sure of getting your copy it is best to subscribe.

Visit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/directory

OPPORTUNITIES Sales & Development Manager An excellent opportunity for a sales professional, to develop new and existing sales opportunities within a progressive Data Management Company.

Selling document scanning, scanners & software, along with other associated document management solutions.

M icrofilm and Imaging Equipment

EASY M U LTIM ED IA SCANNERS

CopyMaster (A2)> a sophisticated yet easy to use overhead copier for copying books and documents the way you read them; face up. Ideal for staff or public use the CopyMaster captures images directly to the integrated computer from where they can output to paper and digital devices.

Good basic, with no upper earnings limit for the right candidate

Bureau or Assistant Bureau Manager Universal Microfilm Scanner

Due to continued expansion, our scanning bureau requires an experienced scanning bureau Supervisor/Assistant Bureau Manager, to join our Management Team to help the success story continue throughout 2008.

A good knowledge of bureau practices and operations is essential.

a reader and scanner for microfilm, microfiche, aperture cards and opaque cards. With its low price and a very small footprint the Universal brings affordable and compact digital microfilm options to every desktop.

Copy Base (A1-A0)>

Realistic salary and generous, profit based, bonus scheme.

Jo z m

For either of these London based positions, please apply in confidence to

the Solar range of A1 and AO copy bases are specifically designed and built for scanning the wide variety of maps, books and objects unsuitable for sheet fed systems. Standard fittings allow the user to select the best camera for the job.

Email: mail@solar-imaging.com T: +00 (0)1634 290099

BOX 022 c/o Green Sheet MEDIA 65 Winchester Drive, Burbage, Leics. LE10 2BA or email tim@greensheetmedia.com

www.solar-imaging.com 1 Laser Quay, Culpeper Close, Medway City Estate Rochester, Kent ME2 4HU

The Digital Mailroom. Vision is Reality.

The vision of a digital mailroom is appealing.

Tens of thousands of mail items, delivered electronically to recipients on time.

Consolidated costs, stringent audits, responsive customer service, regulatory compliance, business continuity. The benefits are countless.

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*#â&#x2013; 2 5 )9WenbpeWs,,c,lJW

P The vision of a true, centralised digital mailroom is now a reality.

Combining speed, tolerance and intelligence, ImageTrac from IBML has become the platform of choice for real-world mailroom solutions.

Delivering mail the intelligent way

PHI Phone: +44 (0)1483 549818

Email: uksales@ibml.com

www.ibml.com

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tale: piece

Put your feet up and enjoy a lighthearted look at life from the executive editors perspective. Sometimes funny, almost always relevent to travel, business or the IM industry.

If you would like to comment on the magazine or this column, please feel free to email me. All email answered (except spam of course).

A Happy Peaceful and you drink enough of it - also may get you bumped off the flight prosperous 2008 to you all. due to your being pie**d I hope you all had a great inebriated. Water is good, tea Festive Season and that you are and coffee 'intermediate' as they all back at work and ready for contain caffeine. And if travelling the challenges ahead this year. with the family, unless you want Aside: Did you know that the your kids bouncing of the roof of Scottish people get an extra day the aeroplane when there is no off at New Year? I wonder why turbulence at all, keep them on that is? (Email me.) I am hoping water too. (Watch out for 'e' I had a great time as I usually numbers in sweets. There is do, of course this is written nothing worse than having a before the holiday break, so if I rowdy kid near you in an didn't have good time, you will enclosed space - no matter how much you love the dears.) get to know why.

Well we are another two months Once the flight is called on the on. What a long wait it has been. Tannoy (A trade name by the I left you at the airport check-in way. Same as Hoover, although and about to proceed to security. it is hard to keep the carpets clean with a Tannoy!). Anyway, So lets go there now ....

OK. You are at security. By the once the flight is called on the way! You did wear loose fitting Tannoy you have a choice. clothes didn’t you? You did wear slip-on shoes didn’t you? And Ladies (!) don't forget that sensitive security machines are tuned up to 'nuke' level with whatever your countries equivalent of a DEFCON status is at the time. This means scanners will pick up under­ wired brassiere's and hair pins and hair clips. Gents - don't forget to remove your Breitling watch. (What do you mean 'What's a Breitling?') You better remove your belt with the Megadeath / ACDC buckle. You know, the one your Goth daughter gave you for Christmas.

It all saves embarrassment. You will be laughed at if you have to go through the security arch more than twice. Trust me - I've seen it happen. Don't forget that implants (no ladies, not that kind of implants) can set off a Either be first off the starting machine too, so if you have any blocks and through the gate so hidden screws, nuts, bolts or you have the plane to yourself steel plates keeping your body while you get settled, or just sit together, best take a letter from and people watch until the your doctor / surgeon. Hell! Take queue dies down. the x-rays if you can. It lightens The airline at this point will do the load on the security people if their utmost to make sure you they can have a laugh at your get on the flight. If you are not at misfortune. If you successfully the gate once everyone is run the gauntlet that is airport through to the plane, they will security you are safely in the call you. Again and again they will call you, believe me, and departures area.

Hopefully you are also by now in they will do so with increasing the right place at the wrong time, angst in their voices. This is and early. (If you have taken simply because if you do not heed of my earlier advice.) With show at the gate, and you have international flights having a two baggage checked in, they will hour check-in, it means you need to unload the hold until have time to kill. Rule number they can turf your bag(s) onto apron.

Planes are one - avoid alcohol. It will the dehydrate you too much and if (extremely) expensive beasts to

TRADE NEWS

buy / lease and need to be in the air most of the time and travelling from A to B to make money.

Baggage handling delays like this not only cause the airlines problems with the hold baggage, but the flight runs a real risk of missing a taxi slot across the apron, and possibly also the subsequent take-off.

The 'domino effect' comes into play. (AKA 'Chaos Theory'.) The plane is late out, lands late, misses the return take-off slot etc. etc. (A butterfly flaps its wings in Thailand, and a storm brews over the Gulf of Mexico.)

Now you are on the plane. The safety announcement is under way and if (unlike me) you are even slightly afraid of flying, the spiel they give you will not be helping your nerves. There is so

much to remember isn't there?

Slip on 'this' over your head, tie 'that' there, pull 'this' to inflate, blow whistles, flash lights etc.

Here's the truth! Statistically it has been proven that following a real emergency landing on water, NOBODY has ever had their life saved by donning and using the life jacket.

Console yourself with the scientific facts that a plane such as the excellent fly-by-wire Boing 777’s (or is it Boeing?) or Airbus Industries 380, fortunately do not run on any of Bill's Software, and are essentially millions of spare parts flying in close formation.

Further, when the plane trundles down the runway, Newtonian and Einsteinian physics come in

to play - it MUST take off. ("Ye cannie defeat the laws o' physics Captain!” as somebody important once said.)

Going back to the life jacket, ask yourself this question. If the i darned thing won’t fly, why on earth should it float long enough for you to remove your high heels and make an orderly exit down the play chute?

Now you are hurtling down the runway towards the prospect of in-flight blockbuster movies, radio stations at the touch of a button, complimentary drinks from the bar, a three course dinner with wine, further drinks from the bar and with assorted snacks thrown in. Or are you? In the past, major airlines seemed to go to great lengths to outdo each other in a bid for customer satisfaction and full stomachs by the end of the flight.

I remember in my consulting days travelling the 150 miles from my (then) home town of Aberdeen, Scotland, down to Glasgow. It was a red eye flight and I was 'flying the flag' with Grittish Bareways, so a hot breakfast was on the menu. As soon as the pilot had extinguished the seat-belt sign, our cabin crew were rushing around like ants trying to serve everyone. What the crew didn't normally get on this early flight was a very fast tail-wind coming from the North. This meant that instead of a 45 minute flight (take-off to touch-down) they were reduced to something like 35 minutes. The scene was comical as a steep descent into Glasgow over the Ochil Hills meant it was difficult to move the trolleys up and down the aisle. I am convinced to this day that at least one member of staff was still up and about when the wheels touched the tarmac in Glasgow. All part of the service.

Next issue we complete our flight with a landing. [As planes do! Exec. Ed.] Because of editorial changes, from our 50th Issue onwards there will be somone new doing the Tale Piece for you. But meantime however, buckle up, sit back and enjoy the view. ■ JB International, your intrepid reporter johnbaker@ greensheetm edia.com

Visit the GSM Directory at www.greensheetmedia.com/direch

WHERE ARE YOU ALL? The GSM Directory wants to hear from you because...

in the global directory

with INTERNATIONAL

Categories for: Hardware • Services • Software • Supplies If you are in the inform ation m anagem en t industry - you should be in the GSM D irectory

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Email: directorylisting@greensheetmedia.com or visit www.greensheetmedia.com/directory for more information

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