Hot Products at the Show - COMPLETE PACKAGE

Everything a customer needs to implement a production imaging system is included in Data General's (www.dg.com, Booth #157)

AV Image-in-a-Box, which will be unveiled at AIIM '98. The solution includes Data General's Aviion AV 8600 four-way enterprise NT server; a 30-slot Clariion FC5000 Fibre Channel storage subsystem; 20 discs (108 GB for images and 36 GB for databases) in a 73-in. rackmounted system. Also included is an integrated console with a flat-panel display and a Fujitsu (www.fujitsu.com) duplex scanner.

The system also contains AV Image in a five-user starter pack with Express-Track for batch input and Web-Track for Internet access to images, and is designed for future expansion. Priced at $350,000, AV Image-in-a-Box comes with startup service and one-year annual maintenance.

NEW VERSION OF DATA COLLECTION TOOL

Among the benefits Cardiff's (www.cardiffsw.com, Booth #263) new data collection product, Teleform Version 5.4, offers customers are reduced manual data input and a shortened turnaround time, according to the manufacturer.

New features for the standard version include high-speed form merge and an improved recognition technology through its Tri-CR multiple engine software including new fonts and Spanish language support.

The Elite version, targeted as a mid-range solution, also features electronic forms imaging, dynamic preprocessing, advanced image zone formatting and enhanced form identification. Teleform runs on both Windows 95 and NT.

Teleform Elite 5.4 sells for $4,995. The standard version sells for $1,495. The new release will be available to current Teleform users at no charge.

FORTIFIED FAMILY LINE

A year has passed since the Fortis document management suite was unveiled at AIIM '97. At this year's show, three additions to the product line will be displayed by Westbrook Technologies (www.filemagic.com, Booth #1659). They are Fortis PowerWeb, Fortis COLD and Fortis CDExpress (pricing set by resellers).

PowerWeb gives businesses global access and eliminates investment in an additional Web server, according to the manufacturer. Once a document is stored in Fortis, it is available online, which eliminates publishing to the Web and conversion steps. PowerWeb brings Fortis viewer capability to the Web, including such functions as rotation, zooming, printing and faxing.

Fortis COLD--a 32-bit client-server ODBC-compliant solution--provides a single point for information retrieval. It can be used for COLD applications alone or integrated with Fortis client-server document management capabilities. When integrated, users can retrieve information without knowing the source of the document itself.

Fortis CDExpress lets users create and distribute CD-ROMs containing large databases of documents. Documents can contain images, graphics, text, spreadsheets, word processing documents, audio and video clips, and documents within documents. Recipients can run the Fortis viewer directly from the CD-ROM to retrieve previously indexed data and documents without other software.

Westbrook also unveils at AIIM an upgraded version of File Magic CDExpress, which allows users to record information on CD-ROM with a click of the mouse.

JAVA APPLET REDUCES IMAGE WAIT

A new document viewer application will be exhibited by AccuSoft (www.accusoft.com, Booth #2655). NetVue/Java (starting at $5,000) is designed to speed image viewing to the Web. Multipage TIFF documents, JPEG and GIF images, thumbnails and annotations can be viewed with minimal delay, according to the manufacturer. Predicted AccuSoft CEO Scott Warner, "This product will have a significant impact on the acceptance and use of Java as the best Internet and intranet solution."

The company will also show the latest version of its imaging software development kit, ImageGear98 ($395). The new release adds Internet support.

FAST FRONT-END SOLUTION

Based on the belief that good capture is the first step in developing a good knowledge management system, Datacap (www.datacap.com, Booth #1425) has unveiled Task Master 2000.

"If I don't capture it correctly, I'm going to be paying for this forever," said Gary Armstrong, director of marketing for Datacap.

Task Master 2000 capture workflow software is able to process more than 1 million documents a day, according to the manufacturer. The 32-bit Microsoft Windows application integrates with Datacap's Paper Keyboard capture and recognition software and is scalable to market-leading databases including Oracle, Informix, Sybase and SQL server. In addition to data export to databases, the product does manual workflow.

"Enterprise customers who integrate Task Master 2000 and Paper Keyboard 97 with today's leading data and document management solutions will greatly improve their ROI because of tremendous cost and time efficiencies we provide on the front end," said Scott Blau, president of Datacap.

The product keeps network data hidden from all network clients, including users accessing the management reporting subsystem.

LOW-COST ADD-ON STORAGE

A new network storage product from Meridian Data (www.meridian-data.com, Booth #2162) touts easy installation and low cost. A 4-GB Snap network-attached storage server starts at $995, 6 GB for $1,295 and 12 GB for $1,795.

"It's the perfect solution for workgroups of knowledge workers with lots of large files," said Jeff Hill, Meridian's director of Snap server product marketing. Also when handling rich data types, fat applications, Internet content, E-mail and in document management, "storage server space is an ongoing need," said Hill.

The Snap server connects directly to the network and works independently of a file server. Installation is done by plugging into a power source and an Ethernet jack.

ENHANCED DEXTERITY

A new release of Eyes & Hands forms processing system includes a 32-bit design architecture for Windows 95/NT. Version 4.0 (starting at $4,900) from ReadSoft (www.readsoft.com, Booth #745) captures data from any type of form. Enhancements include more flexibility because Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is now integrated into the program.

The new release offers the ability to interpret the value of several fields from a single field, so that multicolumn tables can be extracted. Version 4.0 also supports ODBC look-ups and allows users to employ queues or user statuses to adapt the system to existing routines, and to change the workflow or to improve the program's utility. According to the manufacturer, other enhancements include improved interpretation, form definitions that are easier to design and more fault-tolerant, and improved barcode reading capabilities.