Version 3.0 for three types of Ascent capture

Capture is not all the same in Kofax's (www.kofax .com) eye. There is document capture--where the whole document matters. There is data capture where the document is irrelevant but fields on the form matter. And then there is the Internet or distributed capture where remote sites capture, process and transfer data and documents to a central location for further processing and release.

Historically certain capture vendors excel in some of those areas. However, with Ascent Capture 3.0, Kofax aims to address the three capabilities in a single product.

The benefits to the user: As a single application and interface, it is easy for an organization to learn, it is scalable as usage grows and gives the IT department one tool to support across multiple departments.

Kofax will be showing Ascent Capture 3.0 at AIIM'99 Booth #2942.

New features in 3.0 include:

• Automatic Form ID, which intelligently recognizes documents as different form types.
• enhanced image processing through Kofax's ImageControls 3.2. Image processing can be performed on a full-page basis or on a zonal basis in the forms processing queue.
• mixed document support, thereby reducing the amount of batch preparation required for each document or form type.

Gerry Murray, IDC's (www.idc.com) research manager, sees the technical and economic advantages of the product. Resellers can deliver a "lower barrier of entry and a greater chance for service," he said, and the new release meets more capture needs of users.

Pricing for Ascent Capture 3.0 depends on projected monthly requirements, starting at $895 for up to 5,000 images per month and climbing to $54,000 for unlimited capacity and functionality.

At least one user is already seeing gains from the product.

"Automatic forms recognition and data capture have allowed us to mix forms and other documents within a single batch. This has substantially reduced pre-scan document preparation that must be accomplished by hand," said Michael McCombs, chief information officer at Lason (Troy, MI), one of the world's largest document and data capture service bureaus.