<p>January 5, 2007 4003 Wood Street ● Erie, PA 16509 ● PH (814) 866-2247 ● FX (800) 507-8981 ● http://www.documentimagingreport.com Document Imaging Report Business Trends on Converting Paper Processes to Electronic Format The Facts Are That Fax Is Far From Dead Emerging FoIP technology will drive future sales of software for large install base of potential distributed capture devices. Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed an explosion in sales of workgroup (sub-$2,000) scanners. We’ve also seen rapidly increasing adoption of scanning on digital copiers. However, even when you put these two types of devices together in a market called “distributed capture hardware,” the install base pales in comparison to that of fax machines—estimated to be over 50 million worldwide. “The need for distributed scanning solutions is on the rise, and fax remains the easiest, most cost effective, and most ubiquitous technology for scanning a document and sending it to someone else,” attests Dan Lucarini, senior director of marketing for fax server software vendor Captaris. “Everyone has access to a fax machine or multi- function all-in-one device, and everyone knows how to use a keypad and press ‘send.’” But aren’t faxes part of the paper problem that document imaging is designed to eliminate? Well, not necessarily. Captaris, for instance, offers direct connection from its RightFax software to ECM solutions from leading vendors like Hyland, FileNet, and EMC Documentum. Captaris also has its own workflow and document management software, picked up through acquisitions a couple years back [see DIR 11/5/04]. These solutions enable incoming faxes to be saved, managed, and archived as digital images—without ever being printed. “With our fax server software, users can also capture a very basic, yet important piece of metadata—the sender’s fax number,” said Lucarini. “This information can be exported in an XML format and easily referenced against a customer database to identify the sender. It doesn’t require any OCR, ICR, or complex capture techniques.” PANASONIC CONTINUES TO BUILD PRODUCT LINE Panasonic has released a new departmental scanner, and despite some executive personnel changes, the Secaucus, NJ-based Panasonic Digital Document Company (PDDC) remains as committed as ever to the document scanning market. “Factory representatives from Japan recently visited, and they confirmed that they will continue to do whatever they need to, to help us grow our business,” said Alexandra Dilly, product marketing manager for scanners at PDDC. “Our parent [Matsushita] will continue to sell scanners as an OEM manufacturer, like they always have, but PDDC also has a full product roadmap planned through the next couple years.” Panasonic’s biggest strength has always been in the low-volume production market segment (scanners priced approximately $5,000-$10,000). However, this spring, Panasonic launched a serious entrant into the workgroup space, with its KV- S1025C. The 1025C, which features advanced card capture capabilities, is targeted specifically at the healthcare industry. It won a Best of AIIM award and also received a strong review in Government Computer News. “We’ve always been in the top two or three players in the LVP space,” said Dilly. “In the workgroup segment, we’ve traditionally had less than a 5% market share. However, we’re seeing great traction from the 1025C in the government and healthcare verticals and are interested to see our 2006 numbers. In fact, our success in these verticals has motivated us to look at other verticals we can address with future models. “We’ve also been working closely with our copier dealers, who view the workgroup model as an attractive on-ramp into dedicated document scanning. In 2006, our sales through the BTA channel doubled from the previous year. At our THIS JUST IN! CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Not requiring character recognition can be an important ingredient to a successful fax application, as the image quality of faxes is often sub-par when compared to those produced by quality document scanners. However, in recent years, we’ve seen increasing use of advanced image processing and data matching to improve recognition rates from faxed documents. For example, at Top Image Systems’ recent conference in Berlin, we saw a presentation from the German operations of Office Depot, which discussed how it improved recognition rates from faxed order forms from 45% to 90%. The flipside of fax So, why isn’t everybody using fax machines for capture, instead of investing thousands of dollars in new scanners? Well, the aforementioned image quality problems are one reason. Office Depot, for example, cites the following issues with faxes: ■ poor image quality (200x100 dpi) ■ unreadable orders, even by the human eye ■ substantial noise problems ■ some images skewed more than 6% Office Depot, which uses RightFax, overcame these challenges by utilizing several recognition engines, along with TIS’ Virtual engine algorithm. It also applied approximate search technology for database matching. While this worked out, if Office Depot was in a situation in which it had control over the hardware devices used to capture orders, it probably would have been cheaper just to install document scanners. Related to quality, there is also the issue of color, which common fax protocols do not support. As color printing continues to gain traction (with a big push from MFP hardware vendors who love color consumables), there will no doubt be an increase in a demand for color document images. Today, black-and-white remains good enough in most North American business applications. However, a telling sign for the future may be the fact that in developing markets like China, color scanners represent the overwhelming majority of the install base. In our view, the reason for this is there are no legacy business processes that rely on black-and-white images. Because color images are a more accurate representation and contain more information, it doesn’t make sense to start with black-and-white anymore. The final element working against fax machines is that in most cases, they rely on analog phone lines, which, when you start dealing with any real volume, are more expensive to use than the Internet networks that e-mails travel across. We have seen many case studies in which reducing costs related to analog faxes was the cost justification for a distributed scanning application. Security, accessibility keep fax in play Okay, now that we’ve ripped apart fax solutions, you might be leaning the other way, and saying, “why would anyone want to use fax?” Well, let’s address the quality and color 2 Document Imaging Report January 5, 2007 Notice: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission of RMG Enterprises, Inc., Erie, PA, USA. DIR is the leading executive report on managing documents for e-business. Areas we cover include: 1. Document Capture 2. Image Processing 3. Forms Processing/OCR/ICR 4. Enterprise Content Management 5. Records Management 6. Document Output 7. Storage DIR brings you the inside story behind the deals and decisions that affect your business. Vol. 17, No. 1 Editor: Ralph Gammon 4003 Wood Street Erie, PA 16509 PH (814) 866-2247 FX (800) 507-8981 ralphg@documentimagingreport.com Managing Editor: Rick Morgan PH (814) 866-1146 rickm@scandcr.com Publisher and Circulation Manager Larry Roberts RMG Enterprises, Inc. 5905 Beacon Hill Lane Erie, PA 16509 PH (412) 480-5116 FX (412) 291-1352 larry@rmgenterprises.com DIR is published 24x per year, on the 1st & 3rd Fridays of the month, by: RMG Enterprises, Inc. 5905 Beacon Hill Lane Erie, PA 16509 PH (412) 480-5116 http://www.documentimagingreport.com Copyright © 2007 by RMG Enterprises, Inc. Federal copyright law prohibits unauthorized reproduction by any means including photocopying or facsimile distribution of this copyrighted newsletter. Such copyright infringement is subject to fines of up to $25,000. Because subscriptions are our main source of income, newsletter publishers take copyright violations seriously. Some publishers have prosecuted and won enormous settlements for infringement. To encourage you to adhere to this law, we make multiple- copy subscriptions available at a substantially reduced price. Subscriptions: $597 (electronic) or $670 (paper) per year. Document Imaging Report Business Trends On Converting Paper Processes To Electronic Format January 5, 2007 Document Imaging Report 3 Notice: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission of RMG Enterprises, Inc., Erie, PA, USA. Special Pull-Out Section: Document Imaging Report Annual Article Index For 2006 Issue Date Pg. Title of Article Main Topics Featured Jan 6, 06 1 IKON Levels Playing Field For Partners Copiers, Channel IKON, eCopy, Westbrook, EFI Jan 6, 06 1 Batch Capture For Copiers Copiers, Capture Kyocera Mita Jan 6, 06 3 DIR Annual Article Index For 2005 Jan 6, 06 7 NSi Looking To Fill Void In Capture Market Copiers, Capture NSi, IBM Jan 20, 06 1 Alfresco Unleashes Open Source ECM ECM, Standards Alfresco Jan 20, 06 1 Retailer Rolls Out Big Invoices App Capture, IDR Carrefour, Kofax Jan 20, 06 3 OnBase 5.0 Retains Mid-Market Focus ECM, Channel Hyland Jan 20, 06 5 SaaS Proving Successful For Hyland ECM, SaaS Hyland Jan 20, 06 6 Mailroom Proves Battleground For Scanner Vendors Scanners, Capture IBML, OPEX Jan 20, 06 7 Federal Courts Address E-Discovery Compliance, ECM Kahn Consulting Feb 3, 06 1 This Isn’t Your Father’s Visioneer Scanners, Channel Visioneer Feb 3, 06 1 ERM Certification Program Kicks Off RM, Compliance AIIM Feb 3, 06 3 SMB Very Attractive To ECM Vendors ECM, Imaging, Workflow, Security DocuWare, ZyLAB, IBM Feb 3, 06 6 Open Scan Moves Beyond Exceptional Roots Payments Open Scan Feb 3, 06 7 Canon Improves Capture Options Digital Copiers Canon, Captaris Feb 17, 06 1 Kodak Tipping Toward Distributed Capture Scanners, Capture Kodak Feb 17, 06 1 FileNet Introduces High-End WCM ECM, WCM, M&A FileNet Feb 17, 06 4 Banking ISVs Assimilate Document Imaging M&A, Verticals Harland, Financialware Feb 17, 06 5 OMR Specialist Acquires Peladon Capture, IDR, M&A Peladon, DRS Feb 17, 06 6 Automated Redaction Becomes VAR's Calling Card IDR, Verticals CSI, Océ ODT, Kofax Feb 17, 06 7 Game Just Beginning For Kirtas Scanners, OCR/ICR Kirtas, ABBYY Feb 17, 06 8 Upgraded Scanner Expedites Classification Scanners, Capture OPEX Mar 3, 06 1 Cardiff Gets New Lease On Life Capture, M&A, E- Forms Cardiff, Autonomy, Verity Mar 3, 06 1 Ricoh Embedded App Finalists Digital Copiers, Capture Ricoh, eCopy, NSi, Omtool Mar 3, 06 3 Weighing RM Priorities E-Discovery Kahn Consulting, FileNet, ARMA Mar 3, 06 5 SIRE Sires IDR For Clerks Verticals, IDR SIRE Mar 3, 06 6 Kofax, Interwoven Strengthen Ties ECM, Capture, Channel Kofax, Interwoven Mar 3, 06 7 Tech Data Moves Toward Solutions Channel, Scanners, ECM Doculex, Questys, iDatix Mar 3, 06 7 TAWPI Launches RFP Portal BPO TAWPI The next four pages contain an index of the articles that DIR published in 2006. A searchable electronic version of this index is available from Editor Ralph Gammon, who can be reached at ralphg@documentimagingreport.com. Key to index abbreviations: ECM - enterprise content management; RM - records management; M&A - mergers and acquisitions; SOA- service oriented architecture, WCM - Web content management; BPM - business process management; IP - image processing; IDR - intelligent document recognition ; BPO - business process outsourcing; DRM - digital rights management 4 Document Imaging Report January 5, 2007 Notice: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission of RMG Enterprises, Inc., Erie, PA, USA. Issue Date Pg. Title of Article Main Topics Featured Mar 17, 06 1 New Scanning Solutions Target SMB Scanners, Copiers, Capture Kodak, HP, Pixel, FileVision Mar 17, 06 1 AIIM On Demand Event Taking Shape Trade Shows Questex Mar 17, 06 5 Dicom Acquires More IDR Technology Capture, M&A, IDR Dicom, LCI Mar 17, 06 6 Samsung Forces Dicom’s Hand Capture, Financials Dicom, Samsung Mar 17, 06 7 Toshiba Merges Solutions & Products Groups Digital Copiers TABS Apr 7, 06 1 scanR Launches Capture Service For Mobile Pros Capture, Mobile scanR, ABBYY Apr 7, 06 1 Paper Connection ‘06 Bigger & Better Capture, Copiers eCopy, Canon Apr 7, 06 3 Captovation Promotes Network TWAIN Capture, Copiers, Check Scanning Captovation, Ricoh, Visioneer Apr 7, 06 4 BBH Scanners Expands Line, Extends Service Agreement Scanners, Service, IP, Channel Böwe Bell & Howell, Kodak Apr 7, 06 6 Stellent Not Sitting On Profits ECM, Financials, RM Stellent Apr 7, 06 7 New ScanSnap Addresses Desktop Demands Scanners, Capture FCPA, ABBYY Apr 21, 06 1 Kofax Transforming Into Enterprise Player Capture,Channel Kofax, Dicom Apr 21, 06 1 Datacap Gearing Up For Big Show Capture, IDR Datacap, AIIM Apr 21, 06 4 A Look At Kofax's Technical Direction Capture, M&A, IDR Dicom, Topcall Apr 21, 06 5 Scanner Vendors Show Their Wares Scanners, IP, IDR FCPA, Visioneer Apr 21, 06 6 Paper Connection II: Twice As Large Capture, Copiers, Channel, Vertcials eCopy, Konica Minolta, Hyland Apr 21, 06 8 Plasmon Introduces UDO Appliance For ECM Storage, Compliance Plasmon, Raidtec May 5, 06 1 EFI, Nuance Launch Alliance Capture, Copiers Nuance, EFI May 5, 06 1 NSi Releases MEAP App In Europe Capture, Copiers NSi, Canon May 5, 06 3 Nuance To Step Up Patent Enforcement Capture, Scanners, Intellectual Property Nuance, Visioneer May 5, 06 4 Panasonic Targets Healthcare Market Scanners, Verticals Panasonic May 5, 06 5 Pixel Adds Network Featrure To ISIS Scanners, Capture Pixel, Captiva May 5, 06 6 ABBYY Introduces Recognition Server App OCR/ICR, Capture ABBYY USA May 5, 06 7 Kyocera Introduces Imaging-In-A-Box Copiers, Capture Kyocera Mita, NSi May 5, 06 7 Ricoh Awards Capture Vendors Capture Ricoh, Omtool May 19, 06 1 Kofax Introduces SOA-Based Scanning Scanners, SOA Kofax, DTI May 19, 06 1 Imaging, Search, Speed Upgrades In PaperPort 11 Capture, Search Nuance, Intellext May 19, 06 3 Improving Distributed Capture Capture, Copiers Kofax, ABBYY May 19, 06 4 Kodak Introduces Own-Manufactured Workgroup Scanners, Patents Kodak, Nuance May 19, 06 6 RemoteScan Dominating Emerging Market Scanners, Verticals RemoteScan, Inc May 19, 06 7 Federal Business Ramping Up For SourceCorp BPO, Verticals SourceCorp Jun 2, 06 1 SOA, Microsoft Hot Topics At AIIM On Demand SOA, ECM, Capture Microsoft, Google Jun 2, 06 1 New Chair Shares Vision ECM, Events, M&A AIIM, Visioneer Jun 2, 06 2 SharePoint 2007: The Partner Perspective ECM, Channel, Verticals Hyland, Captaris,, KnowledgeLake, Westbrook, DocuWare Jun 2, 06 5 SOA Splashdown SOA, Capture, Scanners, OCR/ICR, Channel, Digital Copiers, ECM Microsoft, Kofax, Westbrook, Datacap, Sharp, Captovation Jun 16, 06 1 EMC, Captiva Marriage Off To Solid Start M&A, Capture Captiva, EMC Jun 16, 06 1 New Digs Required For Growing Event Trade Shows Questex, AIIM Jun 16, 06 3 Bish Soon To Be Gone, But Certainly Not Forgotten Capture, M&A Captiva, EMC Jun 16, 06 4 Adobe Chooses I.R.I.S. As OCR Partner OCR/ICR, Capture Adobe, I.R.I.S. Jun 16, 06 5 Scan-Optics Poised For Turnaround Scanners, Channel, BPO, Service Scan-Optics, Access Services Jun 16, 06 6 IBML Enhances SoftTrac Scanners, Capture IBML January 5, 2007 Document Imaging Report 5 Notice: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission of RMG Enterprises, Inc., Erie, PA, USA. Issue Date Pg. Title of Article Main Topics Featured Jun 16, 06 6 silex Optimistic About Network Scanning Scanners, Channel silex, Visioneer, Muratec Jun 16, 06 6 Former Service Bureau At Center of Investigation BPO, Verticals Audre, Inc. Jun 16, 06 7 Scan Server Bypasses Desktop Scanners, SOA, IP Kofax Jul 7, 06 1 Jumping On The Classification Bandwagon Capture, IDR, M&A, OCR/ICR, Channel AnyDoc, Cardiff, Peladon Jul 7, 06 1 eCopy Announces Major Upgrades Capture, Copiers eCopy, Adobe Jul 7, 06 4 Capture Vendors Move Into DPA Capture, BPM Kofax, Cardiff, AnyDoc Jul 7, 06 6 Océ-ODT Continues To Innovate Channel, OCR/ICR Océ-ODT Jul 7, 06 7 Top Image Building Revenue Capture, Financials TIS, SAP, Nagase Jul 21, 06 1 Oracle Introduces ECM For Database Customers ECM, Capture, Channel Oracle, Kofax, Open Text Jul 21, 06 1 Recognition Specialists Merge OCR/ICR, M&A Parascript, Mitek Jul 21, 06 3 Orbograph Refines Post-Recognition Keying Solution Capture, OCR/ICR, Channel Orbograph, Captiva, IBM Jul 21, 06 4 Plenty Of Room For Growth In Invoice Capture Market IDR, Verticals AberdeenGroup Jul 21, 06 6 Changes In Remittance Driving Interest In EOBs IDR, Check Capture AIIM, TAWPI Jul 21, 06 7 SunGard Integrates RRI Capture, Verticals SunGard, RRI Aug 4, 06 1 IBM Continues Pursuit of SMB ECM, Channel IBM, UIMA Aug 4, 06 1 ECM Shakeout Continues M&A, Financials Open Text, Hummingbird Aug 4, 06 3 PDF, .NET Trends Drive Snowbound Sales PDF, Toolkits Snowbound Aug 4, 06 4 Quality Control for PDF/A PDF, Standards Apago, AIIM Aug 4, 06 5 German Market Embraces Scan-To-PDF/A MRC, Standards LuraTech Aug 4, 06 7 Standards Needed To Drive Digital Signatures ECM, Compliance DocuWare Aug 4, 06 8 Captaris Workflow Making Its Mark BPM, Fax, M&A Captaris Aug 18, 06 1 The Big Deal M&A, ECM, Capture IBM, FileNet, EMC, eVisory Aug 18, 06 1 More To Come… Capture, ECM Datacap, Stellent Aug 18, 06 4 BancTec Righting Its Ship BPO, IDR, Scanners BancTec, EDS Aug 18, 06 7 A2iA Encourages Adoption Of IWR For Forms OCR/ICR, Capture A2iA, IMERGE Aug 18, 06 8 Scan Station Bundled With Legal Software Scanners, Capture, Verticals, Channel Kodak, Tech Data, DocuLex Sep 8, 06 1 McMahan Out As Visioneer Shifts Gears Scanners, Channel, Visioneer, FCPA Sep 8, 06 1 HSA Capture 2006 Set For Oct. 3-4 Events, Capture Harvey Spencer Sep 8, 06 4 ECM Vendors Add Information Rights Management ECM, RM, IRM, M&A, Security Stellent, EMC, SealedMedia Sep 8, 06 6 Datacap Adds Intelligent Classification Capture, IDR, ECM, SOA Datacap, Content Analyst; SAIC Sep 8, 06 7 Interwoven Sees Solutions As Path To Prosperity ECM, M&A, Verticals, Channel Interwoven, Scrittura Sep 8, 06 8 Nuance Upgrades Converter PDF, XPS, Capture Nuance Sep 22, 06 1 Removing The Mystery From Forms Processing Capture, OCR/ICR ADI, Lockheed Sep 22, 06 1 Acquisition Gives Hyland A Degree In Higher Learning BPM, Verticals Hyland, Matrix Sep 22, 06 4 AnyDoc Preps For Renewed Growth Capture, Workflow AnyDoc Sep 22, 06 5 TIS: A Leader In IDR Capture, IDR, ERP TIS Sep 22, 06 6 Historical Records Specialist Installs Indicius Capture, Channel, IDR, OCR/ICR AncestryDPS, Kofax, Doxtek Sep 22, 06 7 Adobe Introduces New Acrobat Family PDF, Collaboration, OCR/ICR Adobe, I.R.I.S. Oct 6, 06 1 IBML To Provide Scanners For 2010 Census Capture, Scanners, Verticals, Color, OCR/ICR Lockheed, Census Bureau, IBML Oct 6, 06 1 Transitions Continue At Scan-Optics Scanners, BPO Scan-Optics Oct 6, 06 3 Xerox Helps AOL Digitize Processes BPO, Capture XGS, AOL 6 Document Imaging Report January 5, 2007 Notice: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission of RMG Enterprises, Inc., Erie, PA, USA. Issue Date Pg. Title of Article Main Topics Featured Oct 6, 06 4 New Kodak Scanner Runs At 200 ppm Scanners, Capture Kodak, IBML Oct 6, 06 5 Our Insights On The BancTec IMBL Dispute Scanenrs, Patents IBML, BancTec Oct 6, 06 6 Kodak Capture Software Adds MICR Check Scanning Kodak, NSi Oct 6, 06 7 HP Releases Desktop Sheet-Fed Model Scanners, Capture HP, I.R.I.S. Oct 6, 06 8 More On Adobe and I.R.I.S. OCR/ICR, Capture I.R.I.S., Adobe Oct 20, 06 1 HSA Hosts Capture Summit Capture, Events, IDR, SOA, XML Harvey Spencer, Microsoft, OASIS Oct 20, 06 1 Questex Adds Information Services Through InfoTrends Events, M&A Questex, InfoTrends Oct 20, 06 5 eCopy Maintains Strong Growth Rate Capture, Copiers, Channel, Financials eCopy, HP, Canon, Kofax, Omtool, NSi Oct 20, 06 6 ReadSoft Buys SAP Partner Capture, IDR, ERP M&A, Financials ReadSoft, Ebydos, SAP Oct 20, 06 7 BancTec Rapidly Growing BPO Business BPO, M&A, IDR, Financials BancTec, MediaService Nov 3, 06 1 Dicom Strives To Improve Market Focus Capture, IDR, M&A, ECM, SOA, Fax Dicom, Kofax Nov 3, 06 1 FCPA Upgrades Mid-Volume Line Scanners, RM FCPA, Kofax, PFU, Hyland Nov 3, 06 5 EMC Input Evident In New Release Of IA Capture, SOA Captiva, EMC Nov 3, 06 7 Xerox Introduces Embedded Development Platform Copiers, Channel, Capture Xerox, Captaris, Kofax, Nuance, NSi, Omtool Nov 17, 06 1 Elections, Document Imaging, And What’s Right in Kansas ECM, Copiers, SOA, Channel Perceptive, Westbrook, DocuWare Nov 17, 06 4 ECM Consolidation: Who's Next? ECM, M&A Oracle, Stellent Nov 17, 06 5 Ricoh Introduces New Scanning Feature Capture, Copiers Ricoh Nov 17, 06 6 NCR Enters Capture Space Capture, Scanners NCR, IBML Nov 17, 06 7 Simonis Celebrates 20 Years With BBH Scanners Scanners BBH Scanners Dec 1, 06 1 Deadlines Approaching For Claims Foms Upgrades Capture, Verticals SunGard, Mitek Dec 1, 06 1 ABBYY Releases First Mobile SDK App OCR/ICR, Mobile ABBYY, scanR Dec 1, 06 3 Peladon, Wausau Sign OEM Deal Capture, IDR Peladon, Wausau Dec 1, 06 4 Kofax Introduces IDR For Resellers Capture, IDR, Channel, M&A Kofax, Dicom, LCI, Ocè ODT Dec 1, 06 5 Visioneer Increases Network Options Scanners, Copiers, SOA Visioneer, AXIS, Kofax, Silex Dec 1, 06 6 Iron Mountain Shows Digital Growth RM, E-Mail, M&A Iron Mountain, Accutrac, EMC Dec 15, 06 1 Invoices, Mailrooms, Oracle, And A Whole Lot More Capture, IDR, Digital Mailroom, Channel, SOA TIS, Hackett Group, XGS, 170 Systems, Oracle, SAP, Capture Experts, Power Decisions, Pentadoc, Mailconsult Dec 15, 06 1 EMC Introduces OEM Version of Documentum ECM, Channel Documentum Dec 15, 06 3 Exorbyte Show Fuzzy Matching For OCR OCR/ICR, IDR Exorbyte, TIS Dec 15, 06 5 Kofax Breaks The ICE On SOA Strategy Capture, IDR, SOA, Copiers, Channel Kofax, Dicom, salesforce.com Dec 15, 06 6 Saperion Puts Eggs In Software Basket ECM, Channel, RM Saperion, FileNet Dec 15, 06 8 Scan-Optics Maintains Focus Scanners, Capture, M&A, BPO Scan-Optics, Viking Software cheaper than paying for use of analog lines,” said Eric Bean, senior director of product management for Captaris. “As a result, we’re seeing a big movement toward VoIP. FoIP is the natural next step for users that want to consolidate all their telecommunication on the same network.” Davidson, called 2006 a year for tire-kicking in the FoIP space. “Fax server software sales were essentially flat in 2006, but I don’t think that is a long- term trend,” he noted. “In fact, I’ve projected a CAGR of 8.2% over the next five years, driven mainly by adoption of FoIP. By 2009, I expect sales of FoIP software to gain primacy over traditional fax server software, which relies on analog transmissions.” Davidson noted that people are worried about the reliability of FoIP. “They’re used to 98-99% reliability from their fax technology,” he said. “They are afraid with FoIP that could go down.” Overcoming barriers to FoIP adoption One of the potential problems with FoIP has to do with dropped information packets, which are fairly common in VoIP communication. “Unlike voice traffic, which has a fairly straightforward method of transmission and can afford a little latency or drop- off while the packets are being sent, a drop-off or other problem during a fax might mean the entire message is scrapped,” said Steve Adams, VP of marketing for FoIP specialist MyFax. Adams compares accounting for potential problems in FoIP exchanges to the children’s game of Mousetrap. “IT managers are finding they have to create complex, time-consuming workarounds to do what they used to do by plugging a fax machine (or fax server) into a phone port,” he said. “What’s frustrating is that spending all that time working to send faxes over an IP network is really a case of the tail wagging the dog. While faxes are still very important to many industries – real estate, insurance, financial, legal, healthcare, and manufacturing come to mind – the ratio of faxes to voice traffic heavily favors voice. Yet, if the business goal is to eliminate phone lines and the subsequent costs that go with them, then faxes must also be accommodated.” January 5, 2007 Document Imaging Report 7 Notice: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission of RMG Enterprises, Inc., Erie, PA, USA. issues first. In situations like Office Depot’s, in which a business is receiving documents from an at-large customer base, over which it has little control, the humongous install base of fax machines is going to have some sway—image quality be damned. So, if Office Depot wants orders, it had better learn to deal effectively with poor quality black-and-white images. Another advantage that fax has over e-mail involves security. “The fact that e-mail is transmitted over the Internet can create potential interception problems,” Peter Davidson, a fax industry analyst, told DIR. “Internet networks are susceptible to hackers. The only way to touch a traditional fax transmission is by tapping a phone line, which is not very common.” Davidson admitted that there are encryption techniques available to create more secure e-mail transmissions, but added, “who uses all that stuff?” Along these lines, most fax implementations also include automated receipt capabilities, letting a sender know their fax has gone through. While e- mail systems have these capabilities as well, they are typically less reliable than fax receipts and sometimes not used at all. Related to security, we will also note that we now receive a lot fewer junk faxes than we do e-mails. This means there is less chance of an important fax being mistakenly deleted as “junk mail.” “It’s harder to track an e-mail spammer than a fax spammer,” noted Lucarini. “In addition, a few years ago, laws were passed that include extremely onerous penalties for abuse of fax lines.” Lucarini added that fax is also still the most popular way for transmitting a signed document between parties. Similar to e-mail encryption, there are plenty of digital signature options available, but they have yet to achieve widespread adoption. FoIP: Key to the future Yes, a lot of these reasons for choosing faxing over scanning could become obsolete as technology like encryption and digital signature matures and gains mainstream adoption. However, the large install base of fax machines, and the inertia that typically holds back technological adoption until years after an invention is introduced, will keep faxing alive well into the future. In regards to the cost savings associated with scanning over faxing, a current transition toward fax-over-IP solutions could eliminate that difference. FoIP is essentially a parallel technology to more popular voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), which leverages the Internet to eliminate analog phone services. “Buying network bandwidth tends to be “If the business goal is to eliminate phone lines and the subsequent costs that go with them, then faxes must also be accommodated.” — Steve Adams, MyFax disappearance of paper. Now that people have realized the paperless office isn’t on the way anytime soon, they’ve begun accounting for it with widespread document imaging adoption. Similarly, as people realize faxes are not going to go away, we agree with Davidson’s projections that there will be an upsurge in fax-related software sales. For more information: http://www.documentimagingreport.com/Fax.1543.0.html (for complete articles from Lucarini and Adams); http://www.davidsonconsulting.biz. 5905 Beacon Hill Lane ● Erie, PA 16509 ● Phone (412) 480-5116 ● Fax (412) 291-1352 ● http://www.documentimagingreport.com Name ______________________________Title_____________ Company ___________________________________________ Street ______________________________________________ City ________________________ State _____ Zip __________ Phone (_____) ______________ Fax (_____) ______________ E-Mail______________________________________________ Subscription Order Form for RMG Enterprises, Inc. Please ❏ enter / ❏ renew the following subscription. 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Document Imaging Report Business Trends on Converting Paper Processes to Electronic Format SCAN: The DATA CAPTURE Report Premier Management & Marketing Newsletter of Automatic Data Capture 1 year (24 issues) ❏ electronic copy @$597 ❏ paper copy @$670 ❏ electronic copy @$597 ❏ paper copy @$670 8 Document Imaging Report January 5, 2007 Notice: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission of RMG Enterprises, Inc., Erie, PA, USA. To solve this dilemma, Adams recommends the use of a hosted FoIP service, which handles the infrastructure for the end user. “With an Internet fax service, all the real heavy lifting of establishing the call, negotiating the handshake between faxing devices, encoding the message for transmission, message correction and synchronization, terminating the call, etc. is handled off-site,” he commented. Bean argues that some users view utilizing hosted FoIP services as adding an extra layer of complexity to their document processes. “We see hosted fax services as essentially a SOHO play,” Bean told DIR. “We’ve haven’t seen much traction in mid-sized and enterprise accounts. As these organizations begin to view fax as part of their messaging and document transport infrastructure, it becomes more important for them to integrate fax solutions into their back-end processes. It’s more difficult, but not impossible, to do this with an outsourced or hosted solution.” In November, Captaris announced that its RightFax software would support FoIP through integration with Cantata Technology’s Brooktrout SR140 platform. “FoIP is definitely the next step in the industry,” said Bean. “I think its adoption is at the level where VoIP was a few years back.” Conclusion Fax remains the proverbial ignored elephant in the room when people discuss document imaging. Yes, a lot of distributed scanning applications are replacing fax machines. But, there still remains an incredibly large number in use, and they must be accounted for. Ignoring faxes would be making the same mistake e-commerce experts made a few years back, when they touted the overnight dealer meeting in Sept., I’d say 80-85% of the attendees had questions about scanners.” In December, Panasonic announced its new KV- S2048C departmental model. It is rated at 43 ppm/76 ipm at 200 dpi in a bi-tonal mode. Because the scanner relies on a CIS lens, which represents a different configuration than Panasonic’s workgroup and LVP offerings, the 2048C slows down to 19/34 at 150 dpi in color. It does, however, feature Panasonic’s advanced image processing technology, as well as the “double-feed prevention system” that is featured on the 1025C [see DIR 5/5/06]. In addition, the 2048C includes an ultrasonic sensor to improve double-feed detection. The 2048C lists for $3,795 and advertises a lifespan of 3 million scans. Its list price is slightly lower than those of competing sheet-fed only models from FCPA and Kodak. http://www.panasonic.com/Business/office/pro_scn.asp PANASONIC, FROM PAGE 1 </p>