Caere Supplies OCR Products to IBM for Irish Postal Service; Over 1000 OCR Bar Code Readers Installed for Customer Transaction Solution at 600+ Sites

Business Wire, Feb 23, 1995

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 1995--Caere Corporation announced today that it has signed an agreement to supply IBM Ireland with OCR Readers for AN POST, the national postal service of Ireland.

The customized version of the Model 832 combination OCR Reader and Bar Code Decoder will be used in conjunction with Caere's hand-held wand, allowing postal employees to scan text and read bar codes from anywhere on the document. Caere's products are part of a complete customer transaction solution to be installed at more than 600 post offices throughout Ireland. Other components of the solution include IBM personal computers equipped with touch screens for easy user interface and receipt printers. All PCs communicate via X.25 leased-line networks.

The agreement was spearheaded by Cognitronics, a Value-Added Reseller (VAR) based in Nottingham, England.

In addition to traditional mail service, Irish post offices provide customers with a wide array of other services, including savings and investment products, utility bill payments, and government welfare benefit transactions.

The new system will allow postal clerks to conduct customer business on-line. The addition of the Caere OCR Reader/Bar Code Decoder allows for fast and accurate input of account information, freeing the clerk from rekeying data that is printed on paper documents.

In selecting from a wide range of OCR products, IBM asked Cognitronics to supply the most effective solution available, requiring in excess of a 95 percent first pass read rate.

Caere Corporation

Caere Corporation, with U.S. headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif. and European headquarters, Caere GmbH., in Munich, Germany, is a leader in OCR technology and desktop document management products. The company's products include the OmniPage and WordScan lines of OCR software that convert printed and faxed documents into electronic text; the PageKeeper line of Windows document management software that reads, remembers, and retrieves a wide range of information for personal computer users; the M/Series high-speed, high-volume OCR hardware and software for commercial applications; and a broad array of OCR and bar code reading products that accelerate transaction processing.

CONTACT: Caere Corporation, Los Gatos

Deborah Herath, 408/395-5148