Capture's legacy deserves our respect

Today, Dec 2002 by Bolita, Dan

editorial

Hats off to the capture hardware vendors

Document imaging pioneers deserve our respect. As most of us were mere passive witnesses to the generational changes in data capture and storage, these folks helped make it happen. Most admirably, these long-time vendors of document capture hardware have maintained their focus in the midst of a sometimes-- impetuous market.

Ironically, as technology advanced, respect for the pioneers seemed to wane. Many pundits and gurus chased after the next new thing, often overlooking the more 'mundane' technologies we know as scanning. Which goes to show that gurus should come down off their mountains once in awhile and look around.

Looking around the places capture technology is actually in use, one discovers where this less-glamorous equipment earns its respect-in the trenches. At government bureaus, subscription and warranty fulfillment shops, insurance agencies, mortgage offices, and colleges and universities screening the next-year's crop of applicants, capture is getting done. Throughout the world, a formidable arsenal of document scanners is converting mountains of paper to electronic form (or committing it to microfilm, which yes, does still exist).

Having actively supported imaging since its inception, Kodak, through its Document Imaging division, continues to offer a number of capture tools and services for applications requiring digital or micrographic imaging. Document capture, image archiving and document management still feature prominently in Kodak's strategy. (Ask Kodak how it handles 60 million W-2s). High-end production scanners from Kodak, as well as impressive offerings from IBML. ScanOptics, and VisionShape have been tackling some of the most intensive paper-reduction projects in the world.

White high-volume requirements generate the stories we're apt to read, there are legions of machines performing the miracle of capture every day-often 24-hours a day. Whether distributed branch capture or even lower volume desktop scanning, what once cluttered desks and file cabinets now resides in archives and databases-- available for access-thanks to scanners.

In the mid-range, Bell & Howell's Copiscan Series scanners have been dutifully chugging along at, speeds of up 125 pages per minute. Panasonic's Digital Imaging unit likewise offers production scanners that have been working at speeds up to 187 images per minute.

Fujitsu Computer Products of America manufactures many workgroup scanners (including the M-Series departmental/production scanners) for document imaging. Similarly Canon U.S.A. shares a role as an imaging systems solution; and 64-year-old Ricoh has quietly enjoyed sales over $14 billion a year, part of that from its line of scanner products. The list is far from complete, and far be it for me to omit any of the many providers of capture systems.

Software developers continue to perfect data extraction systems that can recognize meaning in every hand-written scratch. Meanwhile we should take a moment to appreciate the fact that the lion's share of work we know as data capture is already being accomplished. The sometimes-unsung heroes of work process improvement are the household names we've come to rely on-and sometimes take for granted. Here's to scanners.

Dan Bolita

Editor