I.R.I.S. Group, a leader in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology for document management applications, has announced the extension of its licensing and cooperation agreement with HP.

In past years, I.R.I.S. has worked with a licensing agreement covering the integration of I.R.I.S. OCR technology into HP software products and the bundling of the Readiris Pro product with several HP products, including the HP LaserJet, Scanjet and Officejet product lines.
The extended agreement includes the embedding of I.R.I.S. OCR in future HP devices (where OCR is embedded in the firmware of the machine) as well as the new document compression iHQC™ technology (intelligent High Quality Compression: a technology that allows to compress colour documents to reach an extremely small file size without conceding on quality) developed by I.R.I.S.

 I.R.I.S.’s technology will be incorporated into fully searchable PDF, PDF/A and XPS documents. “Currently, there are more than 50 HP machines that integrate I.R.I.S. OCR technologies on the market,” said Dr. Pierre De Muelenaere, President & CEO of I.R.I.S. “We are very pleased to extend our agreement with HP to include new, compelling features such as embedded OCR and compression for its higher‐end offerings.” ■

www.irislink.com

Canon UK & Ireland, has announced the appointment of Clare Want as its new CBS (Canon Business Solutions) Marketing Director.

Want joins Canon UK & Ireland following 20 years of consumer marketing experience, predominantly in over-the-counter consumer healthcare brands. Until recently, Want was Global Marketing Director at Johnson & Johnson and previously held the position at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare before it was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2006. In her career, Want has also held various roles including Director, Central and Eastern Europe at Pfizer, Commercial Director and Business Development Manager at Warner Lambert as well as Group Marketing Manager for Penguin biscuits at McVITIE’s.

At Canon UK & Ireland, Want will be responsible for delivering CBS marketing campaigns for direct and indirect routes to market. She will head up a team of approximately 50 marketing professionals and will be reporting directly to the UK & Ireland Managing Director, Andy Vickers. Want’s key focus will be on helping to develop customer propositions for Canon’s market leading business solutions to ensure the company’s continued success in key business and public sector markets. ■

www.canon.co.uk

AnyDoc Software, a leading provider of automated document and data capture solutions, announced today that its AnyDoc®EXCHANGEit™ 5.1 solution has achieved SAP® Certified Integration status through the SAP Integration and Certification Center (ICC). The integration captures invoice data and post/park invoices, then transfers it to the SAP ERP application Release 6.0. Based on an integration assessment by the SAP ICC, it also archives invoice images to the HTTP Content Server, part of the SAP NETWeaver Application Server Release 6.20.

With a simple drag-and-drop setup interface, EXCHANGEit is an efficient tool for moving data and documents from AnyDoc’s data capture solution, OCR for AnyDoc®, to an end-user’s SAP application. EXCHANGEit’s certified integration with SAP solutions helps ensure a seamless bridge for invoicing documents and invoice data. The integration can be set up to allow the quick transfer of data on the fly or the scheduling of transfers to occur at an optimal time according to a customer’s business practices and organizational resources.  ■

www.anydocsoftware.com

AIIM Europe, the ECM Association, has announced that following nine years of staging face-to-face information management events in Dublin, this year’s Info Ireland will take place online, on the Internet, between September 15th and November 14th 2008. Visitors to this year’s Info Ireland Online 2008 will learn about, compare and discuss the latest developments in information and content management, without needing to take time out of the office or negotiate Dublin’s traffic.

Info Ireland’s organisers will assemble the most complete set of Ireland-specific resources for all aspects of Enterprise Content Management - scanning, capture, collaboration, document management, email management, records management, workflow, BPM, search and Enterprise 2.0. The Info Ireland site will include recorded keynote presentations from AIIM and Microsoft describing the levels of uptake of ECM technologies in Ireland, and the very recent impact of the "SharePoint Effect".

The site will also offer Irish case studies, AIIM educational resources, an interactive question and chat forum, a SharePoint clinic and a local Ireland Buyers Guide.

Doug Miles, AIIM Managing Director, says, "In view of the economic situation and the additional pressures on everyone's time, we have decided that for this year we will move the popular Info Ireland event online. The potential benefits of an investment in information management remain as important as ever, particularly the cost reductions from business process re-organisation around electronic documents and forms, and the travel savings from online project collaboration." ■

www.infoireland.net

The British Library is electronically storing and approving over 3,000 purchase invoices each month with Version One’s document imaging technology, DbArchive. Since implementing the new Version One system, which is tightly integrated into its Oracle E-Business Suite system, The British Library has freed-up document storage space and reduced invoice processing time, enabling suppliers’ payment terms to be more easily met. The Version One system can be accessed by up to 2,000 authorised British Library staff across five different sites either through Oracle or via the Version One web browser, DbWebQuery.

Jayne Cove, Oracle E-Business Suite Business Development Manager from The British Library says, “The Financial Operations & Business Development team identified a need for document management and an opportunity to improve purchase invoice processing efficiency. After a competitive tender process and an extensive evaluation exercise the British Library decided upon Version One’s DbArchive due to its tight integration with Oracle and Version One’s impressive customer referencability.”

With DbArchive, all purchase invoices are imaged using a Kodak i260 scanner and automatically linked to the appropriate record in Oracle. Authorised staff can now retrieve all invoices directly from their PCs instead of having to spend time manually locating documents. Authorisation of purchase invoices is also fully automated, replacing a manual and time-consuming approval process involving posting and physically signing paper invoices.  ■

www.versionone.co.uk

Spiceworks™, Inc. have announced the addition of new crowdsourcing features to the Spiceworks IT Desktop, the industry’s first free collaborative IT management application for small and medium businesses. The new features – called SpiceLists – enable users to collaboratively develop, share, and rank IT best practices, products and services, and reports – making it even easier for them to manage their networks. The SpiceLists address one of the biggest problems facing IT pros in small businesses today – how to quickly and easily connect with people like themselves in order to find the products, services and information they need to solve their unique IT issues.

“Crowdsourcing has brought tremendous benefits to the consumer world and it’s now doing the same for the average small business IT manager like me,” said Martin Peverley, IT Manager, Bihler of America, Inc. “By assembling the collective experience, knowledge and ratings from thousands of IT professionals around the world and letting the best rise to the top, Spiceworks is making it easier for me to get my job done.” ■

www.spiceworks.com

Neocol UK, a leading business information management consultancy, has consolidated its UK offices with a move to new premises to fit in with rapid growth and expansion plans.

Established in late 2003 to meet customer demand for an intelligent approach to information build up, content consultancy Neocol has experienced growth in a year on year turnover of 65%. Following a recruitment drive the company has relocated to the prestigious 1000 Lakeside office development in Portsmouth.

The new office will provide Neocol with greater presence and act as a catalyst for further growth, as the company will now be able to host events and present demonstrations of its solutions at the new location.

Nick Turner, Director for Highcross the owners of the development, said: "1000 Lakeside is a perfect location for Neocol. With its impressive aesthetics, high specification office space and strong UK and international transport links, the landmark building offers a significant edge to companies seeking business space in the area.” ■

www.neocol.com

Esker S.A., announced a new partnership with Fujitsu Europe Limited, a market leader in document imaging scanners and services. As part of this strategic cooperation, Esker and Fujitsu Europe will combine high throughput technologies and document scanners to eliminate manual imaging processes, reduce costs and “Quit Paper”.

In support of Esker’s “Quit Paper” campaign helping organisations reduce the unnecessary use of paper, Fujitsu will provide high-quality image processing to Esker’s customers in their quest to reduce overall paper consumption. As a result of this partnership, initiated during the Fujitsu EMEA Conference in Dubai in February 2008, manual document processing will be eliminated and order-to-cash and procurement cycles will be accelerated. This partnership demonstrates Esker’s commitment to the Fujitsu Imaging Channel Program.

Esker solutions range from sales order and accounts payable automation to electronic invoicing and electronic purchasing, relying on imaging scanners as the front line of the document process automation chain. Fujitsu scanners meet these challenges by offering high-performance scanning capabilities, fast scanning speeds, and top quality image processing saving user’s time and money.   ■

www.esker.com

Fujitsu  

As an alternative to the expensive and time consuming process of signing contracts on paper, wireless agreements are now signed electronically at the point of sale. The process is completed as follows: the wireless agreement becomes a PDF document instead of a paper document; the customer's signature is then written onto a signature pad and embedded into the PDF document (including biometric data). Biometric information is captured for later customer authentication. This process also enables multiple signatures on one document. Electronic signatures used at POS offer tremendous cost savings and labor reduction due to the elimination of paper processes. Additionally, electronic signatures shorten customer waiting periods and offer a method for identifying customers more rapidly and securely. Electronic signatures lessen the need for printing, scanning, shredding, mailing, faxing and Fedex.

xyzmo SIGNificant's electronic signature and digital sealing solutions have been implemented at various telecom carriers for use at their retail stores. A satisfied customer had this to say about the product, "The processes in our shops will now be faster and more efficient due to the digital signature. Customer acceptance and feedback are extremely positive. Waiting periods shorten significantly. Thus, customer consultation and service have improved."   ■

www.xyzmo.com

Isilon Systems® (NASDAQ: ISLN), the leader in clustered storage, today revealed the results of a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Isilon Systems titled “The Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) of Isilon’s Clustered Storage System.”

Forrester examined the total economic impact and return on investment (ROI) that enterprises may realize by deploying clustered storage. Forrester conducted a series of in-depth interviews with four organizations currently using Isilon’s clustered storage systems and found that these companies achieved benefits including lower upfront costs, fewer administrative resources, less training and professional services, and cost avoidance of traditional storage media.

The Forrester Total Economic Impact (TEI) of Isilon’s clustered storage system can be accessed at www.isilon.com.   ■

By using the scanning bureau service provided by Kendata Peripherals, the
Department of Automatic Control & Systems Engineering at the University of
Sheffield has been able to dramatically reduce the amount of time taken to
mark the exam for one of its most heavily subscribed courses.

In previous years, students on the Systems & Control course were required to provide written answers in the exam, and staff would then be faced with the
task of double-marking nearly 200 scripts. This process needed to be completed by a certain date so that the results could be presented to the University's examination board before being passed on to the students.

"Marking the exam would take two to three weeks of pretty intensive work,"
said Dr Rob Harrison, Reader in Computational Data Modelling, "and with
student numbers continuing to rise, it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain consistency and accuracy in the marking. It was just not sustainable."  ■
www.kendata.com

Eastman Kodak Company today announced that Albyn Housing Society has installed a ScanLink electronic document management (EDM) system along with one of its new duplex i1420 tabletop scanners to manage all the documentation generated as part of providing affordable rented housing in the Scottish Highlands. The solution was sold by Inverness-based reseller, Solution X.

Processing up to 60 pages per minute, the Kodak i1420 handles virtually all document sizes and shapes and features Kodak’s Perfect Page imaging technology to ensure quality scanning first time by the Albyn Housing Society’s Allocation Team. ■
www.kodak.com

Pitney Bowes’ Emtex Software has announced that Communisis plc, Europe’s leading direct marketing print service provider, has chosen Emtex Software’s Production Intelligence™ enterprise output management solutions to drive Communisis’ transactional print and mail facilities to meet the demands of a major financial services client. The Production Intelligence architecture gives Communisis the open architecture it needs to streamline process for an efficient mailstream workflow.

A key driver in Communisis plc decision to select Emtex Software output management solutions, FlexServer® centralized print management coupled with VIP™, “any-to-any” transformation is its capability to receive, process, and print millions of financial statements and related documents daily on their mixed fleet of production printing systems between multiple sites. The robustness of the output management solution not only maximises the production resources, but also provides for a sound business continuity plan. Furthermore, the VDE™ real-time document re-engineering capabilities enables Communisis to make changes on the fly at time of print, empowering both Communisis and their client to drive innovative services of their high-integrity customer communications and take advantage of the best available postal rates. ■
www.emtex.com