eCopy Unveils Next Generation Document Scanning And Distribution Solution
7/6/2006
eCopy, Inc. today unveiled the next generation of its document scanning and distribution software suite. The products address the accelerating business need to convert paper-based information into secure digital documents so organizations can keep up with the pace of e-business processes.
The products are eCopy Desktop™ 9.0, which enables users to manage, modify, and share Portable Document Format (PDF) documents the same way they handle paper-based information at their desktops, and eCopy ShareScan OP 4.0, which makes it easy for any office worker to scan paper-based information easily and securely from their multifunction peripheral (MFP) into any electronic workflow.
"Too often, companies have two work processes tackling the same business task - one electronic workflow moving at Internet speed trailed by a paper-bound process that slows everything down," said Keith Kmetz, program director, Hardcopy Peripherals Solutions and Services at IDC. "eCopy helps organizations remove this roadblock by converting paper to secure digital documents, and connecting them with the applications and digital workflows that run the business - so all the information needed to complete a task is readily available. It also eliminates paper handling and misfiled documents that burden organizations with the cost of finding and replacing lost information."
With more than 2 million licenses of eCopy Desktop and 50,000 licenses of ShareScan, these new products build on eCopy's position as the leader in MFP scanning software. In addition, these new products demonstrate that eCopy is continuing to deliver on its vision of providing a standard document capture operating platform across MFP brands, so that office workers can use the same scanning procedures at any of an organization's networked MFPs.
The new eCopy software products offer organizations the highest levels of protection to safeguard intellectual capital and conform to government and corporate compliance programs. The eCopy cross-platform approach, which enables customers to follow the same scanning processes regardless of MFP brand, is important for government and corporate compliance policies that require consistent procedures. To help safeguard intellectual capital, ShareScan provides document audit trail capabilities, logging which documents were scanned, who scanned them, and to whom they were distributed. It also includes support for the Triple Data Encryption Standard (DES) to protect documents from unauthorized access inside and outside the company.
Additionally, eCopy Desktop supports PDF permissions and document encryption, which allow organizations to set and apply policies to electronic documents to maintain confidentiality, privacy, and accountability inside and outside the firewall. With eCopy Desktop, document owners can manage document policies and prevent unauthorized viewing and tampering by restricting who can open, edit, print, and copy the contents of individual documents. The software leverages application passwords to protect access to user preferences and annotation stamp libraries.
Capturing the Way Users Work with Paper Documents
The new eCopy Desktop adds important customer-focused enhancements designed for business users that need to streamline creating, editing, sharing, and storing digital documents. The software's full support for Adobe's PDF libraries and intuitive user interface enables office workers to access powerful features to create, annotate, and distribute PDF files without the requirement for other, more complex software applications. Leveraging the PDF standard makes it simple to retrieve, file, edit, e-mail, fax, and move documents as part of office workflows - all while maintaining the integrity of the original document.
eCopy Desktop provides a number of industry-leading features. Users can now:
Create PDFs directly from Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, in a click of a mouse button.
Combine scanned documents, Web site pages, and other application files into a single PDF file - making it easier to share information.
Store PDF files directly into popular content management systems from EMC, Hummingbird, Interwoven, Open Text, and others.
Create searchable PDF file creation so that documents can be found using text string search engines, such as Google Desktop.
Transform document images into editable text using Readiris optical character software (OCR), which is bundled with eCopy Desktop.
Compress documents using JPEG or eCopy's Xpert Compression technology, which reduces raw color document file size by approximately 99 percent.
Access improved administrative control, which enables system administrators to make available only the features and settings they want users to access - on an individual desktop basis.
"Part of the power behind eCopy Desktop is its simplicity," said Dennis Risinger, senior vice president of Information Services at Farm Credit Services of Missouri, which uses eCopy software in 30 offices across the state. "The software is a natural technology that people can pick up very quickly and makes it easy to create and manage PDF documents. eCopy also makes document assembly efficient by letting us bring multiple scanned documents and Microsoft Office files into one PDF file. eCopy Desktop has streamlined the document workflows in our lending processes and eliminated inefficiencies by allowing us to have secure digital workflows rather than paper-based processes."
Advancing the Cross Platform Scanning Standard
The new ShareScan adds support for the Ricoh embedded software platform, allowing eCopy's easy-to-use interface to run on Ricoh's Java enabled MFPs. As the developer of the first embedded software application for MFPs, eCopy has more experience than any company in this market. ShareScan 4.0 enables users of both Canon and Ricoh embedded architecture MFPs, as well as users of eCopy ScanStation OP - with Canon, Konica Minolta, Gestetner, HP, Lanier, Ricoh, Savin, Sharp, and Toshiba MFPs - to scan and distribute documents using the same easy-to-use approach.
A single software standard makes it easier for IT personnel to manage multiple devices from different manufacturers. It also enables independent software vendors (ISVs) to provide their users with support for scanning on all eCopy-supported MFPs simply by developing one connector. As a result, eCopy offers the largest library of application connectors on the market, integrating directly with more than 45 business applications, including EMC Documentum, FileNet, and Microsoft SharePoint.
"The numbers of MFPs are increasing rapidly throughout the enterprise - growing more than 20 percent last year according to IDC," said Vickie Malis, eCopy vice president of Marketing. "Yet, document scanning continues to be an underutilized feature at most organizations. One reason for this is every MFP brand requires a different scanning process. eCopy addresses this obstacle by providing a consistent, intuitive interface for MFPs - regardless of the manufacturer. This means, just as any bank customer can use an ATM machine without training, any office worker can scan documents to business applications with eCopy."
Other new ShareScan capabilities include faster and more accurate workflow by enabling a one-step scan process where repetitive tasks can be executed automatically, such as scanning a document to a specific repository location using a standard meta data entry. Several new enhancements to ShareScan's Quick Connect rapid development environment now enable developers to present live corporate information at the MFP to better enhance productivity.
ShareScan software either resides within the embedded architecture on an MFP or on a ScanStation connected to an office MFP or TWAIN scanner. ScanStation OP consists of ShareScan software and an ergonomically-designed, integrated touch screen, keyboard, and PC, which is used to operate the software and make it easy to capture document-specific data.
Pricing and Availability
When used with embedded architecture MFPs, eCopy ShareScan is licensed at a MSRP of $2,995 per device. eCopy ScanStation, which can be used with Canon, Gestetner, HP, Konica Minolta, Lanier, Ricoh, Savin, Sharp, and Toshiba MFPs, starts at a MSRP of $4,195 per device. With every license of ShareScan, customers are provided ten licenses of eCopy Desktop at no additional charge. A license for five additional eCopy Desktop users is $795.
eCopy Desktop 9.0 and eCopy ShareScan OP 4.0 will be available in August 2006 through authorized eCopy dealers.
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