Issue 22
Kodak Equipment - We Have It All!
Micrographic Equipment Servicing
Kodak Introduces i200 Series Paper Scanners
The Microfilm Shop Launches 'New Look' Web Site
Digital Microfilm - by Paul Negus, Managing Director, The Microfilm Shop
New Industry Publication Launched
Imtec Consumables and Service
Don Hobbis, The Microfilm Shop, UK
Kodak Equipment - We Have It All!
The Microfilm Shop has recently added the entire Kodak micrographic equipment range (including the former Bell + Howell products) to its portfolio.
Kodak no longer sell equipment direct within the UK, subsequently their entire range is now available through a select group of distributors of which The Microfilm Shop is one.
Before the addition of this Kodak equipment, The Microfilm Shop had one of the largest ranges of micrographic products in the world, now our position has been further strengthened.
All of our customers, both in the UK and in over 60 countries worldwide, can see the
full range on our new and improved website.
In the meantime, here are some of the main products that are now available through our distribution network and directly:-
Filemaster III Planetary Microfilm Camera
A reliable, high quality 16mm flatbed camera which is extensively used in the bureau industry. Features include: removable camera head, high quality images, frame indexing, auto reduction ratios and focus.
3000DSV Scanner/Reader Printer
An ideal unit for 35mm applications, choose to print only, scan with PC interface or scan with video interface. Optional Powerfilm Software makes for an ideal document management workstation.
ABR2300 Universal Desktop Reader Printer
An ideal mid volume universal reader printer. Handles all microfilm formats. Features include: bi-mode facility, automatic & manual exposure and motorised image rotation.
ABR400 Jacket Loader
16mm roll film semi-automatic jacket loader. Industry standard - very popular in the bureau market place.
Kodak Paper Scanners
The full range of Kodak document scanners including: i50, i60, i200 Series, i800 Series, 3590, 1500, 2500 and 3500.
Document Archive Writer
Rapidly converts digital documents to an analogue format and media (microfilm!) for low cost long term storage and access.
3000 Series Processors
Excellent range of desktop low-medium volume microfilm processors. Wide choice of loadboxes make then very flexible - ideal for small - medium bureau applications. Range includes: 3000 "Straight-through" processor, 3500 "Quick Fill" and 3500 "Semi-Deep Tank" processor.
ABR2000 ANALOGUE COM READER PRINTER
Economic low volume desktop reader printer originally designed for COM fiche but capable of multi formats due to zoom lens and image rotation facility. Optional 16mm roll film carrier.
Micrographic Equipment Servicing
With the recent expansion of our equipment range (see above for details), The Microfilm Shop have been in negotiations with several respected service providers to offer our customers the best possible care and value with regards to servicing and maintenance on any piece of micrographic and digital equipment purchased from us. This applies to both new or existing kit from any manufacturer.
Please contact Helen Perry in our sales support department for more details and prices.
helenperry@microfilm.com
Kodak Introduces i200 Series Paper Scanners
Production Scanners Feature Advanced Technology, Dockable Flatbed, Firewire Connection
Loaded with features typically found in higher speed production scanners, the new desktop i200 Series Scanners announced by Eastman Kodak Company's Document Imaging business offer breakthrough imaging technologies, a unique Dockable Flatbed accessory and an IEEE-1394 (Firewire) connection - all focused on maximising throughput and return on investment.
The i250 and i260 will be mostly used in applications with a daily scanning volume of approximately 5,000 pages. At the most commonly used scanning resolution, the throughput is expected to range from 40 pages - 80 images - per minute (A4 portrait, 200 dpi) to as many as 67 pages - 135 images - per minute (A4 landscape, 150 dpi). In black-and-white, greyscale as well as in colour!
The i200 Series Scanners are the first truly modular family of low volume production scanning devices. The i250 Scanner (simplex) and i260 Scanner (duplex) can be converted from a sheet-feed only unit, to a sheet-feed with flatbed via the industry's first-in-category, A3 size dockable flatbed accessory that easily snaps into the scanner for documents that need special handling. Other options include a post-scan imprinter and an advanced image processing board. Leveraging its innovative imaging technologies, Kodak has loaded the i200 Series Scanners with features found on its high-speed i800 Series Scanners introduced last year:
- TriColour Plus CCD Sensor, which allows simultaneous output of high resolution black and white and colour images
- Electronic colour drop-out to remove irrelevant background colour for clear, sharp images within forms processing applications
- Ultrasonic 3D multi-feed detection, which offers ultrasonic, calibration-free, multi- feed detection to eliminate lost documents
The scanners also feature Kodak's Perfect Page imaging technology and SurePath paper handling, each of which is standard on the company's high and mid-range production scanners.
The i200 Series, will be competitively priced between 7,000 Euros and 10,000 Euros depending on model and configuration.
Shipments are expected to begin in the fourth quarter 2002. The optional image processing board will ship later.
The i200 Series Scanners are now available from The Microfilm Shop.
Click here for details - i250 - i260
The Microfilm Shop Launches 'New Look' Web Site
Our well established web site, which can be found at www.microfilm.com, has recently undergone a complete overhaul with the original 'micrographics modem' filofax format being replaced by much simpler graphics aimed to make browsing easier and quicker.
In addition our extensive equipment section has been completely revised to include the Kodak micrographic equipment range (see front page) and customers now have the added convenience of being able to download PDF images of full colour brochures for every item of equipment available.
The old format website had proved to be very popular with customers and researchers
looking for general information on the microfilm industry as well as our own comprehensive product database. Over the last few months alone this web site has attracted on average over 3000 visits (80,000 hits) per month. This has established it as one of the most popular web sites in our industry. We believe the new format, with even more information and products, will prove more popular than ever with microfilm users worldwide.
Digital Microfilm - by Paul Negus, Managing Director, The Microfilm Shop
Until a few years ago there had been a raging debate about the future of microfilm - Was it dead? How many months will it take until it dies? Is it still alive? And the favourite -What is microfilm?
The microfilm industry was defending its corner saying that digital will never take off and the digital industry just dismissed microfilm out of hand. There was not always a lot of thought put to the arguments from either side, it was just a case of perceived right and wrong.
Well look at how things have changed in the last couple of years. Digital has seen enormous growth and is the document management product to have. Microfilm, whilst experiencing a small decline, has by no means been cut out of the picture. I believe that the microfilm industry can be compared to the paper industry except that it is about 5 to 10 years behind. This is because about 5 to 10 years ago everybody was dismissing paper, proclaiming instead the "paperless office". As we now know this was just not true, no matter how sensible it sounded at the time. Most current estimates put the growth in the use of paper at between 20 and 25% per annum. Maybe this growth in the use of paper is a temporary thing as digital systems get better and, more importantly, become more accepted in day to day office life.
We do not know the answer but even if the worse case scenario were to happen for paper, it would take another 10 years for paper to be sidelined. In total that would mean that paper had been given another 20 years in the fast lane- worse case scenario! However we know that paper will never disappear because it is analogue and, as such, is very user friendly to the human race. We all have eyes and we know that for the foreseeable future that will be the main tool that we will use to look at information. Do we know what type of digital technology will be with us in 100 years or even 20 years? It is a good guess that we will all be using digital technology in 20 and 100 years but how much will it have cost us to do that? How much information will have been lost in the constant migrations? How many digital companies will have come and gone along with their products that hold all of your information?
I know what you are thinking, if I only need to keep that information for 3 or 4 years what is the problem? You are perfectly correct and by choosing digital you have chosen the right product. However, what if some of that information e.g. Staff, Pension, Medical, Life Assurance, Financial, Business critical and Historical information, needs to be kept for 5, 10, 20, 50 or an indefinite number of years? What about information that needs to be kept for legal, policy and value reasons?
This is where microfilm fits in and just like paper it is here to stay except that microfilm takes up to 98% less space than paper and it is significantly cheaper to produce duplicates for security and disaster recovery reasons. However the main reason for the resurgence in microfilm is its perfect fit with digital technology. A very recent AIIM White Paper entitled "Availability and Preservation - Long term Availability and Preservation of Digital Information" supports this view. I quote: - "Current [microfilm] retrieval technology is interoperable with digital systems", "By rendering digital information to microfilm as uncoded, analogue images, Organisations may create technology-proof repositories" and ultimately "The marriage of a sensibly managed digital archive to a Reference [microfilm] Archive should provide an economical short-, mid-, and long term solution to the availability and preservation of digital information". To obtain your copy of this White Paper contact AIIM UK at (0)1753 592 769 or AIIM US on 301 587 8202.
A great number of hybrid systems are now being bought that use digital for the distribution and access of information but are using microfilm for the preservation of the important and historical information. In other words microfilm is being used as a safety net for digital information. There have been some excellent recent examples of this:
State of Michigan makes it law that any government information that needs to be kept for longer than 10 years must have one copy stored in an analogue format i.e. paper or film.
Both the US 2000 and the UK 2001 census do a U-turn on the storage media to be used for all census forms. Both will now download all of the scanned images to microfilm via Kodak ArchiveWriters as the most cost effective and safe method for long term storage. The American National Archives (NARA) and John Carlin (Archivist of the United States) endorsed this policy. Since then both the Australian and Philippine governments have decided to go the same way.
The Singapore government announces its new strategy for all digital information created by any government agency. If this digital information is to be kept for the longterm, then the relevant digital files must be written to microfilm. Currently they estimate that approximately 5% of all Singapore government digital files will be archived this way.
The above are very fine examples of high profile end user applications. However they do not account for the large number of smaller users who are starting to adopt the same policy. This is borne out by the number of document conversion bureaux who are now investing in the technology to write digital files to microfilm on your behalf.
The microfilm industry has certainly changed in the last 10 years. In applications where microfilm was used for the distribution of information, digital will replace microfilm. However, conversely, where digital has been used for the preservation of information, microfilm will now start to replace digital. In the perfect system the two technologies will be used side by side to complement one another. If the system is based more on distribution then digital will be the main component, if preservation is the most important factor then microfilm will be the main component. Microfilm has two main attributes - it is easy and cheap to scan into a digital system and it is easy and cheap for digital information to be written to it. This is reflected in the fact that these two areas are the two fastest growing areas in the microfilm industry today as I can explain in more detail:
1) Scanning film into a digital system - High volume production microfilm scanners are the fastest selling microfilm products at this time, converting large legacy microfilm collections to digital images. An important note is that these scanned microfilm collections are not being destroyed, they are being maintained and added to for disaster recovery reasons. Another fast moving area is the sale of
economic low volume microfilm scanners. This is for applications where microfilm collections are being maintained as the storage medium of choice but the microfilm images are scanned on an ad-hoc basis and e-mailed or networked to where they are needed. In both of these scenarios the microfilm collections carry on being added to. If digital technology and/or language changes in 5 years (as it tends to do) it is not a problem - you just scan the same microfilm into whatever the latest technology is.
2) Writing digital images to film - There are now several organisations that offer digital to microfilm equipment and there are dozens of bureaus that offer the service. You can even buy PC and Web based document management packages that have archive options, you just click the archive button and your files are written and indexed to film. This way your imaging systems are freed up to handle the current information. Then, by using the microfilm scanning options mentioned above, the images can be bought back into your imaging system now or 5, 10, 20, 50 or 100 years into the future - no matter what imaging system you will have at that time.
Every company that I know of in the microfilm industry that is doing well is offering at least one of these services or products. If the microfilm industry is tracking the paper industry, as I believe, then it will be an industry to watch in the coming years.
Long may Digital Microfilm be preserved!
New
Industry Publication Launched
A
new monthly publication entitled "The Green Sheet" has been launched covering all aspects of the Document Management
industry, in all its forms.This
full colour publication is the only magazine dedicated to
the micrographics industry and is full of useful information
and relevant articles.
For
more information and subscription details
e-mail: info@green-sheet.net
or check out the
web site: www.green-sheet.net.
Alternatively you can contact the publishers directly on
telephone no. (024) 7638 2328 or
fax no. (024) 7638 2319.
Imtec Consumables and Service
Having a problem sourcing Imtec products?
The Microfilm Shop has a huge range of Imtec type consumables available including camera cards, developer, fixer, aperture cards, dupe cards, toners and papers.
We have even re-introduced some consumable products that were formally discontinued.
In addition, we have teamed up with a number of equipment service organisations
(see above for more details) who have specific engineers and knowledge on the Imtec range of equipment.
Don Hobbis, The Microfilm Shop, UK
Don
started his Microfilm sales career some 28 years ago when
he joined Scanneg under the directorship of John Negus.
John taught him all he knew about selling and 20 minutes
later (including a tea break) sent him out on the road to
seek fame and fortune. To-date Don has achieved neither. Don moved to Agfa where after a long and successful sales career he achieved the position of National Sales Manager before leaving the industry for pastures new. Quick to realise the error of his ways, he is now back working under the management of Paul Negus, who Don says is "a chip off the old block".
With a wealth of experience in the management of documents in analogue and digital formats, Don is the ideal person to discuss your requirements with, he would be pleased to advise you on the best and most cost effective solutions available.