ECopy scanning suite advances

eCopy announces major upgrade to its scanning and distribution suite and a distribution deal with Ricoh.

Document image specialist eCopy has announced a major upgrade to its scanning and distribution suite and a new deal that will see eCopy’s tools being sold by copier vendor Ricoh.

New features boost support for Adobe Acrobat files. ECopy’s chief executive, Ed Schmid, said eCopy tools transfer paper-based information to business-process workflows.

“We can use digital copiers as the on-ramp, and let people scan documents directly into document management systems,” commented Schmid. “We also support fax servers and email gateways. We help firms get a better grip on their paper-based data, often to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley or Basel 2 regulations.”

ECopy’s ShareScan OP 4 software runs on digital copiers; and its Desktop 9 suite runs on Windows PCs. They both allow staff to manipulate scanned information – to annotate and distribute scanned documents, for example.

Some of the biggest changes come from eCopy licensing the Adobe PDF libraries. “New capabilities in Desktop 9 add direct support for Adobe PDF files, so we can now annotate and combine PDFs, and use the PDF facilities for password protection and encryption,” Schmid said. Other enhancements improve ShareScan OP’s workflow abilities. For example, staff could scan a document and send the image to a Documentum repository, or send it to a fax server, or to someone in accounting or HR.

Previously, the user needed to enter details about the recipient each time. “With version 9 we allow multiple connectors, and can program a particular one to do a repetitive task,” said Schmid. “Now, once the button has been set up you can do a task with a single click.”

ShareScan OP can run on a dedicated PC linked directly to a scanner, or run directly on compatible scanners’ processing hardware.

Schmid added that a version of ShareScan OP 9 that runs directly on Ricoh devices is now available. “This makes it cheaper and easier to deploy our tools,” he said.

In a parallel move, Schmid announced that Ricoh UK is adding eCopy products to its catalogue.