In an effort to further expand its enterprise capture capabilities, Kofax has acquired Easthampton, MA-based SDK ISV Atalasoft. Atalasoft is a .NET imaging SDK specialist that has some innovative zero-footprint, browser-based technology.
The press release provides some insights into how Atalasoft's technology will be utilized in Kofax's KTM capture software: "Using a mortgage application process as an example, most lenders allow prospective borrowers to apply for mortgages via traditional, paper based processes or online via portal and internet browser based applications. Applicants using the latter approach still have to provide paper copies of documents evidencing their proof of identity, income and other supporting information to the lender for processing. Capture enabling these web applications will allow applicants to easily scan those paper documents and submit all information electronically."
Atalasoft was founded in 2002 and for 2010 reported revenues of $3.6 million, an EBITA of $1.0 million. It lists some 2,500 users of its SDK. Its business compares favorably to the Pixel Translations scanning and capture tools business that Kofax CEO Reynolds Bish ran while at Captiva.
Bill Bither, Atalasoft's founder and CEO, said he will continue as GM of the operation. He will also be receiving a good portion of the close to $10 million Kofax is paying for Atalasoft.
In the wake of its sale of its hardware distribution business, Kofax has been on the hunt for acquisitions. This is just a small (but very strategic) one, so we expect more to follow.
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9 comments:
'Capture enabling these web applications will allow applicants to easily scan those paper documents and submit all information electronically.' ...because the applicants all have a document scanner - not.
A cell phone?
Sounds like a good acquisition!
A good acquisition... unless you're an Atalasoft customer.
That an interesting thought.
Do you have any info on immediate pricing/service changes?
I guess this is the final and official death of Kofax ImageControls. It is sad since ImageControls had the potential to integrate tightly with VRS but no one above the VRS Engineering team could see that vision or wanted to pursue it.
This is interesting for Capture since it uses ImageControls as its scanning API. They will need to do a lot of enhancements in the Atalasoft API in order to support features like QC-Later in Capture.
Brian:
You know, I asked Bruce Orcutt about ImageControls, when I was interviewing him on the acquisition and here's what we said: "We still have a number of VRS customers that are leveraging ImageControls. We still support and are shipping product."
That is interesting since ImageControls has not been updated in at least 5 years. There is no direct .NET support and "VRS customers who are leveraging ImageControls" still don't have any API that is specific to VRS (like changing VRS settings, selecting VRS profiles, or adjusting options in the VRS Admin Utility).
I can understand, though, why this hasn't been a priority for Kofax. If they create an API for VRS a competitor could add advance support for VRS before Kofax Capture is updated. This almost happened when QC-Later was introduced.
I honestly hope the Atalsoft acquisition benefits Kofax. Their products are very popular.
Hmm but, what is Kofax getting? My understanding is that Atalasoft neither owns or developed most of the code and still licenses it from a third party.
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