AccuSoft Pegasus Acquires Viewing ISV

Not sure how we missed this when it was announced, but Tampa-based imaging tools develop AccuSoft Pegasus has acquired Adeptol, which specializes in browser-based viewing technology. Adeptol,which is based in Santa Clara, CA, has some intriguing technology. It was being offered as an alternative to traditional viewing tools. Adeptol advertised its viewer's ability to work with more than 300 file types, and there was also a SaaS version available. See the feature starting on page 3 of our 2/5/10 edition.

Lexmark Announces Third-Quarter Results for Perceptive

For the quarter Perceptive saw 15% year-over-year growth to reach $23 million in sales. This was, however, "sightly below expectations," said Lexmark EVP and CFO John Gamble, on a conference call today discussing Lexmark's third-quarter results. (Here's s the transcript.)  Apparently, Perceptive's revenue did grow fast enough to completely offset Lexmark's increasing investments in the Perceptive business. This contributed to a non-GAAP operating loss of $3 million for Perceptive for the quarter.

"We are investing in Perceptive to drive expansion of international sales, accelerate the development roadmap and increase the industry solutions Perceptive offers to both Perceptive and Lexmark customers, including MPS customers," said Gamble. "To achieve this, we have increased both development and marketing and sales expense of head of revenue growth."

That said, Lexmark has hardly soured on the Perceptive acquisition. "We remain pleased with Perceptive's progress overall and believe the capabilities we are adding drive not only growth in Perceptive but also in our imaging business," said Gamble.

Those capabilities include the addition of the products of Dutch ISV Pallas Athena to the Perceptive portfolio, in a $50 million acquisition that was announced last week. Lexmark described Pallas Athena as "a leading provider of BPM, DOM (document output management) and process mining software."

According to Lexmark CEO Paul Rook on the conference call, "The combination of Lexmark and Perceptive and now Pallas Athena, creates a unique capability in a market that further strengthens and differentiates Lexmark's core industry focused workflow solutions and managed print services proposition to our customers. It expands our market for revenue growth and now provides cross-selling opportunities between imaging products, fleet management, content management, business process management and document output management solutions."

FCPA, ISV Parter to Standardize Integration of Images with EMR

Enterprise content management (ECM) technology has always advertised the ability to manage unstructured information. It turns out that "Clinicians in the U.S. create more than a billion clinical notes each year. More than 60% of the full patient narrative resides in these unstructured documents and outside of discreet data elements within an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) database. These notes are often used as the primary source of information for reimbursement and proof of service."

This is according to a recent press release issued by Fujitsu Computer Products of America (FCPA) announcing its partnership with Osmosyz, which seems to be a capture and workflow integrator specializing in EMR. FCPA has integrated its network scanner with Osmosyz's ChartMD software to create image files that meet the "Unstructured Document" standard "based on the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA)." The standard is being promoted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Health Story Project, a collaborative of healthcare vendors, providers and associations.

"Today, based upon the unstructured document standard, Fujitsu is launching the first and only solution of its kind designed to support Meaningful Use Stage 1 requirements and meet anticipated requirements for Stage 2, as defined in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act....The Inofile interface on the Fujitsu network scanners allow hospitals and clinics to scan a batch of documents, perform a quality assurance check of the documents on the touch screen, index the documents with a few simple keystrokes, and upload the documents to a content repository or EHR without having to be tied to a workstation."

Also from the press release, "“Fujitsu and Osmosyz worked hard through Health Story to create a standard for managing unstructured documents within health information systems, and we couldn’t be happier about the current traction the standard is getting and the forth-coming recognition by the federal government for Meaningful Use,” said Victor Kan, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. “The Fujitsu network scanners with Inofile are the first and only solution available today that use standards-based capture to create smart documents that can be easily integrated into any EMR system and support national goals for healthcare information exchange.”

Fujitsu Releases Wireless Scan-to-Mobile App

Fujitsu has announced some new destinations are available for its ScanSnap line of mobile and SOHO scanners. Fujitsu has also introduced an iPad and iPhone app for the ScanSnap. The ScanSnap Manager driver now has the ability to connect with Salesforce Chatter and SugarSync, in addition to GoogleDocs and Evernote, which is was able to connect with previously. In addition the new iPhone and iPad apps enable users to transfer images wirelessly from the device driving the ScanSnap (a PC or laptop) to mobile computers.

Reveille Ugrades Support for IBM FileNet

Reveille Software, which we featured in our Oct. 7 premium issue, has announed a new version of its monitoring software of IBM FileNet. According to the press release, "The new Reveille Management Console for IBM FileNet is a packaged software solution that can proactively monitor IBM FileNet components, application processes, actual end-user transaction response times, and core metrics to ensure a comprehensive view into the health of a business-critical application. The solution also identifies problem conditions, sends multi-level notifications, and performs automated diagnostics and repairs."

Our feature on Reveille focused on how advanced monitoring software can significantly improve customer sastisfaction for ECM and high-volume capture applications.

ReadSoft Signs Deal with IBM Partner

ReadSoft has announced that its accounts payable solution for SAP is "being jointly marketed and delivered to IBM customers in conjunction with PreferredPartner, an IBM Premier Business Partner specializing in IBM software solutions and IT services." Based just north of Indianapolis, IN, PreferredPartner, specializes in delivering IBM solutions around IBM's Information Management (which includes content management), Tivoli, Lotus, Websphere, and Rational product lines.

From the press release, "We have won major deals with large IBM customers lately, which demonstrate the strength and success of our partnership with IBM to date," says Peter Hörwing, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing for ReadSoft. "With this agreement, we will reach even more IBM customers who can benefit from ReadSoft’s SAP-based accounts payable solutions together with IBM’s Smart Archiving Strategy."

NSi Lands $3.5 Million Deal

Notable Solutions Inc. (NSi) has landed a $3.5 million deal with the Department of Defense (DoD) for document capture software releated to the DoD's Healthcare Artifact Image Management System (HAIMS). HAIMS is basically an electronic medical records applications designed to be utilized worldwide by military healthcare providers as well as the Veterans Administration.

NSi, an Rockville, MD-based ISV, which specializes in MFP capture, is being included in the second phase of HAIMS implementation, which will involve rolling out document scanning capabilities to some 6,000 users worldwide. The software could eventually be rolled out to 60,000 users worldwide, which would mean additional revenue for NSi.

The software deal was secured by a government contractor who was working with NSi. More on this story in our upcoming premium edition of DIR.

Visioneer Announces Wireless Scanner

Ask and you shall receive might be the new motto of our blog. A week ago we wrote the following in our "Wireless Scanners on the Way" post: "My vision would be a wireless scanner or MFP that could scan an image to your smartphone or tablet, where you could preview it and then upload it to your ECM system."

Visioneer seems to have answered the call with its new Mobility Air Scanner. The Air is basically a new rev of the original Mobility which we featured earlier this year. But, while the original Mobility was only "compatible" with the Eye-Fi memory card, the new device is integrated with the Eye-Fi and ships with it, all of the same list price of $199. Not bad, considering the Eye-Fi 4 GB card, which ships with the Air lists for like $50.

Basically the Eye-Fi contains a wireless radio that enables it to transfer images from the Mobility Air onto computing devices with wireless radios like laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Its integration with the Mobility Air enables it to automatically perform this task with document images. It can also transfer the images to cloud sites like Evernote.

So, basically, you capture a document image with the Mobility Air, and it automatically shows up on your mobile computer or cloud app, without you ever have to attach a cord to anything.

More on this in our next premium issue.

Lexmark Acquires BPM ISV

Lexmark has paid $50.2 million to acquire Dutch BPM ISV Pallas Athena. According to the press release, "Upon completion of the transaction, the Dutch company will become a part of Perceptive Software, a stand-alone business unit within Lexmark." Perceptive is the document imaging-focused ISV that Lexmark acquired a year-and-a-half ago for $280 million.

So far, Lexmark's strategy for Perceptive has included leveraging its worldwide footprint to aggressively expand Perceptive's international footprint. A similar strategy could be utilized for Pallas Athena, which is headquartered in Apeldoorn, Netherlands and has regional offices in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Belgium and the Caribbean . I am not really familiar with the company.

According to the press release, "Pallas Athena is a leading provider of BPM, DOM (document output management) and process mining software, with significant industry experience in the insurance, government and life sciences segments. Pallas Athena's software products enable a broad range of BPM capabilities, which includes dynamic case management and customer communications management."

So, the dynamic case management stuff would seem to be right up Perceptive's alley, but the DOM and customer communications - well, that's getting into output. Historically, Perceptive has not necessarily been a player in the output world, but it's certainly not unprecedented to attempt to make the crossover. EMC Documentum, for example, did with its Document Sciences acquisition. And being part of Lexmark, well, print output is, of course, just as important as scanning (and probably moreso) on MFPs.

Lexmark says it will have no further comment until it announces its financial results for the third quarter. "Lexmark plans to announce third quarter 2011 earnings on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011. A conference call is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. EDT on that day, and can be accessed from Lexmark's investor relations website at http://investor.lexmark.com."

EMC White Paper on ECM in Post PC Era

If you read DIR or have seen me speak, you know that I'm intrigued by the growing adoption of mobile computing technology - beyond laptops, and trying to determine how it is going to affect the document imaging market going forward. It seems EMC has published a white paper that touches on this topic, entitled "Redefining Enterprise Content Management in the Post-PC Era." I haven't read the publication yet, but it promises to touch on

• The new model - what it is and how you can use it to your advantage
• The technologies that you'll need - including case processing and information governance
• The opportunities created by the new information landscape that will help you guarantee security, automate compliance, and streamline infrastructure
• The benefits of a redefined ECM system—such as better decision-making, more responsive customer service, and reduced operating and capital expenditures

 You can download a copy at https://emcinformation.com/29002/REG/.ashx?reg_src=SA. I think I will. 

 

 

Canon USA Solutions Subsidiary Announces Oracle SOA Workflow Platform

Canon Information and Imaging Solutions (CIIS) recently announced an SOA-based imaging and workflow platform desigend to connect ERP, CRM and ECM systems. CIIS is a services and solutions focused wholly owned subsidiary of Canon USA that was launched earlier this year. The new solution will be built on Oracle's SOA platform.

From the press release, "Designed by Canon IT Solutions Inc. of Japan, the new platform was developed as part of the global alliance between Canon and Oracle announced on September 26, 2011, leveraging Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle software products including Oracle Database, Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle SOA Suite with Canon’s globally recognized imaging technologies."

Target date for release is second quarter of 2012.

PFU Invests in ABBYY

PFU Limited has reportedly invested about $100 million in ABBYY. PFU is a Fujitsu subsidiary which manufactures the scanners sold by Fujitsu subsidiaries worldwide, including FCPA. ABBYY is a developer of recognition technology including OCR/ICR and IDR used in document imaging applications.

This continues a trend of document imaging hardware vendors investing in software ISVs over the past few years. Of course, HP's acquisition of Autonomy, is the most recent example, with Lexmark acquiring Perceptive in 2010. PFU has also invested heavily in KnowledgeLake.

The investment reportedly values ABBYY's business at around $2 billion as it supposed to be for about a 5% stake. Not sure, what ABBYY's annual revenue is, but as Harvey Spencer values the worldwide document capture market at somewhere south of $2.5 billion, with ABBYY holding less than a 10% share of that...well PFU seems to have paid a pretty good premium for its investment, which is certainly in-line with what we've been seeing by hardware vendors looking to diversity into sofware.

Wireless Scanners on the Way

Xerox recently announced its first wireless MFP. This reminded me of a couple conversations I had recently regarding the potential of wirelss document scanners being introduced onto the market. My vision would be a wireless scanner or MFP that could scan an image to your smartphone or tablet, where you could preview it and then upload it to your ECM system.

DocVille Roundtable Event Set for Nov. 17

Michael Ziegler's Docville.net networking organization is planning its second conference on Nov. 17 in Brussels at Thon Hotel Bristol Stephanie. Ziegler has organized eight roundtable discussions for the event, which focuses on interactive conversation amongst those attending - rather than PowerPoint presentations. Attendees sign up for the sessions which are most interesting to them and there will a subject matter expert acting as a moderator at each session.

The roundtable topics have been "crowd sourced" by Docville, so they are relevent to prospective attendees. They are

•From Sourcing to Pay - an extended Business Value Chain


•Gaining a Foothold in Turkey & in countries of the Middle East

•BPM meets SMB: Trends & Challenges

•SharePoint in the eyes of ECM vendors & System Integrators– the decade long transformation from a friend to an enemy and back again

•Deployment of Next Generation Classification software

•Document Capture - The Most promising Vertical Markets in Europe

•Document Service & Scan Service BPOs- What is the best strategy for survival?

•Cloud Services – How can Channel Partners benefit, work together and charge for cloud computing services?

•Is SAP outsourcing its ECM capability

Click here for more details on the sessions.

Ziegler expects between 60-80 attendees. The event is targeted at those in the document imaging and management market that wish to do business in multiple European countries and overcome the challenges of working across borders.

Brainware and KnowledgeLake get together

Document imaging for SharePoint specialist KnowledgeLake has added Brainware as a partner. KnowledgeLake offers document capture and image management for SharePoint, but does not have any ADR - advanced document recognition technology, which Brainware offers. From Brainware's standpoint, the deal makes sense for Brainware as it attempts to increase its footprint in the Microsoft market. Earlier this year, Brainware announced it was making its ADR software available on Windows Azure.

Laserfice Resolves Trademark Suit vs. SAP

From the Laserfiche ACE (analystis, consultants and experts) blog:
"Laserfiche is pleased to announce that its litigation against SAP America, Inc., SAP AG and SAP Global Marketing over SAP’s use of the company’s Run Smarter® trademark has been resolved. The lawsuit was filed by Laserfiche in the United States District Court in Los Angeles on October 25, 2010 and was scheduled to go to trial this week.

"The terms of the settlement are confidential, but Compulink can disclose that the Parties settled the Action amicably and that the settlement involved a license of Compulink’s trademark for 'Run Smarter.'
Laserfiche’s complaint against SAP contended that SAP’s unauthorized, unlicensed use of “Run Smarter” infringed upon Laserfiche’s registered Run Smarter® trademark. Laserfiche owns United States Trademark and Service Mark Registration No. 3,085,357 for Run Smarter® and is also the owner of registrations for “Run Smarter” in other countries.

The federally registered Run Smarter® trademark has been the centerpiece of Laserfiche marketing campaigns since 2004. It is a strong trademark and service mark and a valuable asset of Laserfiche.

Here's an example of SAP using "Run Smarter."

Of course, they also seem to be using a "Run Better" campaign as well.

Here's Laserfiche announcing its "Run Smarter" awards.

Kofax Reaffirms Microsoft Focus

At the AIIM show in April, we caught up with a Kofax exec who told us the document capture ISV had some 200 implementations of users scanning into SharePoint repositories. This included British Waterways, which was touting savings of some $17 million credited to a SharePoint ECM implementation that included Kofax and some other third-party software products.

At Harvey Spencer's recent Capture Conference , we touted two reasons we believe it makes sense for indepentent capture vendors to get on board the Microsoft SharePoint train:

1. While other ECM players increase their capture technology, Microsoft will never get into capture
2.  SharePoint Continues to Grow in Importance as Windows desktop faces marginalization from mobile device

Kofax is exhibiting at the current Microsoft SharePoint Conference and issued this release today, touting itself as a leader in capturing to SharePoint environments. All signs point to Kofax contiuing to focus on image-enabling SharePoint environments and we look for more news on this front in the near future.