Technology that will become one of the prime drivers of local area networks in the next few years is already beginning to emerge. That is the claim of ViewStar, an Emeryville, California-based company that believes that its document image processing system has arrived at the right place at the right time. The system runs on personal computer-based NetBIOS-compatible networks, including those of Novell, 3Com, Banyan and Ungermann-Bass. It is also currently undergoing testing for Microsoft’s LAN/Manager. The system uses the Gupta SQLServer relational database engine and has a script language for developing applications. Images can be retrieved and displayed under Microsoft Windows. The ViewStar system also supports the DXF format for storing computer-aided design drawings, such as those generated by AutoCAD. Although the concept of document image processing has been around for several years, ViewStar claims to be the first to implement it on standard network systems. Document image processing uses an on-line computer system for storing, managing, sending, retrieving and processing paper and requires huge amounts of storage, high-speed communications capabilities such as those provided by local area networks and wide area networks, optical scanning capabilities, and a relational database engine. ViewStar’s system enables you to index and store thousands or even millions of documents, which can then be sorted, filed and sent to other computer systems. However, ViewStar’s system isn’t cheap. A complete set-up for 10 local network users costs about $25,000, with another $35,000 needed for service and support from ViewStar. But for a large company used to spending far more on documentation services, ViewStar’s system could be an economical alternative. ViewStar founder Kamran Kheirolomoom told Microbytes that with machines like the Compaq SystemPro running as servers, lower cost optical storage and improved optical scanners and character recognition software, document image processing could become a major industry in the 1990s.
