ViewStar Corp, Emeryville, California, plans to integrate indexing and forms technology within its ViewStar document imaging software following its merger with Caere Corp (CI 2,771), although it would not say when the first offerings would be available. Caere is best known for its desktop optical character recognition software but has been developing forms and indexing technology using neural networks for some years, said Shirish Hardikar, vice-president of marketing for ViewStar. The acquisition will give ViewStar a broader technology base and will also provide Caere with an entrance into a market with higher product margins. More importantly it should also enable ViewStar to steal the number one slot in the document imaging market from FileNet Corp, Hardikar said. Both companies plan to operate independently although there may be some redundancies at the executive level, he added. ViewStar uses distributors in Europe but sells directly into the UK market. The merging of the two companies will provide Caere with a foothold in the UK and France and give ViewStar presence in Gerany via Caere’s Frankfurt office. ViewStar also announced the latest version of its eponymous software. The main additions in version 4.2 include support for Microsoft Corp’s OLE 2.0 and compliance with Microsoft’s application programming interface. From the product’s release in 1988 when it ran on NetWare on networked personal computers, Viewstar has now expanded and runs on Unix, OS/2 and Windows NT servers. Version 4.2 also has support for Windows95 and Windows NT clients. It will start shipping in December for ú1,500 per user for a 100-user site licence.