IDEAL Newsletter - Volume 2 Issue 1

All of IDEAL's scanner solutions go through a rigorous inspection process to maintain quality control before they are shipped to the customer. "Due to their superior design," said Phil Magenheim, Vice President of IDEAL, "most IDEAL scanners require very little adjustments in calibration." Once inspected, all IDEAL scanners are taken on a "test drive" as an added value to the customer. "We take all of our scanners through a thorough, three stage quality control process," said Kevin Lilly, IDEAL’s Manager of Scanner Quality Control. "The first quality control stage is a preliminary visual and hands on; the second is a software guided diagnostics; and the third is numerous actual scans." Once an IDEAL scanner passes all three stages, customers can be assured that they are receiving properly aligned, tested, and operating equipment.

Lilly's quality control workshop is configured like a horseshoe with tools on a bench behind him, a PC and workstation to his right, and the "operating table" immediately in front of him. An air of sobriety permeates the work area because he knows that he is working with the finest in large format scanning hardware. "Let's face it," he said. "IDEAL scanners are the Mercedes Benzes of the industry." While he takes pride in his work and the equipment, he is not smug or snobbish about his department. "Our customers expect those essential ingredients in the equipment, the same ingredients which have helped make us successful as a company – quality, service, and value," he said. "We do not authorize any shipment until our customers get what they ordered - the best solutions that perform as expected," he added.

With close to a decade of experience as IDEAL's senior technician, Lilly knows the ins and outs of the different scanners in each series. And he should. With comprehensive training under his belt, Lilly is the OEM Factory Authorized Repair and Technical Support Technician par excellance for all IDEAL solutions and related equipment. As an example, take the FSS 12300 36" B & W scanner, which Lilly and his team recently inspected and prepped prior to shipment.

Lilly first checked the scanning areas to ensure that the Contex factory specs met IDEAL's. Using a ratcheted Phillips, he unscrewed and removed the guide plate and inspected the glass. From behind him came what looked like a make up brush, and he dusted down the glass. He then adjusted the tabs to ensure a snug fit and replaced the guide plate. The two sets of 24 rollers were clean and operable. The enamel finish of the aqua green entry roller shield looked okay. He then checked the SCSI-ID to make sure that it was at the factory default setting. Next, he checked the power settings. All IDEAL scanners can work anywhere in the world because they come equipped with a voltage selector. Since this particular scanner was headed to a US customer, Lilly made sure the voltage selector was set to 120. He then removed the top panel to access the camera unit, which was housed amidst flat black panels. The ribbon cable was fastened to the camera and there were no red flags. He then removed the camera shield, which absorbs and grounds radio frequency waves. The light shield was then removed and the screws in the camera base were checked for tightness. Then he produced an oversized dental mirror and inspected every nook and cranny. The iridescent orange paint around the interior screws indicated an earlier level of quality control in Denmark, where Contex manufactures scanners for IDEAL. They were secure, and so was the fixed focus camera mounted to its chrome base. Everything looked fine, so he reinstalled the light shield and other parts. So far, so good.

Lilly then powered up the FSS 12300 and ran it through SCANtest, a 15 point diagnostics program.

The 36" B & W passed all system tests, which included checks on the LED lights, the lamp, motor, and camera unit.

The scanner passed the Original Sensor Test and the spacing in the feeder was within specs. During the First Stage, Lilly looked for signs of over spray and paint globs, which can happen in the factory prior to assembly. There were no signs and the Motor Test confirmed the functionality of the rollers' proper roll in the chassis of each tiny groove. The scanner's low vibration and quiet hum confirmed the diagnostic reading. "Even with a hard vibration, there is nothing to be alarmed about," said Lilly. "This happens `in the field`," he added, "when those tiny chrome shafts get out of balance." There was, however, a glitch in the DSP Test. A fleck of dust caused a spike in the histogram on the monitor.

He again removed the guide plate and inspected the glass. With brush in hand, he worked at removing the culprit. No luck. The spike was still on the monitor. He then produced a soft cloth and gently rubbed. After running the DSP Test a second time, presto! It passed. Then the testing got technical. He produced a user optical adjustment pattern with vertical, horizontal, and angled markings.

He scanned the equivalent of an eye chart over and over again, and the FSS 12300 passed with "20/20 vision." A call came in on his telephone head set, but he redirected it to the appropriate technical support team member around the corner. "I know this scanner is going to pass with flying colors," he said. "Our customer will get their scanner and I will feel like the Maytag repair man."

Finally, Lilly took the FSS 12300 for a test drive around a predetermined track. Like any test drive, a driver can get calluses on his hands because of being at the wheels for long periods. He claimed that he no longer got paper cuts at this stage of the quality control process. But the Stitching and Adjustment Chart did not fare as well. The test document had all the edges taped to prolong life and usage. "Originals feed forward and backward as intended," he said. "And the line resolution is very good."

"All scanners are shipped with low, test drive mileage and that new scanner smell," he added as he rubbed down the FSS 12300 with a soft cloth just prior to shipping. "If this one was going to go into the reprographics industry, it would get a spray of ammonia so that it would smell like blue prints."

On December 31, 1999, the clock struck midnight and IDEAL’s scanners, operating systems, and other software programs were still running. And so was the corporate network and web site server that hosts ideal dot com. And so IDEAL entered into the new millennium with the Y2K scare left behind.

"All current shipping of software is fully Y2K compliant," said Jeremy Cook, Product Manager. All current hardware and software products shipped since January 1, 1998 meet all Y2K compliance tests and requirements, he added.

Since all IDEAL scanners and software products rely solely on the host Operating System (OS) for all time and date functions, if the host OS is fully Y2K compliant, then IDEAL’s hardware and software products will also be fully Y2K compliant.

For OS Y2K compliance, end users should contact their distributor or manufacturer to verify their system’s Y2K status, which will ensure that their IDEAL scanner and software are Y2K compliant.

Trade shows! There are many trade shows on IDEAL's agenda for the year 2000. Since IDEAL serves the large and small format document management needs of various industries, IDEAL will be at shows from one end of the country to the other.

Moreover, since IDEAL is a full-service solutions provider, the show themes of the various trade shows will address the needs of all the markets that IDEAL serves:

Here is a sneak preview with some highlights of a few of the coming attractions for IDEAL's Trade Shows 2000:

IDEAL will send Sean Eikenberry to co exhibit with Contex at Booth T85 at the Photo Marketing Association International (PMA) in Las Vegas, Nevada between February 3 through February 6, 2000 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Convention planners estimate 800 exhibitors and 25,000 attendees for their 76th annual convention and trade show. All the big names will be there: HP, Epson, and Panasonic to name a few, and of course IDEAL.

IDEAL will promote the Color Scan-to-Print Solution for the photo marketing enthusiasts insisting on the latest in color technology. "I think that the emergence of digital imaging in the photographic printing industry will be taken one step further, with empowerment to manage jobs and image assets on corporate intranets and even over the Internet," said Sean Eikenberry, Product Manager. "On the image capture side, innovations will include abilities to scan film negatives and large format reflective papers up to 50 inches wide, using the same intuitive production interface," he added.

By the way, PMA offers a super packed schedule of events and activities for those who need to take a break from touring the many booths. The PMA schedule looks like a mini MBA program for the PMA enthusiast. This show will feature three speakers worth hearing. On Thursday, February 3, 2000, Ed Bradley, the CBS News Correspondent and Co-Editor of "60 Minutes" and Suze Orman, the Financial Expert and Best Selling Author will speak at different events. And on Saturday, February 5, 2000 James Earl Jones will be a guest speaker. Rumor has it that he will not be speaking about the Yellow Pages.

IDEAL will send Joe Addis, Regional Sales Manager and Rob Traster II, Sales Application Engineer to co exhibit with Contex at Booth 2623 at the Seybold show at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts from February 8 through February 10, 2000. IDEAL and Contex will share a 20' x 30' booth, and will be among 250 exhibitors serving up the wants and needs of 20,000 attendees. Looks like this will be a pretty cool trade show with all the conferences. The web conference alone on both Monday, February 8th and Tuesday, February 9th looks like it would be worth the admission.

This Seybold conference and series of seminars will focus on the potential of new cross-media publishing technologies and the creative and financial opportunities they offer. Attendees will see how new products can help improve productivity and bring long-term benefits to their business. Speaking of productivity, IDEAL will promote the Color Scan-to-Print Solution for Seybold attendees.

"The time is `Now'' for IDEAL'S Color Scan-to-Print Solution," said Addis. "Our Color Scan-to-Print Solution provides really high quality scanned images for large format originals, including photos, maps, color renderings, posters, and even artwork," he added. "I still can't get over the fact that our scanners can handle media just over 1/2 inch thick!" ICC profiles are there to ensure color accuracy, he added.

IDEAL will send Arlene Gerst and Sean Eikenberry to co exhibit with Contex at Booth 2959 at the On Demand show in New York City between February 29 and March 2, 2000. This On Demand show will feature 225 exhibitors with 20,000 anticipated attendees at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. This year's theme will be "The Digital World: No Boundaries." This show will feature eight in depth conference tracks, three keynote speakers, over 30 sessions, workshops, and tutorials, and what is touted as "the world's largest" digital printing and publishing exhibition.

"IDEAL has the technology to efficiently scan documents up to 52" wide, and to print to monochrome or color output directly from the scanner or from an archive," said Gerst, IDEAL's Regional Sales Manager. "I love showing how really easy it is to scan-to-print and scan-to-index!"

Jay Magenheim, President of IDEAL, will attend the CeBIT show in Hanover, Germany between February 24 and March 1, 2000. In 1999, CeBIT pulled in some 700,000 visitors from all over the globe to view the products and services presented by more than 7,000 exhibitors from some 70 countries. CeBIT pulls exhibitors that are the undisputed leaders in many fields, such as 1,500 from the Information Technology sector; 300 from the Office Automation sector; 2,700 from the Software development world; 900 from the Telecommunications industry; and 400 from the Network Computing field. As touted on their web site, "CeBIT has a direct influence on the way the world market is going to develop. It is the place to tune into tomorrow's requirements." And since IDEAL is North America's leading distributor of Contex scanners - the Mercedes Benzes of the industry - IDEAL will be there.

IDEAL will send Jim Raska, Regional Sales Manager to co exhibit with Contex at Booth 111 at the Digital Printing & Imaging Association (DPI) show between March 8 and March 11, 2000 at the Wyndham Anatole in Dallas, Texas. DPI will feature 100 exhibitors and is expected to pull 2,500 attendees. This will be DPI's eighth annual conference and exhibit. This show promises to deliver:

This show will feature a Digital Start-Up Seminar, an innovative program designed to provide crucial information to those just getting started in digital output, planning to, or even just thinking about it. The DPI web site claims, "The program will cover the full range of business concerns for the digital output producer, as well as the technical requirements, opportunities, possibilities and pitfalls. The marketing of digital output will be discussed in some depth. Leading experts in the field, including those who have successfully started a digital operation themselves, will present all of the requisite information for a digital start-up."

DPI's key note speaker will be Michael Hopwood, Director of Professional Imaging Products at Adobe Systems. "Evolution of the Digital Imaging Revolution" will be the keynote presentation at DPI 2000 on Thursday, March 9, 2000 and will address the major trends and developments in digital imaging.

IDEAL will co exhibit with Contex at Booth 3367, a 20' x 20,' at the AIIM show between April 10 and April 12, 2000. The theme is Document Management for The Association for Information and Image Management International (AIIM) show at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. This will be a great opportunity for the mega-sized crowd of 40,000 attendees to see first hand the companies that are blazing the trails in document and information management. This is the main event on the industry's calendar and all the 370 exhibitors - from Adobe, BancTec/Plexus, Canon, Dynamic Imaging, Hewlett Packard, Hyland, Kodak, and Lotus to IBM, Microsoft, Unisys and Xerox - will be there to make their announcements and product releases. The conference promises to address the needs of the different markets, address the hot issues, and propose the right solutions. The key note speakers will focus on eBusiness and the new eCommerce economy.

If you cant make any of the shows - or you can't wait till the shows start, we had you in mind when we developed our Online Demos. No hassles. No entry fees. No hotel. No rubber necking crowds blocking your access to the trade booth you want to visit! And no flights. IDEAL's Online Demos are live, in real time, and they are interactive, allowing you to see our great scanners and "killer application" software at work, from A to Z. Why wait for the show? Sign up for an Online Demo today. And enjoy the front row seat. Just log on and register at www.ideal.com/news/default.asp#webinars.

January 6, 2000, Rockville, MD - Today, IDEAL Scanners & Systems, Inc., the leader in scanning technology, introduces the eScanner Series, the large format scan to the web solution. IDEAL's eScanner Series scan to the web solution is a 40" wide color scanner fully equipped web enabling scan and view software packages.

Additionally, each eScanner comes with free 25 Mbytes for image hosting on the web. "Architects, Engineers, Cartographers, and Graphic Artists can scan their 40" wide color images right to their Intranet, Wide Area Network, or the World Wide Web for same day collaboration," states Jay Magenheim president of IDEAL. Users can then retrieve images in a secure environment from anywhere in the world using a web browser. "Why wait for next day delivery!" he added. Users can quickly view large images using a 56K modem, with no plug-in, and without any lost time associated with downloading.

IDEAL's Scan to the Web Solution allows users at many locations to view scanned images in a secured environment for same day collaboration to save time and money. For example, a defense contractor with several locations that manufactures military equipment, needs personnel in all locations to be able to retrieve and view drawings online in a secured environment on their Intranet and Wide Area Network. With the eScanners Series, all scanned images are archived, indexed, and easily retrievable for online viewing.

IDEAL's scan to the web software allows users to share an eScanner throughout the company. Users can scan directly to and view images on line. THIN client technology enables quick viewing because there is no image downloading, so users can also scan and immediately retrieve documents directly at their desktop. With IDEAL's scan to the web software, users can view color, greyscale, and bi-level monochrome images. The eScanner Series support over 150 file formats including TIFF, CALS, and JPEG.

IDEAL's scan to print software supports basic functionality performing image capture, color mapping to CMYK, and transfer directly to any standard color inkjet plotter. The user can test optional scanning settings by clicking on specific image areas on the screen triggering close-up previews of expected scanning results. Users can store combinations of "perfect" settings, so they can be later reused with similar originals. For the post-scanning process, an ultra fast viewer offers a rich set of color and image manipulation tools.

The eScanner Series is based on the new Contex Chroma line of engines allowing 36-bit input color that scan a 40" wide image area and accepts media up to 52" wide. The eScanners are front-loading and can handle media up to 0.6" thick.

The resolution of the eScanners are 50 to 800 dpi selectable in 1 dpi increments. With IDEAL's eScanners, color is captured at 36-bits for maximum color precision and the best 24-bits of color data are passed to the computer to enhance color fidelity and to capture subtle color changes.

IDEAL integrates, markets, and supports a wide range of scanning solutions sets, in both color and black & white, for large and small format drawings and technical documents. These solution sets cover a range of document sizes, platforms, and operating systems, as well as scan to the web with eScanners. The prices for the eScanner Series start at $19,035.00 depending upon resolution. For more information on IDEAL's eScanner Series, contact Kathy Magenheim at (301) 468-0123 ext. 1230 or via email at kmagenheim@ideal.com.

January 4, 2000 Rockville, MD - IDEAL Scanners & Systems, Inc. announced today that beginning January 2000, IDEAL will offer Online Demos of large format scanners and cutting edge software in a real time and fully interactive environment.

"Many of our Highway 1 attendees from the December seminar expressed an interest in an Online Demo," said Ed Delaney, National Sales Manager for IDEAL. "We envision using the Online Demo to enable key decision makers to see our products in action and address any questions or demo requests that may arise as we speak, as we demo the product," he said. This will enable everyone to meet quickly and efficiently and get to the point without the traffic, parking fees, elevators, and without the hassles and lost time associated with commuting, he added.

"Managing time and resources is crucial in today's fast-paced business world," said Jay Magenheim, President of IDEAL. " We recognize that some people do not care for business travel. With our new online, interactive demonstrations, our customers do not have to book a flight and commit to a hectic travel schedule to attend a trade show or seminar," he added. IDEAL will provide virtual demonstrations that will enable decision makers to see software and even a large format scanner perform -; live and on their own PC without even having to leave their office.

IDEAL will begin by offering four demonstrations every week. The current schedule will provide 11:00 am and 2:00 pm demonstrations on Tuesdays. January will feature overviews on large format B & W and Color Scanning Applications, as well as walk throughs of ScanDEX and ReproWEB software by IDEAL. ScanDEX is a "killer application" for document management that facilitates indexing, archiving, and retrieving. ReproWEB is a web-based application that allows secure online document management. An Online Demo will allow anyone to see these and other products in action. Of course, IDEAL will also offer one-on-one product overviews as needed.

The Online Demo at IDEAL is a web conferencing service that enables attendees to participate in a live interactive meeting, from any place over the Internet with only a Web browser and a 28.8k connection. The engaging features built into the web conferencing service at IDEAL far exceed those that are built into popular services, such as Chat and Instant Messaging by AOL. "Our new web conferencing service is a business-to-business application that will provide our customers with not only online demos, but also seminars and tech support," said H&eacut;bert.

Many businesses are using the Web to do research and collaborate to increase productivity. According to a Socratic Technologies study that took place over a ten day period in June of 1999, many of those surveyed said they derive business benefits when using the Internet:

More than half said using the Web has personal benefits, helps improve job satisfaction and quality of work, and reduces stress.

Tired of the work-related stress and travel? See an IDEAL Online Demo. To register for one or more IDEAL sponsored Online Demo, please visit www.ideal.com/news/default.asp#webinars.

For additional information please contact Kathy Magenheim by email at kmagenheim@ideal.com or by phone at (301) 468-0123 ext. 1230.

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