High-Speed Microfilm Scanning Solution Offered for Both Macintosh and Windows Workstations

Flint Hill, VA - November 11, 1996 - Blueridge Technologies, "The Internet Document Management Company," announced that their cross-platform OPTIX Document Management System now supports the M500 High Speed Microfilm Scanner from Mekel Engineering. As a result, businesses can finally digitize and manage microfilm documents from within mixed platform work environments.

The Mekel M500 Microfilm scanner converts microfilm images for use with digital storage systems like the OPTIX Document Management System. It accepts various film formats including positive or negative; diazo, silver or vesicular duplicates, cine or comic; 35mm roll; and 16mm roll or cassette. The M500 is designed to detect the lead and trail edge of each new image, so blipped film is not required. Standard features include automatic image enhancement and high throughput rates suitable for large volume scanning and production environments.

According to Howie Swaim, Director of Marketing for Blueridge Technologies, "Together, OPTIX and the M500 offer Fortune 2000 organizations what so many have been seeking - a high-speed, high-quality microfilm scanning solution that is compatible with their existing workstations, regardless of whether they are Windows or Macintosh-based."

"The versatility of OPTIX makes it an ideal vehicle for operating the Mekel M500 Microfilm Scanner from either a P.C. or Macintosh based system," said Susan Elam, Director of Sales and Marketing for Mekel."It provides a cost-effective document management solution with training and back-up customer support from East Coast to West Coast."

Besides the Mekel M500, OPTIX also supports the Mekel 400, and 460 model scanners, the M3096, M3097, M3099 and ScanPartner scanners from Fujitsu, large-format and aperture card scanners from Vidar Systems Corporation, the Vision Series 5000 from Photomatrix, and a wide range of other third-party document scanners.

Founded in 1988, Blueridge Technologies is one of the industry's oldest and most respected providers of electronic document management systems (EDMS). Long the leading industrial-strength document imaging and workflow system for Apple Macintosh computers, in 1994 OPTIX became the first electronic document management system to offer workflow, document imaging, document control, COLD (Computer Output to Laser Disk), and natural language text retrieval for both Windows and Macintosh workstations. Via the new OPTIX WEB interface, OPTIX also supports popular Web browsers, including Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer from Microsoft, Mosaic, and all the client platforms these products support, including Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX workstations. An online demo of OPTIX WEB is available at http://www.optixweb.com. Blueridge Technologies is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Metters Industries.

OPTIX systems begin in the range of $40,000 and include server software, client software for both Macintosh and Windows, installation, training, and support.