Blueridge Announces OPTIX® 4.0

Flint Hill, VA - April 27, 1993 - Blueridge Technologies, "The Internet Document Management Company," announced OPTIX 4.0 - the first affordable Macintosh software that provides archival/retrieval for both document images and all non-image files.

The new version of OPTIX retains all the features that made its predecessor an industry leader in document imaging software - lightning fast compression/decompression, a flexible indexing database to archive and retrieve images, image annotations, and support for high speed scanners, printers, and optical drives. OPTIX 4.0 then adds the ability to archive and retrieve all the other files on your computer. With OPTIX 4.0, your database isn't limited just to images, you can also archive and retrieve word processing files, spreadsheets, databases, graphics - any file that shows up on your desktop. You can store your data on hard drives, optical drives, or optical disk jukeboxes. When you wish to retrieve a file, you simply perform a key word search of the same OPTIX index database that you use to archive your document images. OPTIX can search thousands of records millions if you wish - in a flash. Once you retrieve a file from your archive, OPTIX automatically launches the appropriate application and opens the file you've retrieved (or displays the image if you've retrieved an image file). OPTIX then lets you archive a revised version of your file, and maintains a complete revision history of all your earlier versions.

Like all previous releases of OPTIX, OPTIX 4.0 is scalable, from an inexpensive single-user system, to a mid-range Appleshare version, all the way to a multi-tasking, multi-threaded network system based on our Unix/SQL server.

Besides archival/retrieval of non-image files, OPTIX 4.0 includes many other enhancements:

1. Savable Queries - With OPTIX 4.0, users can save their index queries and reuse them. This saves time and effort in formulating complex queries, and enables sophisticated users to create queries that can be used by novices.

2. Cut and Paste of Thumbnails in Documents - OPTIX now allows you to cut and paste pages from multi-page documents, rearranging the pages anyway you wish. You can even cut and paste thumbnails of non-image documents (such as wordprocessing files and spreadsheets) into image documents.

3. Processing Queues - The real test of a production document imaging system is how easily and how quickly new images can be scanned, indexed, and archived on the system. OPTIX 4.0 provides new queue processing features that automate much of this work, permitting you to input large numbers of documents more efficiently.

4. Enhanced Support For Text Files - OPTIX 4.0 can create, format, and print text files - you can even use OPTIX for "Find and Replace". These features are especially useful with the new options for OPTIX: OCR and Natural Language Text Search.

5. New Features To Support Optional OCR and Text Search - OPTIX 4.0 is the first system on the Macintosh that truly integrates imaging, OCR, and text search - to the point that they look, feel, and perform like a single, elegant application. OCR and Natural Language Text Search will be available as optional modules at the same time that OPTIX 4.0 ships.

OPTIX 4.0 brings a new level of usefulness to graphics artists, desktop publishers, newspapers, law offices, research firms, libraries, and others who need a generalized archival retrieval system for images as well as the files already on their computer.

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.