From: IMAGING.CLUB@OFFICE.WANG.COM ("Imaging Club")
Newsgroups: biz.comp.software
Subject: Wang document imaging software for VAX
Date: 29 Jul 92 18:22:35 GMT
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs

Here are the highlights of the July 27 cover story in
Systems & Network INTEGRATION regarding Wang's VAX
imaging:

At the heart of (Wang's Open/Image support) strategy is
Wang's Open/Image applications programming interface tool
kits, which make Wang's image technology available for
non-Wang computers and network platforms.

"Through Wang's Open/Image for the VAX, we've been able to
add functions such as print and view, indexing, fetching
and printing images to solutions such as records and control
document systems we offer on the [Digital Equipment Corp.) VAX,"
said Greg Parker, product manager for Southern Electric, Atlanta.

Southern Electric, an information services and systems integration
subsidiary of utility firm Southern Co., Atlanta, is one of a
growing number of integrators using Wang's Open/Image took kits
to bring imaging capabilities to applications running on other
vendors' platforms.

Southern Electric, which caters to utility and manufacturing clients,
has used Wang's image technology in IBM CICS and IMS/DC environments
since about three years ago, when Wang first offered those APIs,
Parker said.

Since Wang introduced Open/Image for the VAX in April, Southern
Electric has begun to implement the APIs on VMS applications
running on the DEC platform, Parker said.

"Very few customers are willing to give up on the applications
and computer platforms they are used to and have a great financial
investment in, in order to add a new technology such as imaging,
which can be expensive and questionably beneficial to their
particular operations," said Roger Sullivan, vice president at
BIS Strategic Decisions, Inc. a market researcher in Norwell, Mass.

Although document image product suppliers such as Plexus Computers
Incl make image APIs available for a variety of platforms, unlike
Wang's Open/image tools, those other APIs depend on specific
databases from vendors such as Oracle Corp., IBM and Informix
Software Inc., Sullivan said.

"Wang's Open/Image APIs do not depend on the customer using any
specific database products, an advantage over the other image
APIs we've been seeing so far," he said.

Pamet Systems Inc. has used Open/Image for VAX to add image
capabilities to its DEC VMS-based turnkey and network solutions,
which the Acton, Mass. integrator offers to police and fire
departments, said Pamet president Joel Searcy.

Through the Wang APIs, Pamet's records-keeping solutions for
police stations are more robust, letting officers "view
thousands and thousands of rap sheets, mug shots and other
documents," he said.

Pamet's image-enable solution lets police make computer
inquiries such as calling crime suspect photos by specific
traits.  "A police officer can ask the system to look for all
mug shots of people 6-foot, 3 (inches) with a tatoo that
says 'mother,'" Searcy said.

"More and more companies are indeed interested in incorporating
image, even in pilot projects," said BIS Strategic Decision's
Sullivan.

"By Wang making its image technology available on other platforms,
the company has found a way to attract new customers who probably
never considered buying a Wang product before," he said.