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Image Access release WideTEK 42" and 48" models!

Image Access WideTEK 36
Walk-up scanning with the new WideTEK
range is child's play - provided you are
tall enough or have a chair to stand on!

One year ago Image Access were hot news when they premiered their true networking, OS-independent, 36" WideTEK large format scanner at CeBIT. One year later and a day after the Oscar presentations in Hollywood, Image Access are back clutching a Four Star BERTL Award for the WideTEK 36 and announcing two new 42" and 48" WideTEK wide format scanner models.

A year ago we referred to Image Access as the new kid on the block. This was not entirely fair to them because they have been around since 1993 and were at the time of writing a major force in A3 - A2 flatbed scanners and planetary scanners used in libraries, museums and archives to scan books. Sold under the Bookeye brand name, Image Access's success in this niche market gave them the infrastructural base on which to venture out into building much bigger wide format scanners.

Image Access had dabbled with large format technical document scanners - they were Germany's leading manufacturer of specialist 48" colour scanners - but few took them and their wide format scanning seriously then. I recall a rival Sales and Marketing VP sniffing disdainfully when asked about them. "Er Who?" A long pause. "Oh yes, big in small format book scanners, nothing serious. Probably sell a few LFs in Germany, nowhere else".

Today Image Access are slowly creating buzz about them that indicates future international stardom. We first talent spotted them over a year ago and mentioned them on this web site. Henrik Vestermark, now BERTL's Director of Wide-Format Analysis, was intrigued by our comments. Coming from a Contex background he found it hard to believe our claims for the Image Access's blistering scan speed. The rest is history. He checked out the WideTEK 36 and concluded that it was every bit as fast as we had said it was.

Unsurprisingly, BERTL awarded the Image Access WideTEK 36 4 Stars in January 2008. "The bottom line" said BERTL, "is that the WideTEK 36 is the fastest wide-format color scanner on the market today. .... The WideTEK 36 actually does scan at its claimed speed and the only delay in the observed time is the transfer time of the image from the scanner to the computer using the 1 Gigabit LAN interface". We assume that despite their scanning larger image sheets the newly announced WideTEK 42 and 48 scanners will be as fast.

Innovation

The reason the Image Access WideTEK 36 scanner is so fast is because it is fundamentally different to all other scanners. Its Scan2Net architecture does not require a dedicated host PC to process all image related tasks. Included inside every WideTEK is a Pentium-based Linux system with 2Gb RAM, more than in most PCs, exclusively dedicated to the WideTEK's scanning activities. It is not shared with Windows or other application software and drivers. This processing power is used to make the WideTEK scan faster.

The new WideTEK 42 and 48 share the same architecture. They also network straight out of the box on any operating system, with no software to install, no extra costs for scanning software and no need for a host PC. They connect to the network via a 1 GBit Fast Ethernet connection and a TCP/IP based Scan2Net Interface. Image Access' use of a fast Ethernet LAN connection to get the scan form the scanner to individual workstations on the network is the other reason why the WideTEK scans fast, faster, fastest.

"The concept of an internal computer to make processing scanned data faster and the use of a 1 Gigabit LAN interface is clearly state-of-the-art for the wide-format scanner industry", BERTL reported of the WideTEK 36.

The first point to note about the new WideTEK 42 and 48 models is that they will be fast - faster than anything else out there. Second, they will network easier and more transparently than anything else out there. Third, perhaps the most tangible benefit of all, is that the WideTEK range makes the concept of "walk-up" scanning more practical than anything else out there. Right now, in terms of fast, networked, walk-up scanning, the Image Access range is in a class of its own!

Wake up to walk-up scanning!

"Walk-up scanning" is something you will hear more about in the next few years as the networking of large format scanners becomes a practical reality after years of resistance by resellers. Recently we spoke to a leading Contex scanner reseller, stating that in our view one of Contex's strengths was its flexible networking options. We were surprised to hear him dismiss wide format scanner networking with the same argument used by Colortrac resellers who cannot yet network.

"You still have to go to the scanner to scan", he said.

His point is "what's the point?" We were surprised by his reply. Surprised because Contex had the strongest networking options until the WideTEK range came out. If even Contex resellers don't rate networking as a feature you can gauge the level of resistance to it in the industry. Most resellers dismiss large format networked scanning at present. Curiously though, when you ask users if they want networking they will invariably say "yes". Users see simple benefits in networking, not great complications.

Perhaps our reseller's disillusionment with network scanning is due to the fact that you or someone else has to get up and go to the scanner and put the drawing sheet in. At that point you have two choices - return to your workstation and scan from there, (not as pointless as it initially seems if you have several users sharing a scanner in a small office), or more practically scan from the scanner via a built-in touchpad and send it direct to your workstation (walk-up scanning). On a traditional scanner, it is the length of time it takes to scan to the host PC and get the image across the network to the workstation that is the issue.

The point about "walk-up scanning" is that, yes, you have to still walk up to the scanner but once there, it is a simple matter of point-and-shoot from the purpose-built touchpad on the scanner. Given the speed of the WideTEK 36, and now we assume the 42 and 48 as well, it is more than just possible that the scan will be waiting as a file on your workstation before you get back.

Walk-up scanning via touchpads is increasingly common. Its aim is to simplify the scanning process and to make scan-to-file and scan-to-copy activities quick and easy for the relatively unskilled office worker. Besides the WideTEK solution, three similar systems that include touchpads for walk-up scanning are the Contex Puma, the KIP 3000 and the Paradigm EIS Supra System, another BERTL 4 Star Award winner. While these systems make scan-to-copy easy, their scan-to-file abilities are not as fast or fluid across a network as the WideTEK's. While the Paradigm EIS Supra's printer has direct network connectivity, its scanner has none.

We think that the WideTEK 36, 42 and 48 will suit drawing offices in large companies where there is a need to shoot drawings across the network to specific workstations on request and also in small companies where it's convenient for several users to share a scanner. We think that the price of the WideTEK range will make the majority of CAD users, especially those cost-conscious ones in the new entry-level market for wide format scanners, think twice about buying it. Corporates on networks with big budgets will find the WideTEK much more attractive.

More innovation

Image Access are now said to believe that a 10% market share is within their grasp. One wonders how soon that can be achieved.

The company is certainly technically innovative. There is not another scanner like the WideTEK. In addition to its internal PC and fast 1 Gigabit LAN interface the WideTEK's innovations include:

Image Access WideTEK 36 with USB stick
Image Access WideTEK 36 with USB stick.
There's no need for a client PC. Simply
walk up to the scanner, insert your USB
stick, scan, and save!

  • Use of white LEDs instead of fluorescent tubes for illumination. This allows it to be ready for colour scanning within a minute of turning on, a benefit normally only ascribed to CIS scanners.
  • Built in calibration targets that automatically calibrate the scanner and ensure that its cameras are correctly aligned before every scan. This not only keeps the scanner accurate but reduces to an absolute minimum the time that the operator needs to spend calibrating it.
  • Built in software - no need to install software or drivers. The WideTEK's Scan2Net scanning software is preloaded onto its built-in computer. You do not need to install anything onto the PCs you want to scan to.
  • Ability to assign warning noises or voice instructions to scanner events.
  • Ability to scan and save directly to a USB stick inserted into the scanner, without connecting the scanner to a network or PC at all.

But one wonders if the innovation which Image Access offers is really what the mass market wants. The new growth in the large format scanner market is at the low end of AEC, CAD, etc., technical drawing. This presents an opportunity for attractively priced CIS scanners which are suitable for scanning the majority of technical drawings. The WideTEK range, while aggressively priced for CCD scanners, are not low enough to be low end. As a CCD scanner the WideTEK's strengths lie in capturing colour graphics, as do similar scanners from Contex and Colortrac.

The WideTEK 36 had a Special Introductory Price of € 9.999 (GBP £6995) - very much the same as the Colortrac SmartLF Gx 42e and the now cut-price Contex Crystal, both CCD scanners. That euro price is now the WideTEK 36's list price. As a result, the new WideTEK 42 and 48 will be priced proportionately higher. At its price, the WideTEK 36 is great value for reprographics professionals. We imagine that Image Access will keep the WideTEK 42 and 48's prices similar value for money.

So, is 10% market share within Image Access's grasp?

In the USA, the WideTEK range will be sold by office equipment supplier, Bowe Bell + Howell, best known for selling small format scanners. BB+H have a large distribution channel which gives Image Access a flying start.

The relatively high cost of the WideTEK range in the current economic climate will not endear it to those in the mass market who are driven by price considerations. This market will choose Graphtec and Colortrac CIS scanners and cut-price Contex CCD scanners. It has been said that Graphtec believe that they can achieve a 25% market share by 2010. We expect that much of Graphtec's hoped for 25% will come from Asia as they are a Japanese company with a Chinese production plant.

Asians, like Germans, buy locally made goods. They desire foreign goods with top brand names, something which Image Access lacks at present. Contex, on the other hand, have a strong brand name and are already selling well in China, they say. Like Contex, Image Access plan to keep engineering jobs in Europe, a policy which Scanners4CAD fully supports and respects. However, without a China base or a brand name, the Asian market will probably not buy WideTEKs in any volume, certainly not enough to contribute meaningfully to a 10% market share.

If the market comes to believe that CIS scanners are best for technical drawings and that CCD ones are best for colour graphics - this has not happened yet but the signs are that this belief is taking hold, that already the market views all scanners as of similar quality - then both Image Access and Contex will be in trouble as the reprographics sector represents only 25% of our estimated total market at present. It is also, of course, the most profitable section of the market.

Right now, BB+H is Image Access's main ace.

All-in-all, the Image Access range of WideTEK scanners are innovative and exciting, in our view more deserving of their BERTL 4 Star Award than any other recipient.

We look forward to watching Image Access develop over the coming years in a tough market which will soon get tougher. The poor global economy aside, after several years of no distinctly new products, Contex, the largest scanner manufacturer, are expected to announce new products in 2008. All talk of market share is premature until we know what it is that they have up their sleeve.