Review: Scanner Lightens Document Management Load

Government regulations such as the Patriot Act, HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley require that businesses capture data from documents and ID cards and then store it in a secure, orderly manner. Smaller businesses, especially, have been hit hard with the new compliance rules, since they typically lack the staff to handle the extra workload. That's where the under-$1,100 Panasonic KV-S1025C scanner can step in by automating data capture.

The KV-S1025C has double-exposure technology that scans both sides of a document at once and combines the content into one electronic image. Most duplex scanners output each side of a document as a separate image, with no correlation between the two sides. Manually linking the front and back data is a time-consuming, laborious step, which the KV-S1025C eliminates. The unit can scan two-sided color, grayscale and monochrome documents in one pass and output the data as a single TIFF, PDF, JPEG or bitmap image.

The KV-S1025C can handle most types of media, including ID cards, NCR forms, onion-skin paper and forms up to 100 inches in length, such as EKGs. It will do automatic scanning of mixed batches of ID cards with different sizes and thicknesses, such as driver's licenses, insurance cards and credit cards.

A typical scenario would be in health-care, where a patient must present a driver's license, primary and secondary insurance cards, release and consent forms, and so on. The KV-S1025C can process all of these forms. The scanner automatically identifies color and monochrome documents, so there's no need for presorting, and the roller system is designed to prevent double-feeds and eliminate missing scans.

A fast performer, the KV-S1025C can scan pages at 26 pages per minute (ppm) at 200 dpi, which equates to 52 images per minute (ipm) for double-sided documents. The scanner has a maximum optical resolution of 600 dpi. Multistream technology allows both a monochrome image and a color image to be saved for each scan. The monochrome image can be used for optical character recognition (OCR) and the color image for filing purposes. That effectively doubles the scanner's output to 52 ppm and 104 ipm. The unit, which activates automatically when documents are loaded, has a high-speed USB 2.0 interface for plug-and-play operation and a 480 Mbps transfer rate.

Sporting a compact form factor, the KV-S1025C measures 12.5 inches wide, 7.6 inches deep and 6.8 inches high and weighs less than 9 pounds, so it's ideal for placement on desks. The maintenance-free scanner automatically eliminates vertical lines and artifacts in scans caused by scratches on the CCD lens, such as from staples. Nonetheless, the CCD lens is easily replaced to avoid downtime.

Many features help improve scanned image quality. Automatic background color smoothing eliminates variations in background color to improve clarity and reduce JPEG output file size. Blank pages are also automatically deleted during scanning to further reduce the scanned file size. The scanner can eliminate reds, greens and blues from preprinted forms, and its multicolor dropout capability lets any color or color range be selected for removal, improving OCR processing.

In addition, the KV-S1025C automatically corrects skewing. An auto-erasure feature securely eliminates image data after the data has been transmitted. The product comes with ISIS and TWAIN drivers, document capture and OCR software, and a USB 2.0 cable. The scanner carries a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $1,049.

Panasonic's channel program has two levels: Distributor Level and Panasonic Independent Imaging VARs, or PIIVs, which must do $20,000 in Panasonic business every quarter.

Benefits include lead fulfillment, direct-sales support, quarterly rebates, demo unit discounts, a debit-card spiff program, show support and more. There are no minimum requirements for authorized partners. Training, which is free, is available in classrooms and over the Web. Beta testing and development opportunities are offered only to PIIVs.