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AMS Adviser *
Volume 5 Issue 4 - July/August 2000
Welcome to a new issue of the AMS Adviser.
AMS and the Kodak
Digital Archive Writer
Article: Microfilm!..........In
the modern office?
New Product: Canon MS
800 A3 Digital Reader Printer
Plus we have all the usual bits AMS
Services, Funny bit???
AMS
AMS and the Kodak Digital Archive Writer
AMS has just taken delivery of a New Kodak Digital Archive Writer model 4800.
The KODAK DIGITAL SCIENCE Document
Archive Writer, Model 4800 rapidly converts digital documents to an analogue format and
media for low-cost, long-term storage, disaster recovery and access.
The Document Archive Writer and supporting software accepts document images from many
digital imaging systems in Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). You can organize them
according to your requirements, create an index, and write the images to film. Now you can
purge inactive information from expensive on-line and near-line storage with full
assurance that you’ll be able to retrieve and view it long into the future.
The Document Archive Writer accepts TIFF digital document images and converts them to
analog images on 16 mm silver halide-based film in excess of 100 A-4 images per minute at
40:1 reduction. Up to 18,000 A4-size images at 40:1 reduction will fit on a single roll of
film for storage that’s extremely compact
Key Features
- accepts bi-tonal TIFF image files; uncompressed or Group III or IV compressed to support
flexible input
- accepts image resolutions from 100 to 600 dpi
- adds image-mark coding to film to support rapid, automated retrieval
- writes in simplex or duplex (front/back) formats
- writes to one or two rolls of film for optional backup and security
.
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Microfilm!........In
the modern Office?
Surely you must be joking?
By Paul Negus – Managing Director; The Microfilm Shop
- As a modern organisation looking to embrace the latest digital technologies for the
management of our documents, why should we consider microfilm as a storage medium? Surely
microfilm is an old technology that has passed its sell by date?
- You mean like paper, which is over 2000 years old and yet we still use it? Just because
something has been around for a long time doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t use it,
especially when the very fact that it is still being used today, after all of these years,
points to a product that works and a products that works consistently over time. Not only
is microfilm still being used, but new microfilm systems are being sold every day. What do
these people know that you do not?
- Modern microfilm will last for 500 years – quoted by Kodak for silver based
original microfilm that is processed and stored to international standards.
- Microfilm is an analogue technology so:-
- No matter how technology changes in the next 500 years you will always be able to scan
microfilm into the very latest digital systems.
- It is as easy to work with as paper (another analogue medium) except that it takes up as
little as 2% of the space that paper does.
- If all else fails (natural disaster, electricity cuts, software viruses, computer
technician on holiday) all you need, to read microfilm, is light source (the sun will do!)
and a magnifying glass (or the bottom of a broken bottle).
- Microfilm is legally admissible as evidence in court – it has actually been tested
by case law. In many countries world wide microfilm is specified as the legally admissible
archival medium of choice along with paper. In America over 20 states now insist that
mandatory public records with a life of more than 10 years must have at least one copy
stored in an analogue format i.e. paper or film
- Microfilm is easily scanned by a multitude of devices that allow quick digital access to
your microfilm records. Once scanned the important document(s) remain in a microfilm
format for long term preservation, but the information on the microfilm is released into
the digital arena – e-mail it, fax it, print it, incorporate it into your existing
digital document management system. Whatever you can or want to do with digital
information you can now do with microfilm information. (Except that you can now sleep at
night knowing that your information is safe on microfilm and digitally retrievable at any
time in the future).
- Do you know how long the digital technology that you are using today will last? No,
nobody does. Figures have been quoted by some manufacturers for CD-ROMs from 10 to 100
years, but nobody really knows because the media hasn’t been around that long. Were
you aware that ultra violet light can alter the optical properties of the polycarbonate
plastic part of the disk, and that oxidisation could impair the readability of the
aluminium reflective layer? Also 3½ inch disks can start to deteriorate in 18 months.
However, this is only the tip of the iceberg, the real problem with digital technology is
obsolescence. Long before the disk itself becomes unreadably, it is likely that the CD-ROM
(as the current digital medium of choice) will be replaced by a new medium and that it
will not be possible to find a CD-RIOM reader, except perhaps in a museum. Ten years from
now, when the hardware you have has been discontinued for 5 years, how are you going to
read the old CD-ROM? At the moment it looks as if DVD will be the next technology, but
they are already working on the replacement for DVD. Yet can you still read 5½ inch
disks, let alone even older 8-inch floppies? What will the future be? Still using an
optical system?
- When technologies change (as they have done and will continue to do with constant
improvements and with manufacturers trying to gain a unique advantage over the
competition) how easy is it to migrate your old information to the new technology? Is this
an easy cheap, quick and accurate process? If you have all your information on microfilm
and technology changes you just scan the microfilm into whatever the new digital
technology is – no migration, therefore no loss of information.
- What software do you use to access your digital technology? Can you, or do you even want
to, remember when you changed from Office 95 to 97? A recent report entitled "Titanic
2020" estimates that it cost the world over $50 billion to deal with the
incompatibilities between these two software packages. It goes on to say that "New,
feature-laden versions of software appear often, but rarely with the full backward
compatibility, nor do they work well with other suppliers’ products…. The
long-term preservation and access problem will assume centre stage of the information age
in the first quarter of the 21st Century". Microfilm and the conversion of
electronic information to microfilm is a solution.
In the next issue, part two will answer the following:
The choice is yours and you do have a
choice.
Should you require an article in full, please feel free to contact us.
Go to Top.
Canon MS 800 A3 Digital Reader Printer
Click here to go to the information page on the MS
800
Click here to go to the information page on the
MS 400/500
Go to Top.
AMS Services.
For the complete run down on what AMS can do for you, click on the following
link.
AMS Services
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Funny bit???
A fire fighter is working on the Engine outside the station when he notices a little
boy next door in a little red wagon with little ladders hung off the side. The boy is
wearing a fire fighters helmet and has the wagon tied to a dog and a cat.
The fire fighter says, "Hey little partner, what are you doing?"
The little boy says, "I'm pretending to be a fireman, and this is my fire
truck."
The fire fighter walks over to take a closer look. "That's sure is a nice
firetruck," the fire fighter says with admiration.
"Thanks mister," the boy says.
The fire fighter looks a little closer and notices the boy has tied the wagon to the
dog's collar, and to the cat's tail.
"Little partner," the fire fighter says, "I don't want to tell you how
to run your fire truck, but if you were to tie that rope around the cat's collar, I think
you could go faster."
The boy says, "You're probably right, mister, but then I wouldn't have a
siren."
Go to Top.
Next Month
In the next few issues we will have some new articles which will include the following:
- AMSIndex Data Retrieval Software that is affordable.
- Articles and other topics of interest.
Plus all the usual bits & pieces.
Should you want a topic covered or need an article in full, please feel free to
contact AMS.
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Go to AMS HomePage.
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