WINDSOR, Conn., April 9, 2003 -- Konica Business Technologies U.S.A., Inc. (Konica), the innovation leader in digital imaging solutions and a subsidiary of Konica Corporation, today announced the availability of Konica Dispatcher and Dispatcher for Alchemy. Konica Dispatcher is a multi-threaded application designed to automate the redundant tasks associated with document imaging, archiving and image retrieval. Dispatcher for Alchemy allows for the automation of several of the most commonly used document manipulation operations such as OCR, despeckle, deskew and split TIFFs, relative to Alchemy, a full scanning and document management solution from Information Management Research, Inc. (IMR). Developed to save time and money for paper- intensive businesses such as law firms, medical facilities, and financial and government institutions, Konica Dispatcher and Dispatcher for Alchemy streamline and eliminate a multitude of document manipulation processes. In the continual support of the vast language differences within the United States and throughout the international marketplace, Konica Dispatcher and Dispatcher for Alchemy provide full language localization support via language files created with Konica's free-of-charge LocoLingo translation tool. Konica Dispatcher Bringing together a host of tools that enable business users to automate basic file processing, and scanned document manipulation and clean-up processes, Konica Dispatcher reduces the number of steps and man hours previously necessary to complete such tasks. Konica Dispatcher can be used as an intermediate clean-up tool, prior to transferring files and images into higher-end document archive, retrieval and re-purposing products or on its own with a PC hard drive or a corporate network for storing manipulated files. Once document changes have been made, Konica Dispatcher will place the "cleaned-up" file in a designated folder, automating the document workflow process. Both image and print-task based, Konica Dispatcher can be set to monitor a number of network file folders - "Hot Folders" - and/or one or more of Konica's multifunctional products' (MFPs) hard drives that contain TIFF and/or PDF images. A variety of document manipulation tools such as despeckle, deskew, TIFF splitting/merging, annotation "Bates Stamp" and watermarking are available and fully customizable to the specific "Hot Folder" or Konica MFP being monitored. In addition, a robust scheduling tool has been built-in, allowing "Hot Folders" and/or Konica MFPs to be checked at specific time intervals or on specific days. Dispatcher's print-task capability allows for retrieval and printing of Microsoft® Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents, as well as text, TIFF and PDF files. Dispatcher for Alchemy Dispatcher for Alchemy automates several of the most commonly used document manipulation operations like OCR, despeckle, deskew and split TIFFs that are an integral part of the Alchemy document management software application. The Alchemy application allows for businesses to efficiently manage, archive and distribute their desktop application documents and scanned images via repositories that are easily searchable by users in stand-alone or networked environments. Being a task-based technology, Dispatcher for Alchemy can monitor an input folder on a PC or network share "Hot Folder", to automatically perform the most commonly used document manipulation operations, and then move the file into an Alchemy database. "Konica Dispatcher and Dispatcher for Alchemy represent complementary and dynamic additions to our line of scanning/document management/workflow automation solutions," said William H. Brewster, vice president, marketing, Konica Business Technologies U.S.A., Inc. "By automating the mundane, repetitive image archive, retrieval and manipulation tasks, our technology will save our customers time and money." Pricing and Availability Konica Dispatcher can be downloaded from Konica's Systems Engineering Center (SEC) Web site, www.sec.konicabt.com, for $150 per single-user license or purchased on CD for $300. Dispatcher for Alchemy can be downloaded from the SEC Web site for $300 per single-user license or purchased on CD for $595.