New NCS iNSIGHT combined OMR/Image Scanner Released

A new scanner from Pearson NCS called the iNSIGHT has recently been released in the UK market. This machine combines the accuracy and speed of a traditional Optical Mark Reader along with the added advantage of being able to capture images and clips of the form in TIF format in the same manner as a standard document scanner. Immediate reaction is that you can do this with a standard document scanner with appropriate (and normally very costly) software. However, unlike OCR/ICR systems, the scanner is able to scan, interpret, verify and store data real time 'on the fly' in the same way as the traditional OMR scanner.

Although systems similar to these have been available over the last 3 to 4 years the major drawback has been price which has normally started at around £40,000. With a price tag of under £6,500 for the duplex version (double sided reading) of the standard system, this represents real value for money. It comes with the Image Scantools plus the Nestor Image Recognition engine and works with the Standard Print & Scan software if you wish to design and print your own forms.

To summarise, the iNSIGHT scanner is the next generation of desktop scanning which, enables a single pass through the scanner to capture data in different formats including:-

• Traditional OMR Boxes
• Check & X box responses
• Hand & Machine printed information
• Image clips for signatures etc.
• Full page image capture

An Opscan scanner