1997: The Year As We See It -Part 2 of 4 (Apr., May, Jun.)

April 7

IRS considers outsourcing

Conceding that its paper-reliant processing system is in serious trouble, the Internal Revenue Service takes a step toward outsourcing workflow and imaging solutions.

Eastman Software is born

Eastman Kodak (Rochester, NY) completes the acquisition of Wang's (Billerica, MA) software business and names the new entity Eastman Software.

ISVs compete for desktop with Microsoft and Lotus

As Lotus attempts to sell Notes vis-a-vis Microsoft Exchange, the two companies battle away.

Mergers hasten DM need

Using BankBoston as an example, Delphi Group (Boston) predicts that the evolution of document management and workflow will be pushed along by mergers in the financial sector.

Buyers hesitate

FileNet's Q1 results show a $9 million loss, resulting in cost-cutting moves, including the closing of its Burlington, MA, office.

It's showtime

Adobe (San Jose) CEO John Warnock opens AIIM '97 with a prediction that convergence of the Web with information management will be one of the most significant trends of the year.

Adobe and 20 vendors team for paper-to-Web solutions

Adobe Systems (San Jose) announces arrangements with more than 20 vendors to capitalize on Acrobat Capture to bring paper documents to the Web.

Tucci says no to Novell

Wang CEO Joseph Tucci is awarded $8 million to stay on after the sale of Wang's software unit of Eastman Kodak.

May 5

Excellence in solutions

AIIM (Silver Spring, MD) and Kinetic Information (Waltham, MA) present Vision Awards. Topping the list: the U.S. Army Gulf War Declassification Project solution provided by Excalibur Technologies (Vienna, VA) and Eastman Software (Billerica, MA).

Pushing it

Under the premise that documents have their own intelligence, Altris (San Diego) announces Altris EB, its next generation of document management software.

Massive mass storage is coming to a desktop near you

A new storage technology that promises a single disc holding up to 650 GBs, the HD-ROM and Pancake Disc, is announced by Norsam Technologies (Los Alamos, NM) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

< >May 19 >

TWAIN group unveils new spec

The TWAIN Working Group Committee announces the details of TWAIN 1.7 to bring the scanner driver standard to a level that will support high-volume, high-speed software drivers.

Smith going strong

FileNet CEO Ted Smith clarifies his plans to stay with FileNet and lead it down what he considers "the right path."

Eastman Software debuts

Speaking at the "official public debut" of Eastman Software at AIIM '97, Daniel A. Carp, Kodak president and COO, says, "Eastman Software will play a central role in the future direction of our Business Imaging System's unit. Longer term, we believe the capabilities of this organization have potential for Kodak's other imaging businesses."

< June 16 >

Knowledge Asset Media

IW founder Bruce Taylor and show producer James Povec form new company with Atlanta publisher Shore-Varrone to acquire IW and DIIME.

FileNet bolsters top echelon

FileNet announces new president and COO Lee D. Roberts, a former IBM exec. Analysts describe the hiring as a "good move."

Huge system deployed at Motorola

Motorola (Schaumburg, IL) awards Open Text (Waterloo, Ontario) a 60,000-seat intranet installation contract