Announcing ABBYY Recognition Server

ABBYY answers the need for turnkey integration with server-based document recognition and PDF conversion solutions

As part of its ongoing effort to deliver document recognition technologies to suit a variety of business needs, ABBYY Software House today announced ABBYY Recognition Server, a server-based solution for delivering scalable, reliable, and rapidly deployable optical character recognition (OCR) functions in a service-oriented environment. With all processing performed remotely on a server, the new product offers automated document recognition and PDF conversion with minimum user intervention.  

Based on ABBYY's award-winning recognition platform, ABBYY Recognition Server offers highly accurate conversion of images into text or searchable PDF files for the purpose of categorising, archiving, searching or integrating with third party content management systems. This robust solution automates recognition and PDF conversion processes by providing ready-to-use functionality deployed on a server, giving system administrators, enterprises, and service providers greater flexibility in deployment, management, and integration of OCR and document conversion functions.

Automated OCR Processing with Centralised Management ABBYY Recognition Server allows administrators to set up a full, dedicated recognition and document conversion service - from image input to export - that is easy to control and maintain. With all processing taking place on a server as opposed to a client, all functions are managed centrally. Administrators pre-define settings and control functions across the enterprise. A remote management console (based on Microsoft Management Console) serves as a central point for defining processing parameters and managing recognition stations to create specific "workflows" for a particular workgroup or project. Examples include:

• Archiving documents in multiple formats. An administrator can set up an archiving system for converting scanned documents and images into multiple formats (such as  searchable PDF and editable RTF files simultaneously), with all of the settings pre-configured. Administrators can pre-define the following parameters: which folder to obtain images, image pre-processing functions, processing language, output/export formats, and location for depositing final files. Processing can be scheduled to take place once a day after peak business hours (though images may be submitted by end users throughout the day), or the moment a file is placed in a designated folder.
• Concurrent processing of different tasks. An administrator can set up folders for each particular type of document that needs to be processed such as contracts, sales orders, invoices, and press clippings. Each folder will have its own processing parameters, output format, priority, and processing schedule.
• Corporate end users simply place images in or scan them directly to the designated folder (shared or FTP) using network-based scanners or multifunction devices such as a digital copier. Recognition Server will do the rest without user intervention.
• Corporations can standardise their document recognition and conversion processes and allow corporate users to access powerful recognition functions with minimal training. In fact, processing can be set to run unattended or in the background, allowing users to save valuable employee time.
• Turnkey Solution, Easily Integrated with Third-Party Workflows Because today's technologies must be flexible enough to respond to rapidly changing business needs, Recognition Server is designed for easy deployment either as a complete stand-alone solution or as an integral part of an external system.

Deploying Recognition Server is easy because it offers:

• Ready-to-use functions. Recognition Server comes equipped with a standard set of ready-to-use functions (such as converting document images into editable and searchable electronic formats) for document recognition and conversion requiring minimal preconfiguration to get up and running.
• Open API. With an Open, COM-compatible Application Programming Interface (API), Recognition Server can be easily integrated with third-party enterprise content management (ECM), electronic records management (ERM) or document management systems (DMS).  As a result, companies can easily add powerful OCR without disrupting their existing document workflows.
• XML-Ticket support. Recognition Server can work with XML-tickets for automating document recognition or changing processing parameters. Client-side or third-party applications can be created to enable instant management of processing using XML-tickets.

According to ABBYY Chief Product Manager Alexander Rylov, ABBYY Recognition Server addresses a growing need for easier document recognition deployment in complex work environments. "Today's IT administrators and service providers are faced with the difficult task of increasing technology functionality while ensuring that it is interoperable with other technologies, and easy for workers to use," explained Rylov.  "ABBYY has combined our years of experience working with a range of recognition technology - from end user applications to software development toolkits - to offer a product that provides OCR functionality in a "black box" implementation. Easy-to-deploy, easy-to-integrate, easy-to-use."

Rosenheim, Germany-based itionion.soft, has already tested Recognition Server with its Accantum product, a browser-based, service-oriented information and archiving system.  "We were able to test Recognition Server very early during the beta test." explained Hans Lemke, CEO for itinion.soft GmbH "It was easy to integrate with our products and provided the high scalability we required. We were able to install it on a separate server which performs OCR functions independently but can be easily linked to our exiting systems. ABBYY Recognition Server will provide the OCR- and PDF-processing in the next version of Accantum.Recognition Server matches perfectly with our strategy and our product."

Ideal for Service Bureaus or Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
Fast deployment, ease of integration, and interoperability as well as the ability to configure settings for a variety of processing jobs, makes Recognition Server the ideal solution for service bureaus. With its flexible functionality and scalable architecture, server-based OCR processing and centralised management, Recognition Server helps service providers improve and speed up their processing performance as well as save hardware resources and valuable time.

Remote OCR Delivered Via HTTP
Users can work with Recognition Server via HTTP (provided that Microsoft Internet Information Server is installed) and, to create a Web-based OCR processing service. Using a specially designed ASP sample, VARs and IT administrators can easily design a web interface to communicate with Recognition Sever via the Internet (and Intranet) and make it accessible from remote stations. This feature can be useful for corporations with distributed offices and remote workers as well as for service provides to offer their customers a web-based processing service.

High Volume Processing and Extendable Scalability
Recognition Server is designed to handle any volume of documents. Concurrent processing with automatic job distribution and load balancing help maximise throughput.  IT managers can easily scale up processing capacity by adding additional CPUs or processing stations as demand increases without interrupting current processes.

Based on Award-winning Recognition and PDF Conversion Technology In addition to ABBYY's high recognition accuracy and PDF conversion quality, Recognition Server offers support for 185 languages, including old European type fonts such as Fraktur, Schwabacher and majority of Gothic fonts, plus 1D and 2D barcode recognition.

Recognition Server provides the ability to convert a variety of input image formats to a multitude of searchable and editable output formats (including DOC, RTF, XML, DBF, XLS, HTML, and PDF) and can be set up to create multiple document output formats for a single process. In addition, it supports searchable PDF files and linearised, tagged, and secure PDF formats including native PDF encryption - 40-bit and 128 bit AES.