Canon U.S.A. And Captaris Sign Development And Licensing Agreement To Connect imageRUNNER MFPs With Value-Added Software Applications
Canon U.S.A., Inc., and Captaris, Inc., a leading provider of Business Information Delivery solutions, today announced an agreement for Captaris to develop an application using Canon's innovative Multifunctional Embedded Application Platform (MEAP) to connect Canon and Captaris products.
In connection with the agreement, Captaris will license Canon's MEAP software developers kit (SDK) and develop Captaris MEAP Client for imageRUNNER for Canon's award-winning line of multifunctional products (MFPs). This Captaris application, to be licensed to Canon for resale, will act as a gateway between the Canon imageRUNNER products and the Captaris suite of Business Information Delivery products. Captaris MEAP Client for imageRUNNER will reside on the hard-disk of a Canon networked device. The application will be presented to walk-up users on the full-color LCD control panel of the MEAP-enabled imageRUNNER device, transforming the traditional MFP device into a powerful communications hub for sharing, routing and managing information and printing across a network.
The first application to come out of this agreement will give users access to advanced Captaris RightFax enterprise fax and document delivery functionality right from the touch panel of the imageRUNNER device. This application is expected to be available in mid-2006. Captaris RightFax enables organizations of all sizes to securely and reliably deliver documents via fax, e-mail or over the Internet.
The traditional faxing process utilizing stand-alone fax machines connected to phone lines is time consuming, labor intensive and could compromise security and regulatory compliance. RightFax replaces fax machines and automates enterprise faxing, so organizations can leverage their existing IT resources by transferring the faxing process to the network, providing the ability to send and receive faxes and secure electronic documents directly from a personal computer or a Canon imageRUNNER device.
"In addition to increased efficiency and a richer end-user experience, an embedded RightFax application on Canon's line of imageRUNNER MFPs will allow businesses to gain significant insight into and control of their internal processes that incorporate fax," said Sam Yoshida, director and general manager, Product Marketing Division, Canon U.S.A. "This in turn can help facilitate the growing need to develop, regulatory compliance programs for various Acts, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, which requires management assessment of internal controls."
"Canon's MEAP platform provides our development team with the unique opportunity to build value-added applications that reside on an imageRUNNER MFP and incorporate a similar experience and functionality that our end users currently enjoy through the RightFax client application on their PCs," said Dan Campi, vice president of business & corporate development for Captaris.
About Captaris, Inc.
Captaris Business Information Delivery solutions help organizations automate the information and document flow throughout the information lifecycle (capture, process, manage, deliver.) With a comprehensive suite of software and services, Captaris helps organizations to grow revenues and increase profits while meeting compliance goals. Through a global distribution network of leading enterprise technology partners, Captaris has installed more than 90,000 systems in 95 countries in companies of all sizes, including the entire Fortune 100. Captaris is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. The company was founded in 1982 and is publicly traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol CAPA. For more information, please visit www.captaris.com.
About Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc. delivers consumer, business-to-business, and industrial imaging solutions. The Company is listed as one of Fortune's Most Admired Companies in America and is rated #35 on the BusinessWeek list of "Top 100 Brands." Its parent company Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ) is a top patent holder of technology, ranking third overall in the U.S. in 2004, with global revenues of $33.3 billion. For more information, visit www.usa.canon.com.