Press Room

IBML Cracks Chinese Market With First ImageTrac Scanner Sale

July 03, 2006 – Birmingham, Ala. – Imaging Business Machines, LLC (IBML) maker of the high-speed ImageTrac ® Color Scanning Platform, has successfully entered the Chinese market with a sale to the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). IBML scanners have been sold into a number of countries, but this marks the first entry into the vast emerging Chinese economy. The deal capped a long cycle of negotiation and networking and helps establish IBML credibility for a long-term strategy targeting Asian customers. ICBC is the leading bank in China, and in the top 20 in the world in terms of assets and operational offices.

“We recently celebrated the manufacture of our 1,000 th scanner, and we are excited that two of those units leading up to that milestone have opened the door for us in China,” said Gary Murphy, founder and president of IBML. “This is an extremely important market for our company and for the US, and we hope to be an example for other entrepreneurs that with perseverance, it is possible to succeed there.”

A key player in the process was Rebecca Liu, who came to represent IBML in China following a chance meeting with Mr. Murphy while she was a business student and guide. “Chinese requirements are different from those in the US,” she noted. “For one thing, thin paper is often used for many documents, but the ImageTrac is known for its ability to handle a wide variety of media, so this was an advantage for us.” The texture of the bank documents, checks and vouchers makes them challenging for many high speed transport systems, but the ImageTrac is known for outstanding paper handling, making it possible for ICBC to scan mixed documents at the best speeds.

In China, banks must process and sort commercial checks, and ICBC also uses offline Chinese character recognition software integrated as the authentication process. ImageTrac was the best choice for this banking customer, whose applications require absolute security. In addition, the color scanning ability of the ImageTrac was especially important to the Chinese bank. Unlike the US financial industry, color check images are routine in the Chinese market, and since IBML was founded on the premise of color scanning, this requirement was easily met. For example, if a check uses red ink to indicate an amount, ImageTrac will capture that information providing an “original copy” of any scanned document. IBML provides 24 bit color images at speeds up to 1,000 checks per minute. The high-speed color-scanning platform not only delivers best-in-breed digital image production, but also allowed ICBC to redesign their workflow to incorporate advanced content management using scanned documents.