AS/400 ImagePlus System View

Storage space, loss of documents, misfiled and misplaced documents, and document retrieval are just a few of the problems of processing large volumes of paper. High storage costs, lost productivity, personnel costs, and poor responsiveness are some of the results. Until recently, technology could not provide a Cost-effective method for reducing this paper flow. IBM designed its midrange ImagePlus" system to provide an effective and comprehensive solution to both the paper and the work-flow problems. The AS/400m ImagePlus system provides an imaging environment for departmental installations of up to 256 workstations. This system combines the image-handling capabilities of the ISM Imageplus Workstation Program, the user interface and caselfolder processing of the AS1400 Workfolder Application Facility, with the image storage and retrieval capabilities of the optical storage support subsystem. All together, these facilities provide a highly configurable system capable of handling high volumes of transactions. T he ~s/400" ImagePlus'" system was designed to integrate image with existing applications, thereby providing a separate subsystem or system for image handling. This allows the current application to be capable of processing images without major modifications. ~ s / 4 0 0 Imageplus uses standard IBM products across standard interfaces and architec-tures, and isolates the application from the devices and media that are required for image handling. Working in partnership with key customers, we took a market-driven approach to this problem in which we developed a prototype that delivered a product for a specific set of customer requirements much faster than would top-down development. Continued participation with the marketplace to refine the product allows us to address the needs of an ever-increasing number of customers. AS/400 Imageplus hardware configuration Figure 1 shows a typical A S ~ O O ImagePlus configuration. The A S ~ O O system may be any of the available models, depending on the customer environment. The Workfolder Application Facility (WAF), runs in the A S ~ O O , and the images are initially stored on the ~ ~ 1 4 0 0 DASD, using the ~ s / 4 0 0 PC Support shared folders facility. Images may be migrated to optical disk storage via a background process that may be initiated at any time. The workstation, a P S / ~ Model 50 or higher with the IBM image adapter card, provides the ability to retrieve and display images stored on either ~ ~ 1 4 0 0 …