A vendor of digital check scanners has updated its closed Linux drivers, releasing drivers for recent versions of Red Hat and Ubuntu. Digital Check can also supply custom drivers for device makers and OEMs, it says.

(Click for larger view of the CheXpress CX30)

Check scanners emerged after events on Sept. 11, 2001 grounded all commercial airplane flights in the U.S. for a week, explained Digital Check's VP of product management, Bruce Rennecker. “All checks in the U.S. stopped moving. The banking system had shut down. The Fed immediately notified banks not to worry, and to keep operating until they got trucks lined up. But that experience incented the government to stop the archaic practice of moving paper physically. It worked through Congress on a series of changes that allowed for the truncation of checks and electronic depositing of scanned checks.”

Rennecker said his company's scanners are used in banks, but also by corporate America. “Instead of walking to the bank, you scan them in and digitally deposit them,” he said. The scanners themselves cost between $500 and $3,000. Software supporting them is sometimes sold on a pay-per-use basis, bought outright, or developed by companies in-house, he added.

Apparently, the idea is also catching on overseas, and among OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). Within both of those groups, the “use of the Linux operating system is in increasing demand,” Digital Check says.

In addition to new Linux drivers, Digital Check has updated the API (application programming interface) used across its CheXpress and TellerScan family of check scanners. “API v9.0” adds support for:

• CheXpress CX30 scanner's adaptive MICR (multiple image capture read) recognition
• Money-order recognition
• 300- and 240-dpi scanning in black and white, grayscale, and color
• Ability to scan and process damaged or torn checks without the use of a check carrier
• Scan and return mode

Digital Check's 7 x 9.5 x 4-inch CheXpress CX30 scanner is claimed to be the first small scanner for business and enterprise use that can read varying qualities of magnetic inks produced by desktop check-printing applications. It supports MICR intensity ranging from 40 percent to 200 percent, the company claims.

TellerScan 4120

The higher-end TellerScan product family includes five models, including the TellerScan 4120 (pictured at right).

Stated John Gainer, Digital Check EVP, “Our latest release is focused on the unique requirements of the growing worldwide market of remote deposit capture. We have designed our API so that our software partners have an easy way to leverage the power of our scanners with their software applications.”

Availability

Digital Check's CheXpress CX30 and TellerScan scanners with API v9.0 appear to be shipping now, supporting Ubuntu 7.05 and Red Hat AS-Version 5 Linux distributions, as well as Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. Prices were not disclosed.

 
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