Bank Applications Fuel Optical Storage Market
Mark Arend · ABA banking journal · 1991
If there's a market in used computer Output microfiche (COM) equipment, now is the time to jump in. Banks of all sizes are replacing yesterday's statement- report-storage devices with faster cheaper optical disk storage systems. There most certainly is a market in optical disk systems, as most major hardware vendors discovered a few years ago. Nolan, Norton & Co., an information consulting research organization based in Lexington, Mass., predicts that by 1992 the global market for hardware that supports applications will reach $4.5 billion per year. Banks alone account for 9% of that figure, estimates Thornton May, the finn's director of research. Optical disk systems account for roughly 20% of the market, says May, which he admits is conservative, but banks are an especially receptive target given the large number of customers they service the amount of paper required to maintain an account. Proven technology. Bank managers tend to be wary of new technologies that seem to promise too much. But it's hard not to take a closer look at a that is clearly proving itself in terms of faster customer service, more efficient use of personnel, dramatic operating expense reduction. In many cases, bank managers themselves are directing their operations staffs to investigate implement optical disk-based systems, the sooner the better. Optical storage is just part of a larger scenario, called technology, but an important part to banks nonetheless. Imaging systems scan store images of such documents as checks bank statements, making check processing other labor-intensive applications more efficient. Image-based data are recorded onto optical disks, which resemble large compact disks are typically stored in so-called jukeboxes, or hardware units that house retrieve the disks for use. first benefit of optical storage systems to banks investigating them is the cost of implementing one compared to maintaining existing microfiche systems. Aquidneck Systems International, N. Kingstown, R.I., is currently in discussions with a $32 billion-assets Massachusetts bank, which furnished the vendor with figures reflecting its annual microfiche expenses. Operating expenses. That bank's 1991 projected supply cost is about $449,000 for fiche, master film, duplicate film only, says George Steele, Aquidneck's director of marketing. bank generates 20 million print pages on fiche, including 73,000 fiche masters per month 334,000 fiche duplicates per month. The bank also spends about $265,000 on printer paper per year, making the total $714,000 for 1991, notes Steele. We probably could put a system on their floor for about $300,000, that would take care of their needs for about four years, based on these numbers. Aquidneck is a value-added reseller of Kodak 6800 optical disk libraries markets its own high-speed controller to Kodak other system integrators as well as directly to end users. which manages the robotics of the jukebox, essentially is a computer in its own right, according to Steele. It retrieves data from the appropriate disk on command from the host computer, stores the data until needed by the mainframe, replaces the disk in its correct slot. We've recently introduced high-speed data compression to our controller, adds Steele, and as a result, we can pack three times as much data on a jukebox have increased the throughput by a factor of three. Suddenly we're about 50 times faster than a microfiche machine. Optical data storage. Not all optical disk-based storage systems store images of documents, as imaging technology implies. LaserAccess Corp., Bothell, Wash., for example, markets an optical data storage system, the LA 1500 Optical Data System, which stores numerical textual information in the same way a floppy disk or magnetic tape does. …