Review: Nothin' But Scanners

Now that the current generation of multifunction printers does everything but make coffee, why would anyone want a standalone scanner? As it turns out, there's a strong niche of individuals who need one on their desktops. That's because more processes than ever are going digital, and a growing number of professionals need to be in arm's reach of a scanner.

Depending on the types of images being scanned, resolution and the ability to handle large volumes can be critical. Sectors such as health care, banking, legal, government and financial services are finding that digitizing paper-based processes is no longer an option, thanks to myriad regulations that require the retention of documents.

Demand for desktop scanners could grow anywhere from 50 percent to 60 percent this year, predicts IDC analyst Ron Glaz. While IDC hasn't recently released figures for the standalone scanner market, a mere 50,000 units shipped in 2003, the most recent year for which it has figures. That adds up to $60 million. Nevertheless, Glaz says, that number could grow manyfold during the next several years, potentially into the millions of units per year. "The market still needs to educate customers why one scanner is better than another," Glaz says.

Numerous scanners are available to VARs to suit a variety of application requirements and price points. We've picked a few recent entries, priced between $350 and $1,300, that are suited for a variety of business uses. While desktop and workgroup scanners might not bring super margins on their own, they can be an important component of a solution sale, especially if you are serving customers where archiving and sharing documents online is becoming critical. Consider the services opportunity to help customers of any size move from paper to electronic documents. All offerings come with a full suite of software.

Canon CanoScan 9950F

If your customer has diverse scanning needs, ranging from traditional documents to old photos or even transparencies, the CanoScan 9950F Color Image Scanner is worth your consideration. The scanner supports 48-bit color and a maximum resolution of 4,800-x-9,600 dpi. Very few scanners in its class that we have seen are capable of such high resolution, though for many users it could be overkill. With this scanner, Canon has introduced Film Automatic Retouching and Enhancement Level 3, which performs an infrared scan that examines the surface of an image for dust and scratches, removing them from the final output. The scanner has four buttons in front: e-mail, copy, scan and save-to-PDF. One caveat to keep in mind: If your customer is scanning large numbers of documents at a time, the CanoScan 9950F might not be the ideal scanner because it lacks an automatic document feeder (ADF). But for those who do occasional scanning that requires high-resolution images, the CanoScan 9950F is a good choice.

Price: $399 Contact: www.usa.canon.com

Fujitsu Computer Products of America fi-5110C and fi-60F

While both scanners come from the same vendor, these two units couldn't have less in common. For traditional document scanning, the 5110C can scan anything from business cards and checks to large documents measuring as large as 34 inches. The scanner supports up to 30 images per minute in duplex mode and supports 600-dpi resolution; the ADF can hold up to 50 pages at a time. The 5110C supports both TWAIN and ISIS (Image and Scanner Interface Specification) drivers and comes with Fujitsu's ScandAll 21 application software.

The fi-60F, on the other hand, is small enough to fit in a briefcase, making it ideal for retail locations, banks, airports, DMVs and other places where scanning needs are limited to small documents. Need to scan a letter-size document with the fi-60F? Forget it. Nevertheless, the product should serve a healthy niche. Weighing just 2 pounds, the device is compact and about the size of a paperback book. It can scan 200-dpi documents in 8-bit grayscale or 24-bit color.

Price: fi-5110C, $895; fi-60F, $395 Contact: www.fcpa.fujitsu.com

Hewlett-Packard Scanjet 7650

If your customer is looking for a flatbed scanner and an ADF is a must, the Scanjet 7650 gives HP partners a viable and reasonably priced offering. The newest of the group, the 12-ppm scanner, is versatile and easy to use. Like the CanoScan 9950F, it comes with a 35-mm slide and negative adapter, but is equally suitable for scanning documents. An adjustable lid makes it easy to scan articles, pages from books and other thick files directly to PDFs. While a bit more expensive than the CanoScan, the 50-page ADF supports both letter- and legal-size documents and is a bit more compact. In addition to scanning to PDFs, speed buttons support e-mail, copy, photo scans, document scans and scan-to-file.

Price: $699 Contact: www.hp.com

Xerox DocuMate 262

The most expensive and highest-performing scanner in our roundup, Xerox's DocuMate 262, scans up to 66 images per minute in duplex mode, a 30 percent increase in throughput over the older DocuMate 252. Manufactured by Visioneer (as is the entire DocuMate line), the DocuMate 262 has a button with nine preprogrammed settings that can let the individual determine the "destination" of a scanned document, including a searchable PDF, print, archive and e-mail. Like the older DocuMate 252, the newer model has a small footprint of just 6-x-13 inches.

Price: $1,300 Contact: www.xeroxscanners.com