Too many sweaters ...Both apartment-dwellers and small businesses the world over have at least one dilemma in common: finding a place to store all those things they're not using right now, but know they're going to need later on, like sweaters, winter coats and last season's tax returns. Businesses have at least one advantage, in that tax returns (and all other kinds of documents) can be scanned and stored electronically using document management software like Easy Data Access' Docsvault.
Currently available in a single-user Professional Edition, Docsvault offers scanning, PDF creation and storage with 128-bit encryption; an Encrypted Safe Vault for security; one-click CD and DVD back-ups for storing data off-site; version control and audit trailing; and a comprehensive password and information manager. Toward the end of the year, EDA plans to launch an SMB Edition that will help small and midsized businesses move ever closer to the paperless office. Now if only someone would work on the sweaterless apartment.
Price: Professional Edition - $49.99.
Easy Data Access
www.docsvault.com
... not enough closets
Another advantage businesses have over apartment-dwellers is that, while it's practically impossible to buy a closet (and please, don't get us started on armoires), companies like NetApp are rushing to provide computer storage solutions. Take its recently announced StoreVault S500, a scalable, all-in-one network storage appliance. Aimed at small and midsized businesses, the S500 supports a wide variety of storage technologies, like NAS, iSCSI SAN and Fibre Channel SAN, and has advanced system and data protection capabilities. Meanwhile, we're still staring at a big pile of sweaters.
Price: Starts at $5,000.
Network Appliance Inc.
www.netapp.com
New scanners
If it isn't clear by now, we here at New Products live in a small apartment with nowhere near enough closet space. But does Hewlett Packard care? No, they're too busy developing a new line of scanners to help firms with the often-overwhelming issue of document management. The HP Scanjet 8390 flatbed can scan up to 35 pages per minute, while the compact Scanjet 7800 sheet-fed scanner can process up to 25 pages per minute. That's good news for firms that need to handle large numbers of documents, but it doesn't make our apartment any bigger.
Price: Scanjet 8390 - $1,499; Scanjet 7800 - $799.
Hewlett Packard
www.hp.com
Out, not out of touch
Since the Starbucks across the street (and the one around the corner, and the one next to that) generally offer better accommodations than both our office and our closet-challenged apartment, we like to spend a lot of time there - a habit made much easier by Sprint's introduction of two powerful new PDA/phones that can take advantage of the phone company's Sprint Power Vision Network to achieve broadband-like speeds. Both the BlackBerry 7130e and the Treo 700P (pictured) offer Bluetooth wireless technology, can act as tethered modems for your laptop, have sharp color screens, and come with discounts from Sprint. Plus, the Treo can support Sprint TV, which has over 50 channels of video and audio for TV on the go.
Price: BlackBerry 7130e - $199.99 (with discounts and promotions); Treo 700P - $399.99 (with discounts and promotions).
Sprint
www.sprint.com
New and improved!
Sage Software has released Sage Accpac ERP 5.4, which includes new Return Materials Authorization capabilities, and over 260 user-requested new features. ... Spectorsoft has begun shipping its Spector 360 monitoring software for detailed reporting and analysis of exactly what your employees are doing on those expensive computers you gave them. ... CCH has released Version 2.1 of CCH@Hand, its research integration tool, with new topical indexes and targeted Web searches. ... Oversight Systems has announced its new segregation-of-duties management solution for internal controls and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, Oversight 4.0.
