DataTrade helps turn paper into searchable data

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A local company is changing the way businesses store and manage information.|ret||ret||tab|

DataTrade, with more than 800 customers in the United States and 13 other countries, provides digital report management services for a wide variety of businesses and organizations.|ret||ret||tab|

DataTrade's outsourcing service allows its clients to rely less on the printed page for storing information or having to manage information storage.|ret||ret||tab|

"We make live data out of dead print," said company President Colin McAllister. The company states that its products, "turn masses of paper into usable, secure and productive information."|ret||ret||tab|

The software development company's Spoolview suite of software products is designed to give clients a better way to archive, distribute and retrieve all kinds of computer reports. These systems replace paper and fiche with digital media and provide on-demand access to computer reports.|ret||ret||tab|

DataTrade's products not only turn passive data into active information, they allow businesses to focus on what they do best, according to McAllister. The company's Spoolview Service, an outsourcing service that processes report files into digital media and provides immediate access from PCs, allows companies to "give those specific tasks that aren't in their core competencies over to someone else to do," McAllister said.|ret||ret||tab|

Through the Spoolview software products, DataTrade collects information from mainframe, mid-range and PC systems via file transfer or tape input. |ret||ret||tab|

"We index it, compress and store the report on any of several digital media, such as DVD or CD-ROM," McAllister said. "Spoolview technology contains a sophisticated processing and indexing engine, plus a full-function Windows search and retrieval system."|ret||ret||tab|

Once the data is processed, a copy is given to the client, who also has the option of having DataTrade store the information for a fee. Companies can access the data either over a dial-up line, the Internet or a network connection, McAllister said.|ret||ret||tab|

Several products are used to store and manage reports. SpoolWeb is a Web-based report retrieval system. Authorized users with Internet connectivity can access report information using standard Web browsers.|ret||ret||tab|

Another product, SpoolNet is a combination of in-house and outsourced services. Reports are processed by Spoolview Service and returned to the client via CD-ROM or telecommunication to a local area network-based Spoolview server. Any authorized PC user then has online access to any report on the in-house server, whether it's LAN-, WAN-, Internet- or intranet-based.|ret||ret||tab|

SpoolCast allows DataTrade to send monthly statements to a corporation's customers. Instead of a company mailing a printed invoice, DataTrade processes the digital data of the invoice and delivers the statement to the customer over the Web, McAllister said.|ret||ret||tab|

Spoolview, DataTrade's in-house, digital report management system, allows companies to process and index reports for themselves. DataTrade's technicians install a server, and corporations have the retrieval software on site, although DataTrade maintains that software.|ret||ret||tab|

DataTrade also maintains vaulted media for disaster recovery, so in case of a disaster, such as a fire at a business, the client company's reports can be retrieved.|ret||ret||tab|

Any company that generates more than 25,000 pages a month is a candidate for DataTrade's products, according to McAllister, and the software can be used in a variety of settings. Spoolview and Spoolview Service are used in a variety of specialized industries, including hospitality, health care, banking and finance, education, credit card, transportation, sports, publishing, legal and retail. |ret||ret||tab|

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