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Alchemy Product Family

What is Alchemy?
Alchemy Gold V6 R6.3
Datagrabber
Scan2CD
Alchemy Web Server
Cad2CD

Share Knowledge Around the Office and Around the World

See what's new in Alchemy Web Server R6SP3

Every day businesses, organizations and government offices create files and documents that they want to share using an intranet, extranet or the Internet. The large majority of these files cannot efficiently be stored and retrieved in a relational database. Examples abound: scanned images (TIFFs), computer report files (COLD), Adobe Acrobat PDF files, text files, Microsoft Office documents and other binary files.

Alchemy® Web Server (AWS) enables you to provide browser-based* Universal Access to all of your information assets including paper documents, computer output reports (COLD) including reports, statements, invoices with pre-printed overlays and many popular PC file types including Microsoft Office 97/2000, PDF, image files and many other business application files.



Only a browser is needed to be empowered with Alchemy Web Server's powerful search capabilities including full-text, metadata, and annotations searching all in one powerful query operation. A selected document can be viewed with AWS' flexible file viewing options, printed or retrieved to your local hard drive in either native or HTML format--enabling it to be attached to an email.

The AWS administrator configures how each database is opened (with a standard browser or a standard browser with IMR's new ActiveX viewers installed to maximize performance). If a database is configured in AWS for ActiveX, AWS checks to see if the ActiveX viewers are already installed--if not it prompts the user for automatic download of the ActiveX viewers. Alchemy security combines with NT security and SSL to secure your information assets.

Each Alchemy® document database is capable of storing millions of documents and data on low-cost, PC-attached storage devices and is accessible via LAN/WAN, CD-R/DVD and with Alchemy Web Server via intranet, extranet or the Internet.



Applications

Alchemy Web Server's simplicity/power can be realized in these (and many more) possible applications:

Industry Browser Access for Online Access to Benefits
Customer Service Customer Service Representative Customer Billing and Records Immediate/online access to vast archives of customer billing records. Eliminate distribution time of paper or CD/DVD--immediately available.
Remittance Processing Customer Service Representative Customer Remittance Records Immediate/online access to vast archives of customer billing records. Eliminate distribution time of paper or CD/DVD--immediately available.
Mortgage Companies Corporate and Branch Staff Loan Documents (in process and historical) Online access to loan application, supporting documents, loan documents and status from any branch or corporate. Provides immediate access even with centralized processing facility.
Mortgage Companies Title Companies Corporate and Branch Staff Loan Documents (in process and historical) Online access to loan application, supporting documents, loan documents and status from any branch or corporate. Provides immediate access even with centralized processing facility.
Title Companies Corporate and Branch Staff All supporting document for the Title Policy Immediate access to all information related to each policy. Powerful and inexpensive archive of in-process and issued policies.
Law Firm Attorneys, Staff Case Documents Intranet access to case documents with full-text, metadata, and annotations search. Password-protected client access to their documents. Create case subset database on CD for in-court searching.
Multi-national corporations Globally dispersed sales force Sales and Marketing Files The global sales force can have immediate access to all sales and marketing files which have been created in any of over 250 business applications.
All Customers Account Information Online access to account information--frees up company CSRs for less routine requests.
Banking Customers Cancelled Checks Self-service eliminates the need for intervention or support from customer service representatives.
Information Service Bureau Their Clients On-Line / Off-Site Data Vault Service Provide the dual-value of an off-site data vault service combined with full on-line information access. Secured across the Internet with SSL.
City/County Government Public Land and Title Records Scanning and putting land and title records online eliminates the need for an employee to service every title search request.
All Employees, Customers, Channel Partners, Public Immediate Access to Relevant Information Varying levels of access. AWS' powerful searching, viewing, and retrieval capabilities makes information available to those that need it, when they need it, where they need it.




What's New in Alchemy Web Server-R6SP3?

The Alchemy Web Server R6SP3 maintenance release adds:

  • Alchemy Web Server R6 SP3 is designed to run on the latest Microsoft operating systems: Windows 2000 Server or Windows NT with Service Pack 5 or Service Pack 6a.
  • Internet browser frames can surround AWS' frames to integrate AWS into a frames-based site.
  • AWS R6 SP3 supports self-service login access with both Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers*.
  • ActiveX viewer stores the last settings for viewing and printing of image files.
  • AWS users can view unbuilt profile data and unbuilt documents.
  • Install using standard HTTP and SSL ports or select your own non-standard port numbers.
  • OCR text for large scanned images is now displayed in its entirety.
  • AWS ActiveX Client detection is not effected by the browser's script debugging on or off setting.
Alchemy Web Server Architecture has two main components: the server side and the client side. The Server component is installed on industry-standard Microsoft Windows NT Server running both Internet Information Server (IIS) and Active Server Pages (ASP). The Server component can request data from any Alchemy database accessible to that NT Server. When an Internet Explorer or Navigator browser* connects to the Alchemy Web Server through HTTP, the Client component is downloaded from the Server to the browser, and serves as the graphical user interface to the Server. The ActiveX viewer which is downloaded only once.

The Client sends requests (list, query, display) to the Server, which connects to the appropriate Alchemy database, converts the request results into HTML or sends it natively if an ActiveX viewer exists for that file type, and sends the results back to the Client.





Features of Alchemy Web Server

Competitive Business Advantages
  • Fast and easy way to deploy diverse business documents and data to the Web.
  • Create separate Home pages for separate clients or departments.
  • With Alchemy® Web Server / Alchemy® installed, you can get the latest sales, marketing, or channel information posted in just a few minutes -- whether it is from paper, computer output reports, or one of more than many popular PC file types. It will be on your intranet/extranet/Internet site in just a few minutes.
  • Lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Powerful, Easy-To-Use Searching and Viewing

  • Browse, query and view the contents of an Alchemy document database via an Internet or Intranet browser. The browser interface closely resembles the Alchemy Windows client.
  • Search across full-text, metadata fields and annotations--all in one search operation.
  • Image viewing tools: zoom in or out, panning view, multi-page view, thumbnail view, etc.
  • Choose from actual size, best fit, fit to height, fit to width.
  • Browse across multiple databases from one view with AWS' Search Groups feature.
  • Display data fields, OCR text, annotations.
  • Display COLD line data with or without a forms overlay.
  • Display data in a columnar view.
  • Print or retrieve it to a local hard drive in native or HTML format-- enabling it to be emailed.
  • Online help file for browser users.
  • View images in AWS' powerful ActiveX viewer which provides high quality with great performance.
Flexible, Easy Installation and Enterprise Rollout

  • Alchemy databases can be stored on the AWS server itself or on any network-attached shared drive, including CD-ROM towers, jukeboxes or RAID.
  • Convert documents and data to HTML on the fly. There is no need to pre-process any documents or data, it is handled automatically on demand.
  • Optional ActiveX viewers speed image file viewing by eliminating conversion at server when an ActiveX viewer exists for that file type at the client.
  • PDF viewer required for Acrobat PDF files stored in Alchemy.
  • Convert TIFF to GIF for browser display, or view the TIFF with the AWS ActiveX viewer.
  • Automatically prompt users to upgrade older ActiveX Client software to SP3 Client Software.
Open/Industry Standards

  • Compatible with MS Internet Information Server (IIS) and Active Server Pages (ASP) technology.
  • Compatible with MS Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator browsers*.
Flexible, Powerful Security

  • Supports IIS Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for secure transmission of data.
  • Manages AWS server access through NT user/group administration/security.
  • AWS respects the Alchemy® security privileges applied to the underlying database. Prompts the user for a password log-in and displays only the data they are approved for.
  • Logs user session activity at the server.
Capacities/Compatibilities

  • ERM/COLD data typically has the lowest document size and overlays are cached after the first document. Light use models may scale to hundreds of users per AWS server*.
  • Using ClientX (IMR's ActiveX viewer) image files are viewed in their native format and can also scale to a large number of concurrent users. Light use models may scale to hundreds of users per AWS server.
  • PC file types are converted to HTML and require server processing to do so. Average AWS use accessing typical PC file types will support approximately one hundred concurrent users per server. In many cases more may be supported based on light use models and document sizes. Less users are supported with extra-large PC file types and heavy use models.
  • Interacts with Alchemy®databases built with version 3.12 or later of Alchemy Gold or Pro.


How Access to Alchemy Web Server Works

  • Start your web browser.
  • Specify the URL to an Alchemy Web Server.
  • View a table of contents list of available Alchemy databases and their contents.
  • Execute a search.
  • View a result list.
  • View a selected document from either the result list or the table of contents browse list.
  • Optionally, you can print and/or retrieve the original document to a local drive in HTML or native format.


System Requirements (subject to change without notice)

Alchemy Web Server should be installed and maintained by a certified NT system administrator who has experience with IIS and HTML programming. Administrative privileges to the server are required. Most AWS applications are processor, disk and memory intensive on the server side, and will benefit from the most powerful server available to the user.



Server

Supported Server Operating Systems- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server or Windows NT v4.0 Server with Service Pack 5 or Service Pack 6a and Option Pack 4. Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0 with Active Server Pages.
Processor - Minimum 300 MHz Intel compatible CPU, fasted Mhz Intel compatible CPU available is recommended for 100+ users.
Memory - 256MB minimum expanding up to 1+ GB at 100+ users.
Free Disk Space - 14 MB free hard disk space required for installation. For best performance, reserve 1/4 or more of the server disk space for AWS processing operations which use virtual memory. Sufficient disk space can be calculated based on the formula of Max Number of Concurrent Users X Average Size of User Downloaded Files.
Video - 256 colors minimum, higher number of colors recommended.



Client

*Browser - Internet Explorer 4.01 or 5.01 or Netscape 4.73
Operating System - Microsoft Windows 95 or 98, NT 4.0 or Windows 2000
Memory (RAM) -
Windows 95, 98, Windows NT Workstation:
64 MB recommended, 32 MB minimum and 96+MB optimal for viewing large files
Windows 2000 Professional:
96 MB recommended, 64 MB minimum, 128+MB optimal for viewing large files
PDF viewer (Acrobat Reader) to read PDF files stored in Alchemy
Video - 256 colors minimum, higher number of colors recommended