clear@bearcave.actrix.co.nz (Charlie Lear) (06/17/90)
A client my firm is dealing with has for sale 23 Calera TrueScan v1.1 optical character reading subsystems. They were supplied as part of a project which did not live up to expectation. Of the 25 systems installed, none performed according to spec, due primarily to underwhelming hardware being connected to the TrueScan cards and the application perhaps being inappropriate for OCR technology anyway. The units consist of 16-bit ISA Calera Truescan cards, with 2MB of memory and sockets for a further 2MB, and a 68020 processor nestled among the custom chips. A daughtercard on each board has additional circuitry. They come with Truescan 1.1 software and manuals. While legal action is being taken against the vendor in regard to the project, our client has paid for the systems in full (has clear title) and wishes to recover some of the costs involved. They were installed between twelve and fifteen months ago. Some installations have lain idle for twelve months or more, others for six months. Each Truescan unit is basically "as new". There has never been any complaint with the cards or Truescan software. Any problems associated with the project have been with the application software, flat bed scanners and CPUs. I have been given until Thursday 21 June to gauge interest in some or all of the equipment. The market in New Zealand is very small for this sort of product, and four months of searching for a buyer has revealed only lukewarm interest, so I'm looking further afield. I am unaware (but will no doubt be told via the net) if a more recent version of the software has been released. If so, discussions will have to include upgrade costs. If your company is interested in these OCR units, please email me at: clear@actrix.co.nz or fax: +64 4 711877 Country Code 64 Area Code 4 Number 711877 detailing name, address, email address, voice and fax numbers etc etc, the quantity of cards interested in, and a ballpark figure (specify currency please) per card to use as a starting point for further negotiation. Charles J. Lear Director, Sabre Consultants Ltd., PO Box 12-175 Thorndon Wellington, New Zealand