Racal Imaging Systems Ltd, the Basingstoke-based unit set up by Racal Electronics Plc over a year ago to develop optical disk based document storage, transmission and retrieval systems, yesterday launched its second document image system, Reos PC. As the name suggests, the product is designed to enable multiple users of MS-DOS AT-alikes on a local area network to share a document image processing facility document images, and will be targeted at the professional secretarial and managerial market, where, according to the company, the use of office automation type products is now starting to take off. Racal is offering two turnkey versions of the Reos PC system – either an AT-alike with Ethernet interface, an additional custom document processing board and a high resolution 150 dot-per-inch screen, plus the optical disk subsystem – or for existing IBM AT or AT-alike users, an add-on package incorporating the Reos PC boards, the monitor and the 3Com Ethernet software. Racal plans to increase the system’s flexibility by adding the Novell multi-user networking package, an IBM Token Ring facility, an A3 screen, and 80386 capability in coming months, and also plans to host the Reos PC software under Microsoft Windows. Prices for the products – available today – range from UKP25,000 for a single-user 5.25 optical disk-based system to around UKP12,000 for an eight user 12 optical disk system. Racal also used the Reos PC launch to announce several enhancements to its original Reos product. Amidst claims of a 60% increase in processing performance, Reos 2.0 comes on Version 4 of the 20MHz Sun 3/60 workstation and costs UKP9,500, with the addition of a 110 dot per inch monitor bringing the price to UKP10,300. Also announced was Reos Net, which enables users to access a variety of differnt databases, 1Gb Winchester disks for rapid archive file access, and three different versions of the company’s customised fourth generation language, Workplan. The company claims that, to date, Reos has generated sales in the region of UKP1.5m, and forecasts that sales for the coming year of some UKP3m.
