IBM Corp was on an image and speech kick with its announcements yesterday, headlining with a string of ImagePlus and related products. It has reached back into its past for the Stairs storage and retrieval system and tarted it up to create SearchManager/370 (note /370, not /390), described as a key product for full-text retrieval of documents consisting of text, graphics or images. It provides Boolean and context operators for full-text search, offers them in a Common User Access 89 dialogue and enables use of full-text retrieval in applications via an application programming interface. The SearchManager/370 Migration Component provides migration and coexistence for users of Stairs under MVS and VM. When used with OfficeVision/MVS and its Document Writing Feature – DisplayWrite/370 MVS or VM, and the Graphical Data Display Manager, it offers a means of creating, storing, retrieving, displaying, processing, and distributing of multimedia documents. It’s out in March for MVS, December 1992 for VM and the graduated one-time charge is $18,650 for Model Group 20 to $296,000 for Group 80 for the MVS version. The company also announced general availability of the first components of ImagePlus High-Performance Transaction System – on March 27, and it has switched to a one-time charge or monthly licence charge where it had planned to offer it on an upfront plus so much a year basis. The first components are 3897 Model 1 Image Capture System and 3898 Image Processor; HPTS Application Library Services; HPTS Statement Application Program for banks that want to include images in statements, and Cheque Processing Control System Release 11.0. The company also further disappointed those fans that had always believed that statements of direction were promises cast in concrete by saying that based on market research, it has determined that there are critical ImagePlus customer requirements that need to be addressed before implementing audio capture and playback capability and that it therefore no longer intends to add audio capture and playback capability to the MS-DOS-based PS/2 ImagePlus Workstation Program, as promised in the Statement of General Direction of March 20, 1990. On the speech front, the offering is medical: IBM has launched application software for its SpeechViewer entry-level clinical tool for speech patholog ists, teachers and others trained in treating speech disorders. With the SpeechViewer Hardware Option, the software creates a system that acc epts a client’s speech input, digitises, stores and analyses the speech to provide critical visual and auditory feedback to the client. It is runs on AT bus PS/2s with MS- DOS 4.01 and is with resellers and dealers now at $515. IBM also launched advanced SpeechViewer II which requires IBM M-Audio Capture & Play back Adaptor, combining motivating exercises with speech analysis and clinical management features in an integrated package. There are MS- DOS and OS/2 versions, it runs on any PS/2 or PS/1 with 640Kb and 20Mb disk and is $2,130, $1,760 upgrading from SpeechViewer 1; out March 27.
