Peripheral Vision brings PenOp technology to OpenDoc for Windows
-- The handwritten signature as a software object --

New York -- PC Expo -- June 20, 1995 -- Peripheral Vision Ltd. today
announced that it has developed an OpenDoc part for Windows 95 based on
its PenOp software for handwritten signatures, and will be making a
pre-release version available to software developers and users.

Endorsed by Novell, IBM, Apple and Lotus among others, the OpenDoc
architecture is an emerging industry standard for distributed,
cross-platform software component integration. It can be described as a
universal "container of content", where compound documents are built using
discrete components that handle such items as text, diagrams, spreadsheets
and photographs. Significantly, OpenDoc will enable end users to mix and
match software components from a variety of vendors. Furthermore, although
such components may be developed in isolation of one another, Cl Labs will
provide test suites and validation to ensure that components work together
on different machines and operating systems, thereby supporting the
integration of information across organizations.

Peripheral Vision's PenOp is a set of software objects that manages what is
sometimes the most critical element of a document: the handwritten
signature. Supporting a wide range of digitizers, PenOp allows handwritten
signatures to be securely captured, transported, stored and verified on
electronic documents, instead of manually on paper. In doing so, PenOp
virtually eliminates the costs and delays associated with signatures on
paper, while improving control and maintaining evidential value. Many
business and regulatory processes remain paper-bound owing to the
requirement for a handwritten signature. PenOp has thus found widespread
applicability in many industries: Insurance, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical,
Financial Services, Logistics, Banking, Federal and Local Government.

With the cost of digitizers falling to below $150, handwritten signature
capture is now within reach of a wide variety of applications, at far less
cost and with considerably greater efficiency than their paper
equivalents.

"If you were to examine the documents that your organization uses, the
chances are that every element has been computerized except one - the
handwritten signature.", said Jeremy Newman, Managing Director of
Peripheral Vision. "OpenDoc offers an ideal framework for PenOp, and
allows the potential savings in costs and delays to be realized by users
with little (if any) programming effort."

PenOp includes an advanced Biometric Signature Verification module which
authenticates each signature according to the speed of the pen (as well as
the resulting ink image) with an accuracy that exceeds the visual
inspection of signatures - far more rapidly, and in large batches if
necessary. In addition, verification of individual signatures in real time
offers a natural and easy-to-use replacement for the password as a means
of securing access to machines and networks. Therefore as well as reducing
direct costs, PenOp also seeks to reduce fraud arising through unnoticed
signature forgery, and to generally increase the security of computer
systems.

Typical hardware configurations for PenOp signature capture include pen
computers and low-cost digitizers attached to desktop or laptop machines.
Users simply drop the PenOp part into OpenDoc documents where and when
required. Signature interrogation or verification can then be carried out
on any machine running PenOp - even on a different operating system. The
new part is being made available in beta to OpenDoc developers immediately
on Windows 95 and OS/2, and joins production versions of the basic
component already shipping for Microsoft's Windows for Pen Computing,
IBM's Pen for OS/2 and the DOS-based PenRight! environment from the
company of the same name.

Peripheral Vision Limited is a privately held company with headquarters in
Frome, Somerset, UK, and offices in New York, USA. It was founded in 1990
to develop, market and support software for the pen interface, worldwide.
PenOp has been commercially available since 1993.

In USA:
Peripheral Vision
331 W. 57th Street, Suite 299
New York, NY 10019
Tel: (212) 262-1588 or (800) 286-4137
Fax: (212) 262-1599

In UK:
Peripheral Vision
West Hill House, West End
Frome, Somerset BA11 3AD
Tel: +44 (1373) 452755
Fax: +44 (1373) 452744

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