Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Chooses Brainware Distiller for Automated Document Processing

Replaces Existing Optical Character Recognition Software With Intelligent Data Capture

Brainware, Inc., the leading provider of intelligent data capture and enterprise search solutions,
announced today that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), one of the world’s most technologically advanced research facilities, has selected the company’s Brainware Distiller™ solution for the automated categorization and indexing of microfilm and microfiche documents.

Under the new agreement, LLNL will utilize Brainware’s intelligent data capture solution to automatically sort documents and extract specific data from up to 900,000 pages of microfilm and microfiche annually.  This agreement follows an extensive period during which the laboratory experimented with various other conversion methods, with limited success.

These types of media, originally created by taking a “picture” of the original document and storing it as a microscopic hard copy, presented a challenge that could not be mastered by template-based optical character recognition applications.  As these media were created manually, the images were often crooked, meaning the relevant data could move haphazardly about the page.  Capturing this data was absolutely necessary for the proper sorting, indexing, and future retrieval of the documents; with a backlog of hundreds of thousands of such documents, the ability to “interpret” an image and properly identify relevant information was a key value driver for any imaging application.

“When one of the most sophisticated and vital national security operations in the industrialized world chooses our solution for process optimization, we consider that an honor,” says Carl Mergele, Chief Executive Officer at Brainware.  “Distiller stands alone in its ability to extract relevant pieces of data from large quantities of documents, regardless of their layout.  By automating an otherwise labor-intensive process, Lawrence Livermore is freeing up dollars better spent on protecting the nation and developing alternative energy solutions for the future.”

Funded primarily by the United States Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was established in 1952 to meet urgent national security needs by advancing nuclear weapons science and technology.  Today, LLNL employs over 6,000 people, houses some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, and pursues their mission of advancing and applying science and technology to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent; reduce or counter threats to national and global security; enhance the energy and environmental security of the nation; and strengthen the nation’s economic competitiveness.