10ZiG Shows Off its ‘Zignature Pad’ at COMMON

May 15, 2012 Alex Woodie

10ZiG Technologies had its latest product, the Zignature Pad, on display in the Expo hall of last week’s COMMON conference in Anaheim, California. The 12-inch tall pad is a dedicated signature collection device, and has features you won’t find with signature capture apps for an iPad.

There are several aspects of the Zignature Pad that make it a superior signature capture solution in highly regulated industries, such as healthcare, finance, and real estate, 10ZiG Tech president Martin Pladgeman told IT Jungle at last week’s COMMON.

For starters, the large color screen (12-inch by 7.5-inch) enables an entire document to be read before it is signed. The device’s digital pen also allows signatures to be placed exactly where they will appear on the final signed documents, as opposed to signing on a separate signature pad and trusting the person who drew up the document to apply their signature correctly.

The simplicity of this approach helps to eliminate any confusion on the part of the user over exactly what they are signing, Pladgeman says. It also reduces the chance of a lawsuit over unlawful use of a signature.

Once a document is signed, it’s saved as a PDF and encrypted with public key encryption. Only the party with the appropriate private key can unlock the PDF. There is no trace of the signature left on the device, and the PDF is tamper-evident, 10ZiG says.

10ZiG also gives users the option of using of smart card for another layer of security. It can also automatically apply time stamps, making it useful for notaries. The company says the device complies with the United States Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), as well as most international E-signature laws.

The version of the Zignature Pad that 10ZiG had at COMMON didn’t have a Wi-Fi modem. Instead it was hooked up to the network through a cable. In the future, the device will feature a Wi-Fi modem. (There is plenty of room inside the housing.)

The Zignature Pad is rather bulky, making it less than ideal for people who work out of the office, such as deliverymen or traveling salespeople. But Pladgeman says its solid security and high definition screen have garnered attention from several large clients already, including a healthcare company that might use it for patients to sign waivers or HIPAA forms.

Setting up the Zignature Pad is simple. Users install print drivers on their Windows machines that house the documents. Instead of printing to a printer, the driver directs the documents to the Zignature Pad. The signed and encrypted PDFs are then sent back over the network to the Windows machine–or alternatively the IFS drive on an IBM i server.

10ZiG (formerly BOSaNOVA) is the only US company distributing the Zignature Pad, which is made by the Israeli company VPSign. The asking price is $700 per device. For more information, see the vendor’s website at www.10zig.com.