Real Vision Delivers iPad App for IBM i Imaging System

June 7, 2011 Alex Woodie

Real Vision Software customers can now access their images and documents stored on an IBM i server via their iPad and iPhone mobile devices via a new iOS app available on the Apple iTunes app store. The product, which was launched in January, gives users access to invoices and other documents while on the go.

The mobile revolution is in full swing, and devices originally targeted at consumers, like the Apple iOS products and devices that run Google Android operating system, are finding their way into the enterprise. As a result, enterprise software companies are flocking to crank out client interfaces that can take advantage of today’s high-speed wireless networks and the new generation of powerful mobile devices.

Real Vision Software is riding the mobile bandwagon with its RVI Apple App, which provides users with access to any images or documents stored in its flagship RVI imaging system. RVI users have traditionally accessed the imaging systems through 5250 green-screen, Windows, and Web interfaces.

Authentication is required before users can access Real Vision’s new iOS app.

But with the new RVI Apple App, Real Vision says it’s opening up a new era where you can have (to steal the title of its recent white paper on the topic), “a file cabinet in your pocket.” The software allows users to access important documents, such as invoices and purchase orders, while on the go. Users are no longer tied to their desks, and can conduct business wherever they happen to have a wireless connection.

The RVI Apple App restricts users to image systems that they are authorized to access. Once logged in, the software lets users search by several criteria, such as name, customer number, date, or document type. More advanced searches using wildcards are also supported. Once users have found the correct document, they can pull it up by tapping the screen.

Invoices and other IBM i-based documents can be viewed from an iPad or iPhone using Real Vision’s new iOS app.

The new RVI Apple App works with RVI version 8, which launched about four years ago and is the latest version of Real Vision’s flagship IBM i-based image capture and retrieval system.

RVI captures and indexes documents from various sources, including IBM i spool files, TWAIN and Kofax scanners, the Web (via PDF), fax, e-mail, Topaz signature pads, multimedia files, and PCs, and saves them to DASD or optical drives. The fact that RVI stores images in standard PC formats, like TIFF and IMG (as opposed to proprietary formats like some other imaging products) makes it easier to access them from a variety of devices.

Real Vision is only supporting the Apple iOS products at the moment, but says interfaces for other mobile operating systems will be available soon. For more information, see www.realvisionsoftware.com.