Canon Scanfront 220 - Document Scanning
Cheap desktop scanners are fine for the odd few documents here and there, but can’t be shared on a network or cope with the demands of a document management system. For that you’ll need something a lot more capable. Such as the ScanFront 220 from Canon, which can be attached directly to the LAN and used to capture up to 1,000 documents a day.
Unlike some network scanners, the ScanFront 220 isn’t very big. Indeed, at first glance it could easily be mistaken for a fax machine, with documents to be scanned loaded into a feeder at the top then spat out again into a tray below.
In between is a complete Windows CE computer with an AMD Geode processor, 512MB of RAM and an 8.5-inch colour touch-screen, plus a 10/100Mbps network interface and two USB 2.0 ports to enable documents to be scanned directly to USB thumb drives.
Another plus with the ScanFront 220 is that it’s a lot quicker than most desktop scanners, with a maximum throughput of 26 pages per minute for black and white and 16ppm for colour (at 150dpi). Added to which both sides of a page can be scanned at the same time, so for double-sided documents that rises to 52 and 32 images per minute respectively.
On the downside the ScanFront 220 requires a lot more setup work than the average desktop scanner, but it’s not particularly difficult: as well as the built-in display, it has a browser interface for remote management.
It took us about an hour to get it working. Having plugged it in, the first job was to create user accounts with options here to either authenticate locally or via a separate network server. There’s also a so-called professional model - the ScanFront 220p (£1,059 + VAT) - which, for even greater security, comes with an integrated fingerprint scanner.
The next task was to tell the scanner which SMTP server to use when scanning to e-mail, then add some common addresses into a shared address book, with facilities, too, for users to create address books of their own. Similar preparatory work is then required in order to scan to Windows (SMB) file shares or an FTP server, with a browse option to find the servers and folders involved.
Once all that has been done, the ScanFront 220 is easy to use. Put any documents to be scanned into the 50-sheet feeder, logon and select the option required using the large icons on the screen.
Unlike a flatbed scanner there’s a limit in terms of what can be scanned, and flimsy originals and documents with punch holes can cause problems. However, business cards and other odd-sized documents were fine, as too are most A4 and legal size pages. Built-in correction technology helps cope with misaligned and poor quality originals and scans can be previewed before being saved as either TIFF or JPEG images.
Other options include the ability to save in standard or searchable PDF format, while security is addressed by the ability to password-protect and encrypt transmissions (PDF formats only). Additionally, it’s possible to limit what individual users are allowed to do and log all transactions, complete with a copy of the cover page. Memory can also be wiped after each scan.
On the downside, you only get basic OCR facilities to convert printed documents into editable text. Plus it’s not exactly cheap, at least not compared to the average desktop scanner, some of which can be had for just a few pounds these days. Alongside other network scanners, however, the ScanFront 220 compares well on both price and functionality, bringing shared network scanning well within the reach of the smaller company.