SCIENCE/ TECHNOLOGY : Scantron to Market Pen-Based System for Handwritten Data

Scantron Corp., the Tustin-based subsidiary of the John Harland Co., is jumping into the blossoming market for pen-based computing systems that recognize handwritten data.

The company’s data-entry product, called the ScanScribe electronic clipboard, can recognize and store handwritten data on a hand-held terminal and transfer the data to a mainframe computer without any key punches.

ScanScribe captures and stores handwritten data as it is scribbled onto customized forms, such as purchase orders, that are placed over a screen. The terminal, which the company began shipping in December, sells for $2,500.

With an ordinary pen, the user can print upper-case characters on a printed form laid across the tablet. The company plans to market the device to companies in the retail, wholesale, health-care, manufacturing and service industries, as well as to government agencies.

“This product is designed for environments where a document is required,” said Richard Murray, director of marketing for the company. “It is not a computer system, but it is a niche of the pen-based system market.”

Scantron, which had sales of $43 million last year, developed the ScanScribe product from its optical scanning technology for reading data on printed forms and its bar-code-reading technology. The Scantron device competes with pen-based computers made by Go Corp. and Grid Systems Corp., both headquartered in Northern California.

Murray said Scantron is also developing other products that employ technology allowing the ScanScribe machine to recognize words and lower-case letters.