nextScan was founded in 2002 by Kurt Breish. Besides being the founding President and CEO of the company, Kurt is the technical driving force behind our company and retains the title of Chief Engineering Officer. He has been designing and developing film scanners for over 30 years and has been instrumental in the development of the high end film and fiche scanning market.

In 2015, nextScan merged with ST Imaging, the microfilm scanner division of Digital Check Corporation. ST Imaging has gained a strong reputation and demand for its ST ViewScan III, a small microform scanner that is efficient, easy to operate, and uses an industry-leading 18 megapixel camera.

ST Imaging products are sold through a qualified reseller channel, and nextScan handles all international sales , reseller management and distribution of the ST Imaging ViewScan 4.

By combining resources and technology, nextScan and ST Imaging will soon be able to offer the fastest conversion speeds and feature rich imaging enhancement software to all segments in the micrographics marketplace.

Our corporate offices are located in Meridian, ID which is a suburb of Boise, ID. All of our scanners are manufactured at this location

We have on staff hardware engineers that are very strong in mechanical and electrical expertise. Our unique “Loop System” in the transport mechanism of our Eclipse scanners is an example of their innovative approach to providing stable film scanners. nextScan’s Loop System is patented, and eliminates any image distortion. Some other examples of nextScan hardware engineer staff ingenuity is our patented LuminTec™ light line illumination system that is incorporated in to nextScan scanners, providing even higher resolution images with less power consumption based on its unique LED-based design, and our Autoloader for the FlexScan scanner, enabling the fastest throughput in fiche scanning with a cycle time of 3 seconds. Also available are scanner accessories uniquely designed by our team to accommodate 70mm rollfilm, pancake reel, 3M cartridge and aperture scanning.

Our nextStar processing software was written by our own software people, as was our Virtual Film system. We have a team of software engineers dedicated to creating and maintaining our applications, and to develop innovative new software that brings even more efficiencies to the scanning of microfilm and microfiche. In our opinion, it is important to    have software engineers on staff so that we can respond to customer demand and changes    in the marketplace quickly and accurately. In recent years, nextScan software engineers have expanded on solid nextScan software technology to provide additional offerings such as fiche processing for COM, OCR, redaction and blip/barcode detection. Additionally, nextScan engineers are available to do software customization on a contract basis

nextStar software was envisioned and written by nextScan software engineers. nextStar solves many of the inconsistencies of microfilm and microfiche. Not only are there wide variations in density and contrast  of the images  but depending  on the storage  conditions of the film, deterioration of the film or fiche is a concern. What nextStar does is scan a roll of film in gray scale, edge-to-edge and end-to-end, and captures all the images in what we call a “ribbon file”. Put simply, all the images on that roll are captured and eliminate the need to rescan the film – no images are lost.

We then offer a set of tools in the nextStar Audit/QC module that allow you to clean up the images – such as rotate, deskew, mirror, despeckle, crop and apply filters to improve the quality of the image. Additionally you choose the output format and directory structure you would like the images output to. Some of the output formats supported are TIFF Bitonal G3/4, Uncompressed TIFF, Multi-page TIFF, JPEG, CALS, JPEG 2000, PDF, multi-page PDF and PDF/A.

Once Audit is complete the next operation within nextStar outputs all images as seen in the auditor. In a production environment these functions of Scan, Audit, and Output are all overlapped functions, and allow the scanner to run at full rated speed. nextScan is the only company that can achieve this throughput in a production environment. Other solutions that appear similar do not allow simultaneous Scan, Audit and Output, and therefore limit real production throughput. nextScan was the creator of Ribbon scanning technology and we have the most experience with this technology and best production solutions available. nextStar software comes standard with all nextScan scanners.

VirtualFilm converts your film into a user viewable digital ribbon format, and allows access to the film images using the microfilm scrolling and search techniques, but without the need for the film. The cost of digital conversion can be less expensive than making a duplicate of the film, and is a permanent record that can be viewed at any PC workstation using nextScan software. Simply use your existing workflow with the same indexes. Enter the roll number, instrument or case number in the Viewer and the roll or fiche is instantly displayed.

VirtualFilm is the perfect tool for low retrieval rate film, and at any time the images can be output for import in to your current Document Management System along with your current day-forward content.

Our entry level scan system is called FlexView. This scanner can scan a roll of 16mm film at 200 x 200 DPI resolution at 300 ppm. FlexView is an affordable lightweight deskside solution ideal for mid-sized rollfilm collections. FlexView, although small in size delivers mighty production power for the indexing, auditing, and digital output of rollfilm collections. 

Our multi-format scan system is called FlexScan. This scanner can scan a roll of 16mm film at 200 x 200 DPI resolution at 800 ppm. In addition to its exceptional speed, FlexScan utilizes our patented LuminTec LED light system to maximize image quality. FlexScan has been designed as a 3-in-1 solution for users that have not only a roll film scanner requirement, but also the need for a fiche or aperture card scanner. FlexScan scans fiche at 200 x 200 DPI up to 180 ppm, and can scan aperture cards up to 300 cards per hour. nextScan engineers have also developed an optional loader for the FlexScan, to minimize operator intervention and maximize scanner throughput. This Autoloader can hold up to 200 microfiche, 150 film jackets or 100 aperture cards.

The second option is our Eclipse series of 16/35mm roll film scanners. This is our production level roll film scanner that, depending on the model, allows the user to scan 16 and 35mm roll film and speeds up to 1000ppm and beyond. This is possible because we have upgraded the quality and speed of the camera; added a high precision lens and developed a new, patented light illumination system within the Eclipse called LuminTec™. As a result, we are able to scan at very high speeds without sacrificing image quality.

More information can be found on our data sheets and we would welcome the opportunity to talk to you further about either of these scanner models

In the United States we have a sales staff that sells directly to end users. This group has a combined average of 50+ years experience in the microfilm/fiche scanning business, enabling nextScan to bring the best scanning solutions for your business. In addition to corporate sales, nextScan has certified resellers for Government business and some select domestic sales partners. Outside of the United States we have highly trained resellers that meet our high standards to both sell and service all of our products and services.

Since 2002, nextScan has been very successful in selling film and fiche scanners throughout the world, with installations in over 40 countries. We have the reputation of being the best  in offering innovative and creative hardware/software to the world, incorporating the very latest in technological developments in all of our products. All our hardware, software, technical support, sales and marketing is done by us only. nextScan is made up of a group   of individuals that collectively have  the experience, knowledge  and commitment  required to maintain a very specific level of excellence. Our job is to provide the best cost solution for scanning all forms of microfilm and microfiche. For additional background on the company and its technology, please visit the “About Us” page of the nextScan website.