Computer Output Microfiche 105mm, (COM)

The Computer Output to Microfiche (COM) services offered are the safest, most economical way to produce and store information for all long-term preservation needs. When stored properly, COM is the most reliable way to protect against technological obsolescence, while meeting legal retention needs.

COM services are offered as both an outsourced and in-house option. The outsourced option enables you to focus on your core business without incurring additional hardware or software costs.

Each microfiche is a 4 x 5 inch (10.2 by 15.2 cm) piece of photographic film, containing printed information in a size too small to be seen by the naked eye. The advent of microfiche allowed libraries to carry printed resources they would otherwise never have the floor or storage space to hold. First we create a master of everything that we produce, then create multiple copies off of this master for distribution to our customer base. The major advantages of microfiche include storage in a small space, stability of the format, and no special knowledge needed to read it. As long as a microfiche machine is available to magnify the print to readable size, anyone who can read the language can read a microfiche. Because of its small size, microfiche can be archived in storage cabinets, saving floor space. It is a valuable research and archive source in libraries around the world. When kept in a temperature-controlled environment, it is rated to last 500 years - a crucial advantage in saving cultural documents. Books, journals, magazines, and hundreds of thousands of government documents are archived on microfiche for this very reason.

Advantages
Digital imaging is now the standard for information retrieval but there can be limitations or different requirements to the amount of data you want to store. Large clients such as a bank generate upwards of 30 to 50 gigabytes of information on a daily basis. Some of this data needs to be readily available for follow up the next day but there are large quantities of data that just need to be stored for both legal and archive purposes, thus the advantages of microfiche or film. Microfiche/microfilm is a very cheap alternative. We'll store approximately 250 pages or frames of information on a single fiche. A frame or page is equivalent to an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, if printed in landscape format. The significantly reduced size of microfiche allows large amounts of information to be stored in a small space. About 2,000 times more information can be stored on fiche in a given area compared with the space needed for the original documents.

In the past, microfiche was also a useful way to protect fragile historical resources. For example, making frequently consulted old newspapers available in microfiche and microfilm form ensured the delicate originals were not damaged. Or copies of plans for city buildings that might be required by law to be kept at city hall or a planning office can be reproduced on microfiche and kept in the public library. It also allows copies of rare documents to be made more widely available to the public or kept private if required.

Many of the data centers will send out both the masters and the copies to their clients. We differ from many of the other data centers in that we store the masters for our customers at a third party professional records storage company, for archive purposes. The archival process can range from anywhere from 1 year up to 22 years for some of the jobs that we run. We can have the box delivered to us the next day, make a copy on fiche or produce a hardcopy (8 1/2 x 11") on paper for the information that is requested.

• Guarantee integrity - Protect against technology obsolescence
• Long term archive - Properly developed and preserved film will be usable for hundreds of years
• Achieve compliance - Microfilm/microfiche is admissible in place of paper originals in all fifty states and in federal courts
• Reduce physical space - Each storage box equals one 4"x4" reel of film or twenty 4"x 6" pieces of microfiche
• Minimize legal risk - In case of litigation, retrieval is no longer at risk