Microtek is a world-leading manufacturer of digital imaging products for a wide spectrum of market segments, specializing in providing affordable solutions for all facets of digital imaging. Long known as a pioneer of affordable desktop scanning solutions, Microtek has recently expanded its digital imaging product line to include LCD flat panel monitors, LCD projectors, and digital cameras.

Background

Microtek's products are used in a broad range of applications and environments -- ranging from small office, home office, corporate, education and government environments to high-end professional desktop publishers, printers and pre-press service providers. Since its founding nearly a quarter-century ago, Microtek has developed a reputation for designing innovative and affordable digital imaging solutions that help improve communication and efficiency. Today, Microtek’s critically acclaimed scanning solutions are widely used by some of the world’s leading design and imaging companies.

With a broad portfolio of flatbed and film scanners, Microtek continues to set new standards in the digital imaging market. It was the first company in the world to introduce one-step reflective photo restoration via its ScanMaker 6800 with integrated Digital ICE for Photo Prints -- a development that continues today with its PictuRescue photor reconstruction technology. Microtek also holds the patent to E.D.I.T. -- or Emulsion Direct Imaging Technology -- for glassless transparency scanning to eliminate image artifacts.

These recent achievements, along with the company’s ArtixScan dual-media/dual-lens professional scanners, continue the legacy of Microtek as an innovator in scanning technology.

History

Microtek International Inc. was founded in the year 1980 and is based today in Hsinchu, Taiwan. With its U.S. subsidiary, Microtek Lab Inc., headquartered in Carson, California, Microtek now has multiple sales and support offices throughout North America, Europe, Japan, and Asia.

Microtek first entered the industry in 1983, when scanners were little more than expensive tools for hobbyists. In 1984, it introduced the MS-300A, the world’s first desktop halftone scanner. At about the same time, the company realized a need for scanning software for mainstream users and developed EyeStar, the world’s first scanning software application. EyeStar made desktop scanning a functional reality, serving as the de-facto standard for image format for importing graphics before TIFF came to fruition. Continuing its leading-edge approach to the scanning industry, Microtek proceeded to develop the first OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program for text scanning, once more successfully integrating a core function of scanning with its machines.

Throughout the 20-year history of the digital imaging industry, Microtek has pioneered several first-to-market scanning products. To date, Microtek holds the record for a number of world-firsts in the scanner industry. These product milestones include:

• First affordable black and white scanner equipped w/complete set of desktop publishing tools
• First grayscale scanner
• First affordable film scanner
• First affordable color scanner
• First 36-bit color flatbed scanner
• First to introduce emulsion-direct scanning technology for glassless film scanning
• First stand-alone scanning appliance
• First bundled crafting kit
• First flatbed scanner with integrated Digital ICE technology for photo prints

R&D, Global Presence, and Distribution

Microtek has R&D labs located in California and Taiwan dedicated to optics design, mechanical and electronic engineering, software development, product quality, and technological advancement. Its first advanced reserarch laboratory, established in 1996, served to fuse and strengthen key technologies, such that the company has gone on to garner some 130 patents since then.

Today, Microtek has global operations and distribution channels around the world, with international subsidiaries in China, Singapore, and Taiwan. Its distribution network throughout North and South America includes Ingram Micro, Tech Data, Wynit, and D&H. Additionally, Microtek products can be found in retail channel outlets including Best Buy, CompUSA, Office Depot, Staples, MicroCenter, Fry’s, PC Richards & Sons, Fred Meyers, and B&H Wholesale. Microtek products also can be purchased through online websites, direct mail catalogs and VARs and systems integrators.

External Links

• http://www.store.microtek.com/
  
• http://www.microtekusa.com/
  
• http://www.microtek.com/
  
• http://www.support.microtek.com/