1.  Rugged Portable units with ink or plastic cartridge.
          Survive scratches, cuts and even being run over by a truck !
2.  Built-in pen tether and pen holder.
3.  The highest-performance tablets, designed for signature capture.
          377 points per second conversion rate.
4.  Powerful signature-capture drivers and software on all standard, authorized tablets where all updates and support are free.
5.  All Topaz verification and security tools supporting your application in the background.
6.  A range of sizes from 1X5 to a full legal-size, including LCD-based pads, including very-low-cost touch pads.  
7.  Software tools that work across the entire product line, allowing software learning to apply to many different application areas in your company.

C2.  What is the reliability of a Topaz System - both calculated and in the field ?    Back to Top

Calculated MTBF is greater than 500,000 hours (greater than 50 years).

Actual field use experiences are really what determine the reliability of the tablet, and Topaz has a lot of experience under its belt.  This includes signature pads capturing over 100,000 signatures in the field with no failures (and still counting), and even with the plastic signing surface all scratched and cut up, there was no failure.  Topaz units have survived being driven over by a truck.  In addition, Topaz employs a special high-strength RS-232 cable plug to prevent damage to the plug after thousands of connections to your notebook computer in the field.  The Topaz pen has been qualified to over 30 million activations and high G-forces.  Our experience is that for field reliability, it's the technology and also attention to all of the little things that makes the difference.

Beware of tablets which specify 100,000 signature lifetime, but with a limit of 100 grams pressure for signing.  In practice, these tablets may only last for a couple of thousand signatures.

C3.  What is the Topaz Perpetual Warranty Program ?    Back to Top

Any Topaz tablet and pen, no matter when you purchased it, will be renewed by the factory with a new case, improvements since it was built, and you will get a fresh 1-year warranty for a nominal fixed fee.  Your Topaz tablet is good for life.  (certain exclusions apply in cases of extremely damaged tablets or pens).

C4.  What is the Topaz field Hot-swap Program ?    Back to Top

If you are a qualifying corporate account and have a problem in the field, Topaz will send a replacement tablet and pen to you before you have returned the problem unit.  After you receive the replacement unit, simply return the old unit to Topaz.

C5.  What does the Topaz commitment to "Keep you up and running" mean ?    Back to Top

You trust your Topaz tablet to keep you up and running in your e-business transactions and contracts.  That means if there is anything that is preventing you from getting your e-business done, we take you very seriously.  Topaz customer support personnel are empowered to solve your problem - period.

C6.  Why do we say that a Topaz tablet is "the standard for signature capture" ?    Back to Top

Topaz tablets have captured more e-signatures than any other portable signature capture tablets in the past 5 years.   This continues today.  The reason for our success is that Topaz tablets have been designed from the ground up for signature capture applications.  Artist tablets and various touchpad products simply do not give as good of a signature as Topaz, and are dependent on complicated driver settings to work properly.  Topaz gives you the most points, the truest signatures, and the most-accurately measured biometric records - accurate to 0.2%.

C7.  How can I test the pen to be sure that it is working ?    Back to Top

Tap the tip of the pen to the case of an operating AM radio set to a low frequency (between 530 and 550 khz).  If you hear a whining sound in the speaker, and if the pitch of the whine changes when the pen tip is pressed and released, then the pen is OK.

C8.  How do I change the ink tip in the pen ?    Back to Top

DO NOT OPEN THE PEN !  The pen tip is removed from the tip of the pen and replaced all from the open end of the pen.   Simply grasp the tip of the cartridge and pull it out from the end of the pen.   If the pen is forced open, it will be virtually impossible to re-assemble without special factory tools.

C9.  Should I consider using a "pressure-sensing" tablet ?    Back to Top

No.  Pressure-sensing tablets were developed to allow artists to shade their drawings by pressing harder on the tip of the pen.  They work great for that purpose, because the artist notices the thickness of the shading in their drawing and can adjust it by pressing softer or harder.  That kind of feedback does not work for adjusting the pressure of a signature.  The sensitivity of pressure pens varies widely and can even be set in software to an arbitrary scale.  This variable sensitivity will be affected by the type of signing surface and even by the sharpness of your pen tip (which will wear down over time).  Some low-cost touch-pad tablets even have widely-varying pressure readings from the center of the tablet to the edge.  If you are recording pressure information, you are probably recording data that has pressure-error in it.  If any part of the signature data recorded is unreliable, the whole signature becomes unreliable.

C10.  How do I troubleshoot computer / tablet Com-Port problems?    Back to Top

Topaz provides a com-port test program, which can be downloaded from http://www.topazsystems.com/Software/TopazCommTester.exe

You may also run DemoOCX.exe in the <windows>\SigPlus directory.  Check the Com port under the tablet tab of the properties button.  When you press start, the demo program should be able to capture and display ink from the pen.  If the Com port is not available, and error message will show up after pressing start.  An "Unable to open Com port" message indicates that the Com port may be in use by another device or driver, such as a Palm Pilot data transfer utility.  If you receive this message, you first need to free-up the com port so that the tablet can connect on the chosen port.  To try an alternate port, click Stop, and then set the Com port under the properties button, Apply the change and then click start again.

To test the overall computer com-port connection and the tablet and pen you may run Hyperterm.exe, which is accessed from Start: Programs: Accessories: Communications: Hyperterminal.  Chose a default name for the connection (Test, for example) and the default icon.  Then Connect Using: "Direct to Com xx" as you are connected to the computer.  Then set the communications parameters to 19200, 8 bits, odd parity.  After clicking OK, you may get an "Unable to open Com port" message, in which case you need to solve the reason that the Com port cannot be opened before proceeding.  If the Hyperterminal goes to the white screen, try signing on the tablet with the supplied pen and look for random characters  on the display.  No garbage on the screen indicates that the com port selected is not the one that the tablet is plugged into, or possibly that there may be a problem with the tablet or pen.  Try different com port settings to understand the correct port settings compared to the actual physical ports on your computer.  However, you must disconnect from the com port in hyperterminal before changing the settings, and then reconnect again after making any changes.  

Topaz recommends that the sigplus.ini file in the <windows> directory be used for setting the com port for a particular installation.  You will notice that the first line under the [tablet] section sets the Com port.  This file can be opened and edited with the Windows "Notepad" program.  The sigplus.ini file that resides in the <windows>\sigplus directory is a reference copy only and is not used to set any of the com or tablet parameters.  However, if the application software is written in such a way that the Com port is set in the actual programming code, the .ini value will not be able to control the setup of the Com port.

C11.  How are the Topaz LCD tablets with serial interface installed on my computer?    Back to Top

Topaz LCD tablets with serial interface require more power than can be provided by just the serial port of your PC.  Therefore these tablets are supplied with the cables needed to power the unit from the keyboard port while sending the signature data to the standard serial port.  You can view the installation instructions for the LCD1X5 (LCD1X5Install.pdf) and for the LCD4X3 (LCD4X3Install.pdf).  An AC wall transformer is available for those who would prefer it.  Please contact the factory.