NMS Imaging is an authorized dealer for three of the most established names in book and large-format scanning: Atiz, Metis, and Treventus. If you are comparing book scanners, researching a specific Atiz, Metis, or Treventus model, or just looking for a book scanner dealer who can tell you which system actually fits your collection, this is the page to start on.
NMS operates out of Data Management Internationale’s headquarters in New Castle, Delaware. DMI has been in the document and film digitization business for 49 years, and NMS is its equipment side — the dealer that specifies, sells, installs, and supports capture systems for libraries, archives, government agencies, and corporate records departments. What makes NMS different from most scanner dealers is what stands behind it: a working production digitization operation. If buying a scanner is not the right move for your organization, DMI can scan the material for you instead. That option did not used to exist. It does now, and it changes how this conversation should go.
Three Manufacturers, Three Different Approaches
Atiz, Metis, and Treventus each solve capture problems in a different way, and picking the right manufacturer — and the right model within that manufacturer’s range — is most of what a good dealer actually does for you. Below is a plain-language look at how each one approaches capture. We are intentionally not listing specifications here; every collection is different, and the right numbers for your project come out of a conversation, not a spec sheet. Request a quote and we will walk through the comparison directly.
Atiz: V-Cradle Book Capture
Atiz builds its systems around a V-shaped cradle that supports a bound volume at an open angle, capturing both pages with overhead cameras rather than pressing the book flat against glass. It is an approach designed specifically to protect the spine and binding, which is why Atiz shows up so often in library and archive digitization programs where the physical book has to come through the process intact. The Atiz line runs from production-floor systems built for high-volume institutional digitization down to compact units suited to smaller collections and departmental use. NMS carries the current Atiz range, including the BookDrive Mark 2, Mark 2 Lite, Mini 2, Atiz-N, Scanitizer, and ScanPod, along with Atiz’s BookDrive Capture software.
Metis: Large-Format and Heritage Capture
Metis systems are built for large-format and planetary capture — maps, engineering drawings, newspapers, bound volumes too large for a standard cradle, and fragile heritage material that should not be handled roughly or scanned under pressure. These are overhead camera systems designed to image oversized or delicate originals without contact, which is why Metis is common in museums, archives, and organizations with large-format engineering or cartographic records to convert. NMS represents the Metis DRS 1320, DRS 2020, DRS 752, EDS Alpha, and EDS Gamma systems.
Treventus: Automated Page-Turning
Treventus builds automation into the capture cycle itself — systems that turn pages mechanically as part of scanning, cutting down the manual handling required per volume. That makes it a strong fit for institutions with a large run of bound material to get through, where operator time per book is the real bottleneck rather than image quality. NMS carries the Treventus ScanRobot, ScanGate, and ScanFlow systems, along with Treventus’s OCR processing software.
Why Buy From an Authorized Book Scanner Dealer
Any of these manufacturers will sell direct in some markets, and gray-market and secondhand units show up from time to time. An authorized dealer relationship matters because it is what stands behind the sale after the invoice is paid: correct system selection for your actual material and volume, proper installation, operator training, and a support path back to the manufacturer when something needs attention. NMS has that relationship with all three brands, backed by a parent company that has been running its own production digitization floor for nearly five decades — we are not reselling equipment we have never operated ourselves.
- Guidance on which manufacturer and model fits your material, your volume, and your floor space — not just the unit with the highest margin
- Installation and operator training – we’ll make sure your new equipment is properly installed, up and running and your people know how to use it before we leave
- A manufacturer-backed support and service path, not just a shipped crate
- A DMI-backed fallback: if the equipment turns out to be the wrong call after all, the scanning service option is still on the table
Buy, or Have Us Scan It?
Not every organization that needs a collection digitized should own the equipment to do it. A capital purchase makes sense when you have sustained, ongoing volume feeding the scanner: an active library workflow, a records department that will keep it running for years, a program with staff and budget already committed to operating it in-house. It makes much less sense for a one-time backlog, a single grant-funded project, a collection that needs to be converted once and then archived, or a department without the floor space or trained staff to run and maintain a dedicated system.
A few honest questions tend to settle it:
- Is there a queue behind this project? If today’s backlog is the only volume you will ever run, buying a system to clear it once is expensive per page.
- Do you have someone to operate and maintain it? A scanner is only productive with a trained operator behind it, consistently.
- Is any of the material film — microfilm, aperture cards, or damaged originals? Film capture belongs in a lab environment, not on a departmental desk, and damaged film needs remediation equipment most departments will never own.
- Does the timeline allow for equipment lead time, installation, and a training ramp-up, or does the material need to be converted faster than a new system could be stood up and staffed?
Historically, if a prospect came to NMS and could not justify the purchase on those terms, the conversation ended there — NMS sold equipment, not digitization work. That is no longer true.
Or Let Us Scan It For You
DMI has built its digitization operation into a full-service scanning bureau, and that capacity now sits alongside every hardware conversation NMS has. If the numbers do not support buying a Mark 2, a DRS 1320, or a ScanRobot outright, DMI can run your material through equivalent capture equipment as a service. You get the finished digital files without owning, housing, insuring, or staffing the hardware yourself.
This matters even more once film is involved. DMI operates something almost no competitor in this industry still runs: a working, in-house film laboratory. Microfilm, aperture cards, and older duplicate film that has been scratched, warped, poorly duplicated, or otherwise damaged over the decades does not have to be returned to you unreadable. It can be chemically remediated at DMI’s lab before it is ever put through a scanner, which is the difference between a usable digital record and a scan of a problem you already had. On-site capture — sending equipment and an operator to your facility — is available for paper originals; film, because of the equipment and handling it requires, is always scanned at DMI’s lab, where the remediation and the capture equipment sit side by side.
In practice, that means every conversation NMS has now runs on two tracks at once: we can quote you the right Atiz, Metis, or Treventus system for your material and volume, and we can quote you DMI scanning the same material as a service, film lab included. You get an honest comparison instead of a hardware pitch you either accept or walk away from.
Request a Quote
Tell us about your collection and your timeline, and we will come back with an equipment recommendation, a conversion services quote, or both, so you can weigh buying against outsourcing before you commit to either one.
Request a quote from NMS Imaging today, or call 1-800-DMI-4210, and we will tell you honestly whether the right answer for your collection is a scanner on your floor or a project on ours. You can also browse the full book scanner range, the microfilm scanners, or everything in products.
