Øl Research built machines that recognize handwritten addresses for the Briefpost 2000 project. A recognizer selects the address line and the postcode. The machine then matches the information with a database containing every address in the Netherlands. With this information, finding the right person is a piece of cake. Even poorly legible handwriting is a cinch to read.

Transferring funds from a savings account to a giro account, from a giro account to a share index fund, from the Netherlands to a foreign country - as a customer of ING Postbank, you have a great deal of freedom. Postbank can give you that freedom thanks to the OCR systems designed by Øl Research.

A good example of this state-of-the-art technology is the CODAL3 system. CODAL automatically reads the amount and giro number filled in on transfer forms and giro payment slips. The system handles one million giro documents a day. Even though people often complete these forms by hand, CODAL is so reliable that it enables Postbank to transfer large amounts of money without delay.

Postbank also uses a verification system to process giro orders. The system recognizes whether the order is an ordinary document or a special giro form. For example, it can distinguish between normal documents and rush jobs. Øl Research is helping to make Postbank even more reliable by building a pilot model which can be used to check signatures.