City firms test-drive archiving system

SIX major City firms are test-driving a new service which electronically stores documents before sending them to a secure warehouse.

The Valid Vault service has been devised by Valid Information Systems and is designed to get over the difficulties of accessing documents quickly once they have been archived.

Valid Information Systems managing director Bill Cannings said that by using the system partners and fee earners would be able to access stored documents via their PCs and a modem in about 10 seconds.

He added that the service, which costs 2p per page, included a "powerful" encryption process to ensure system security so documents could be sent over the Internet.

Andrew Levison, IT consultant at The David Andrews Partnership, said the product was "impressive".