DUXBURY SYSTEMS, INC.

Duxbury Systems, Inc. has nearly 27 years of experience with making it possible to produce braille more efficiently. The recent collaboration with the American Foundation for the Blind and many other stakeholders will revolutionize the future for generations of blind individuals. The project will open doors of education to all. The only limitations on a blind individual will be their own intellect, interests, determination, and ambition.

Duxbury Systems is a company born in July of 1975. They are celebrating over 26 years of bringing the world braille software, now with more than 35 languages. The sole purpose of the company was to bring computerized transcription to braille in order to facilitate the production of braille textbooks and other educational facilities.

For a more detailed discussion of the Early History of Braille Translators and Embossers please see the information at: http://www.duxburysystems.com/bthist.asp.

Duxbury Systems itself was founded as a partnership called "Gildea, Simpson and Sullivan" in July 1975 in the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts. The company promptly began to work on a Translator product (based on the DOTSYS algorithms) and to seek customers. It was a Data General Nova 800 that was responsible for bringing the original "portable" Duxbury Braille Translator to life. Like its predecessor DOTSYS, the original Duxbury Translator was capable of translating not only contracted English (American usage) but also Latin, Italian, French, German and Spanish braille in the "grade 1" form used in American English context. In March 1976, Duxbury Systems incorporated as a regular "for-profit" Massachusetts Corporation with our present name. (Of course, being "for-profit" does not guarantee the fact of a profit, which is a whole separate subject.) The first installation of the Duxbury Translator took place at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind in Toronto, Canada, in July 1976 on a Data General Eclipse.

The Duxbury Translator was the first to work with a second contracted language (Spanish, 1976); since that time Arabic, French, Swahili, and a number of others, many of them "firsts" for the language involved, have been implemented. Most of these languages were developed because of the braille authorities coming to Joe Sullivan and Duxbury Systems for their expertise and willingness to not only tackle these problems but to complete a very high quality solution.

Duxbury was also among the earliest braille translators to be implemented on a microcomputer in the late 1970's (on North Star DOS, CP/M, and Oasis, all predecessors to the MS-DOS that now runs on PC's). It may have, in fact, been the very first with any commercial presence, but there were also some others experimenting with this at about the same time. Although Duxbury Systems, Inc. may not have had the first product on MS-DOS (1985), the company had the first on Macintosh (1989) and Windows (1991).

In 1985, with the sponsorship of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), tables were developed for the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation. Since that time, Duxbury has also implemented braille math translation for the British BAUK math braille code, the French braille math code, and even the proposed UEBC technical braille provisions.

The importation of LaTeX and TeX mathematical files has revolutionized the availability of mathematical and technical material to braille readers. Before these developments only highly trained (and all too rare) Math Braille Transcribers could create such technical materials, essentially six-keying in material as if they were brailling by hand.

In 1999 Duxbury Systems acquired MegaDots. MegaDots was the second most popular braille production software used in North America. Both the Duxbury Braille Translator and MegaDots have continued to evolve, becoming the most stable and widely accepted software to be utilized around the world for transcribing material.

Importing LaTeX and TeX mathematical files, bringing in braille clip-art files and accepting HTML and XML files are just some of the continuing advances in braille production to come out of Duxbury Systems, Inc.

In fact, the current generation of products is so advanced that it is used by braille experts and novices alike for creating quality braille. The challenges ahead will include the deployment of new technologies and the next evolution of internal mechanisms to facilitate the ability of Duxbury Systems to ensure that efficient braille production can take place wherever braille is needed.

Custom work has been done for several big braille publishers to facilitate quick quality transcription of monthly publications. This resulted in record turnaround time for braille publications and it continues to generate cost and time savings.

Duxbury Systems currently offers a number of "off-the-shelf" products for braille transcription and production. These are constantly being developed and improved so you should be sure you have the latest products.

The Duxbury Braille Translator is available for Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, NT, and XP. It is also available for the Macintosh. Custom UNIX and other implementations are also available.

MegaDots is still an extremely valuable tool for braille production transcribers and publishers. Although a DOS product, much work has gone into MegaDots 2.2 ensuring that it works well in all versions of Windows from XP Pro on down. It is designed for North American braille transcribers and includes many features for automating tasks.

Both products handle XML, the DAISY/NISO, MS WORD, and many other formats. They are used extensively by professionals who transcribe publisher files.

The future will have Duxbury Systems bringing out an entire new line of braille production and transcription products combining the best of over 25 years of braille expertise with the best that the future has to offer.

Duxbury Systems, Inc.
270 Littleton Road, #6
Westford, MA 01886 USA
General E-mail: info@duxsys.com
http://www.DuxburySystems.com
Phone: 978-692-3000
Fax: 978-692-7912

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