PEABODY, Mass., - March 26, 2001 -ScanSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSFT), a leader in paper-to-digital solutions, today announced an agreement with Vividata, Inc., a Unix and Linux imaging software company, to provide Vividata customers with the latest in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. The agreement will provide the Unix and Linux markets with powerful OCR functionality not previously available for these environments.

ScanSoft will license its latest OCR technology to Vividata for integration with its Unix and Linux-based software imaging products. The full range of features and benefits of the ScanSoft OCR technology will be available to Vividata's broad base of OCR Shop® users.

With this agreement, Unix and Linux users will now have full access to OCR functionality previously only available to users of Windows-based systems. This will expand the use of ScanSoft's OCR technology in these operating systems, which form the basis of countless Internet and government applications worldwide.

Vividata will provide its customers with a full range of OCR features in its OCR Shop product. In addition, Vividata will also provide a developers kit for customers interested in integrating the OCR technology into their own Unix and Linux applications.

"Our base of Unix and Linux customers will now have full access to the functionality of ScanSoft's leading OCR technology," says Mark Liebman, president and CEO of Vividata, Inc. "There is a large demand for this technology in markets where these operating systems are prevalent, including federal and local government and international sectors. This agreement provides us with the ability to better serve our customers by providing an easily deployed OCR product that meets their requirements."

Utilizing the ScanSoft OCR technology, Vividata can now address the needs of its customers in a readily deployable package. OCR Shop with ScanSoft OCR technology will support multiple versions of Unix and Linux. Versions supported include, but not limited to, Sun Solaris for SPARC and Intel x86, Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX, IBM's AIX, SGI's IRIX, and Linux for Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, Caldera and Slackware.

The latest OCR technology from ScanSoft provides several significant new features, including full support for 54 foreign languages. This increase from 14 will enable Vividata to provide its worldwide customer base with versions of OCR Shop suited to their individual markets. Additionally, ScanSoft has added support for PDF output filters, enabling Unix users to save and retrieve Unix-based PDF files.

"Our relationship with Vividata helps to put our OCR technology in the hands of users worldwide that have not yet been able to take full advantage of the benefits of using such tools," states Wayne Crandall, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at ScanSoft. "The Unix and Linux markets are growing and providing the support for much of what we see on the Internet today. OCR Shop with ScanSoft technology will provide users with additional and more efficient ways to utilize their systems."

About ScanSoft, Inc.

Headquartered in Peabody, Mass. with European headquarters in the Netherlands, ScanSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSFT) is the leading developer of paper-to-digital solutions that enable users to leverage the power of their scanners, digital cameras and other electronic devices. ScanSoft's award-winning product line - PaperPort Deluxe, Pagis Pro, TextBridge Pro, OmniPage Pro, OmniPage Pro Scan Suite Plus, OmniForm, eOmniForm, Paper Converter, Kai's PhotoSoap2, Kai's SuperGoo, Kai's PowerShow, PhotoFactory, and numerous software developer's kits - enables users to capture, recognize, edit, manage and share documents and photos electronically by taking advantage of ScanSoft's cutting-edge technology.

ScanSoft has established numerous strategic partnerships with the industry's leading scanner and multifunction vendors to deliver the most comprehensive and cost-effective solutions for its customers. Vendors who have chosen ScanSoft's cutting-edge technologies include Brother, Canon, Epson, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM/Lotus, Mustek, Primax, Sharp, Symantec Corporation, Visioneer, Xerox and others. ScanSoft's leading technologies have been licensed by Microsoft for use in Office 10 and other future products. ScanSoft continues to cultivate and develop strategic partnerships to deliver the most comprehensive and cost-effective solutions for its customers.

ScanSoft software is sold, marketed and supported worldwide through retail, dealer and OEM channels and the Internet, capturing the small to medium size business and corporate markets. There are more than 8 million registered users of ScanSoft products. ScanSoft can be found on the Web at www.scansoft.com.

About Vividata, Inc.

Founded in 1988 by Mark Liebman, president and CEO, Vividata provides a complete suite of fully integrated enterprise software solutions for printing (PShop™) scanning (ScanShop®) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR Shop®). Vividata also provides developer tools for image conversion/serving (vividX™), and API's for scanner drivers (Vividriver®) and OCR (ScanSoft OCR API). Today, the two desktop products-ScanShop and PShop-represent over 250,000 licenses in the United States alone. Vividata products are designed for standalone use and ease of integration into other applications, providing unprecedented flexibility to UNIX and PC environments.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft, PaperPort, PaperPort Deluxe, Pagis, TextBridge, OmniPage, OmniPage Pro Scan Suite Plus, OmniForm, eOmniForm, Paper Converter, Scanner Suite, PageKeeper, Developer's Kit 2000, PhotoFactory, Kai's PhotoSoap2, Kai's SuperGoo and Kai's PowerShow are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Pshop, vividX, Vividriver, ScanShop and OCR Shop are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vividata, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks and trade names are hereby recognized and may be registered to their respective holders.

The Company notes that the statements in this release that relate to future plans, events, performance, including without limitation the perceived benefits of the agreement, are forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company's actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, market acceptance, the impact of competitive products and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports. Readers are cautioned not to place undo reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

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