PEABODY, Mass., - April 9, 2001 -ScanSoft®, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSFT), a leader in paper-to-digital solutions, has made significant progress towards its 2001 objectives. The company ended the first quarter having announced seven agreements on new and existing business that impacts each of the four major objectives. The agreements ranged from licensing, distribution, manufacturing and fulfillment to a strategic partnership to provide online access to numerous federal and state forms in a Web-fillable format for the first time.

Agreements reached this quarter that drive revenue growth from geographic expansion, and from new and extended alliances include:

An extension of its existing agreement with the Digital Home and Personal Systems Division of CANON, U.S.A. INC., a world leader in professional and consumer imaging solutions, to bundle TextBridge Pro® 8.0 software with its MultiPASS line of multifunction printers.
A distribution agreement with FUJI XEROX, a leader in the delivery of document management solutions. ScanSoft's complete product line will now be distributed throughout Australia, as the company strategically expands into new geographic areas.
A strategic three-year licensing agreement with MICROSYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, the leader in information capture software, for ScanSoft's Developer's Kit 2000 version 10 to integrate ScanSoft's recognition technology into its OCR for Forms™ product. This relationship further supports ScanSoft's continued success in making inroads with system integrators as key technology leaders are consistently recognizing our technology as "best-of-breed."
An extension of its current agreement with VIVIDATA, INC., a Unix and Linux imaging software company, to license ScanSoft's latest OCR technology for integration with Vividata's 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.
An extension of its current agreement with BROTHER INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION to bundle its leading PaperPort® paper management software with Brother's powerful Multi-Function Centers for markets worldwide. Under the expanded partnership, PaperPort will be bundled with the entire line of Brother MFCs in the European market and will offer language support for International English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. For the first time, PaperPort will be localized to support four additional languages: Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish.

An agreement reached this quarter to improve productivity through operational efficiency:

A manufacturing and fulfillment agreement with GLOBALWARE SOLUTIONS to manufacture ScanSoft's portfolio of products including OmniPage®, PaperPort®, OmniForm®, TextBridge®, and Pagis®. The agreement allows ScanSoft to achieve significant productivity benefits through operationally-efficient fulfillment services.

An agreement reached this quarter that impacts the 2001 objective of accelerated investments in Internet and mobile solutions:

A strategic partnership with AMERICAN LEGALNET to provide online access to numerous federal and state forms in a Web-fillable format for the first time at www.uscourtforms.com. ScanSoft will benefit from two revenue opportunities as a result of the agreement: in addition to receiving licensing fees from American LegalNet, visitors to the uscourtforms.com site will be able to license ScanSoft's OmniForm technology for internal use.

"These agreements clearly support our growth agenda as well as our commitment to improve our operational efficiency," Paul Ricci, CEO and Chairman, ScanSoft said. "The extension of existing relationships points to continued satisfaction with ScanSoft's technology in solving numerous everyday business problems. Additionally, the new agreements demonstrate ScanSoft's recognized leadership in the paper-to-digital market, and gives us increased revenue growth through the expansion of our sales channels."

For more information on these agreements, visit the ScanSoft website at www.scansoft.com.

About ScanSoft, Inc.

Headquartered in Peabody, Mass., with European headquarters in The Netherlands, ScanSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSFT) is a global leader in paper-to-digital solutions for the desktop, network, Internet and mobile environments that enable users to leverage the power of their scanners, digital cameras and other electronic input devices. ScanSoft's award-winning product line - OmniPage Pro, OmniPage Pro Scan Suite Plus, TextBridge Pro, PaperPort Deluxe, Pagis Pro, OmniForm, eOmniForm, 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 XP 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.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft, OmniPage, OmniPage Pro Scan Suite Plus, TextBridge, PaperPort, PaperPort Deluxe, Pagis, OmniForm, eOmniForm, and Developer's Kit 2000 are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, 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 each of the agreements, 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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