PEABODY, Mass., - October 18, 2001 ScanSoft® , Inc. (NASDAQ: SSFT), a global leader in paper-to-digital solutions, and Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. (FCPA) today announced an expanded OEM agreement to bundle ScanSoft's award-winning software on Fujitsu's family of high-speed workgroup scanners. This agreement further expands ScanSoft's presence into corporate workgroup segments by delivering a total performance solution. The bundle consists of ScanSoft's Pagis® Pro Scanning Suite that includes document management, OCR, copying and forms fill-in capabilities.

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, a market leader in document imaging scanners, is growing its existing relationship with ScanSoft by significantly increasing the commitment of software units for the next 12 months. Specifically, Fujitsu will bundle ScanSoft's Pagis Pro with its ScanPartner fi-4110CU, ScanPartner 620C, ScanPartner 93GX and ScanPartner 15C workgroup scanners, in addition to its ScanPartner 3091DC. All these scanners are for distribution in the North American market.

Fujitsu provides ScanSoft's high-quality paper-to-digital software to further ensure that its scanning hardware meets the exact performance requirements of its customers. Using ScanSoft's Pagis Pro allows Fujitsu customers to benefit from ScanSoft's leading paper-to-digital technology and paper management functions to create a solution further geared toward the productivity requirements for the corporate market.

“For our high performance ScanPartner scanner line, we required a software product with the functionality and accuracy to showcase the unparalleled image quality of our hardware,” said Victor Kan, director of product management, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. “Pagis Pro meets and exceeds those requirements.”

The Pagis Pro 3.0 SE product that is being bundled by Fujitsu offers four integrated scanning programs designed to streamline the process of using, sharing and managing paper-based information on PCs and the Internet.

TextBridge® Pro 9.0 OCR software enables users to quickly turn paper documents into electronic files without retyping while retaining the layout and formatting of the original documents. Users can also turn scanned files into formatted web pages.
Pagis turns the Windows Explorer into a visual filing system by creating visual thumbnails for scanned documents, photos, application files and web pages. Digital images are easily integrated with popular desktop applications or shared via e-mail.
Pagis Copier turns a scanner and color printer into a color copier. With the push of a button, Pagis Copier automatically scans and prints a color copy. Pagis Copier provides a familiar copier interface along with many options, such as re-sizing, reduce to fit, collate and color output.
Pagis Forms Fill-In alleviates the time-consuming task of filling out forms on a typewriter or by hand. With Pagis Forms Fill-In, users simply scan the form and tab and type.

“Our collaboration with Fujitsu provides an avenue to build upon our success in the corporate workgroup environment,” noted Wayne Crandall, senior vice president of sales and marketing at ScanSoft. “This relationship brings together two market leaders in their respective fields to offer total solutions that meet the needs of our users.”

For additional information about Pagis Pro, and ScanSoft's other award-winning paper-to-digital software, please visit www.scansoft.com.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is a leading provider of Internet-focused information technology solutions for the global marketplace. Its pace-setting technologies, best-in-class computing and telecommunications platforms, and worldwide corps of systems and services experts make it uniquely positioned to unleash the infinite possibilities of the Internet to help its customers succeed. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 5.48 trillion yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001. Internet: www.fujitsu.com/

About Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. (FCPA) conducts engineering and marketing activities in San Jose, CA and sales operations throughout the United States. FCPA's current product and service offerings include scanners and scanner maintenance, hard disk drives, tape drives, and magneto-optical drives. FCPA is located at 2904 Orchard Parkway, San Jose, CA, 95134. For more information about Fujitsu products and services, call us at 800-626-4686 or 408-432-6333 or use our Internet Web site at www.fcpa.fujitsu.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 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, 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 eight million registered users of ScanSoft products. ScanSoft can be found on the Web at www.scansoft.com.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft, OmniPage, 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 mentioned 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. There can be no assurance that any of these forward-looking statements will prove to be correct and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the effect of the current economic slowdown, possible fluctuations in demand for existing ScanSoft products, 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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