PEABODY, Mass. and GENT, Belgium, July 17, 2002 - ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, today announced that Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY), the largest mobile systems supplier in the world, has selected ScanSoft's RealSpeak™ text-to-speech product as the voice for Ericsson Messaging-over-IP Unified, its unified messaging service. The system is available in twelve languages including US and UK English, French, German, Swedish and others.

Ericsson's service is designed to help users increase mobility, efficiency and simplicity in their message handling. All types of messages, whether e-mail, voice mail, SMS, fax mail, picture mail or video mail, can be accessed in a single message box. Subscribers to the service, which will be offered by telecommunications providers, get message notifications on their mobile phone or hand held device.

ScanSoft RealSpeak™ converts incoming text messages into spoken messages in the most natural-sounding computer-generated voice. Available in a variety of languages, RealSpeak can read e-mails through the phone and helps users access and manage their messages, wherever and whenever needed.

"Unified messaging is an important step in the future of the mobile Internet, providing business professionals and consumers alike the ability to access, address and manage a myriad of messages," said Peter Hauser, ScanSoft's senior vice president and general manager, International. "We are excited to work with Ericsson to bring state-of-the-art speech applications, such as unified messaging, to the mobile market."

About RealSpeak™ Text-to-Speech

ScanSoft's RealSpeak is the market-leading product for converting text into human-sounding synthesized speech. The technology is used for a wide range of applications, including delivering emails for unified messaging systems, providing prompts for interactive voice response (IVR) applications, and speech-enabling mobile, automotive, game and PC/multi-media applications.

RealSpeak offers a single standardized application programming interface (API) that enables the deployment of speech-enabled applications in 19 languages: US and UK English, German, French, Dutch & Belgian Dutch, Castilian and Mexican Spanish, Italian, European and Brazilian Portuguese, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Danish and Cantonese & Mandarin Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

About ScanSoft, Inc.

ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT) is the leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions that are used to automate a wide range of manual processes - saving time, increasing worker productivity and improving customer service. For more information regarding ScanSoft products and technologies, please visit www.scansoft.com.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft and RealSpeak are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company names or product names referenced herein may be the trademarks of their respective holders.

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performances are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with market trends, competitive factors, and other risks identified in the Company's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.

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