Long the Standard for Commercial Developers, Use of ScanSoft Imaging Toolkits Expands with Integrators and Corporations

Market-Leading Companies Including Lockheed Martin, Westbrook, AutoDesk and Bank of America Use Rapid Development Tools for In-House and Custom Imaging Applications

NEW YORK - AIIM 2004 Conference - March 10 - ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), the leading supplier of speech and imaging solutions, today announced growing use of the ScanSoft® Capture Development System by integrators and corporate developers. The Capture Development System allows developers to add sophisticated imaging, recognition and PDF capabilities to software applications, significantly speeding time-to-market while lowering development costs.

ScanSoft developer toolkits have long been the industry standard for commercial vendors needing to support imaging features, including Accusoft, ActivePDF, Autodesk, Canon, Captiva, Cardiff, DataCap, FileNET, Freedom Scientific, Hyland Software, IMR, Kofax, Omtool, Microsoft, Westbrook Technologies, Symantec and Xerox. More recently, the use of ScanSoft imaging toolkits has expanded into integrator and corporate organizations worldwide, including Avis, Bank of America, Citibank, CNA Canada, E & J Winery, Household Finance Corporation, Lexis Nexis, Lockheed Martin, MasterCard, Raytheon, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Wal-Mart.

Based on the imaging technology within ScanSoft® OmniPage® Pro, the leading application for desktop OCR and PDF conversion, the toolkit gives developers access to highly accurate recognition engines, including OCR (machine print), ICR (handprint), OMR (checkmark) and barcode. It also provides high-level recognition-voting interfaces that deliver the most accurate results possible. To enable rapid application development, the toolkit includes pre-made user interfaces for controlling scanning devices, and tools that enable advanced image enhancement, de-skew and document processing capabilities. A wide array of imaging and digital formats are supported by the toolkit, including TIF, various types of PDF, Microsoft Word, XML, HTML and Open eBook.

"The expanding use of ScanSoft toolkits within new developer communities is being driven in large part by the fact that imaging, scanning and PDF have become mainstream technologies," said Robert Weideman, general manager, ScanSoft Productivity Applications. "The continued proliferation of PDF, network scanning devices and content management systems will accelerate this trend, particularly as more organizations recognize the flexibility and cost savings that they can achieve with our products."

ScanSoft developer customer examples include:

• Bank of America - Bank of America, one of the world's largest financial institutions, has selected the ScanSoft Capture Development System to develop a robust loan processing solution that provides auto dealerships and consumers with same-day loan processing. By quickly and accurately matching PDF requests to specific accounts, the application provides consumers with fast, easy approval.
  
  
• Westbrook Technologies - Westbrook Technologies provides customers throughout the world with leading document management solutions, including the Fortis and File Magic 5 series software suites that enable users to make more timely and precise business decisions. ScanSoft's OCR technology is embedded in both of the company's flagship solutions - Fortis and File Magic 5, enabling users to electronically capture, store and organize documents, while promoting collaboration and file sharing among workgroups.
  
  
• AutoDesk - AutoDesk, one of the world's leading digital design and content companies, provides customers with advanced design solutions in building, manufacturing, infrastructure, digital media and location services. ScanSoft Capture Development System is integrated into Autodesk Raster Design, which enables customers to edit, modify and enhance raster data to integrate maps, scanned documents and paper drawings, satellite imagery, and aerial photos into existing work.

Availability

The ScanSoft Capture Development System is available directly from ScanSoft, with pricing that starts at $4,495. For more information please visit www.ScanSoft.com/CaptureSDK or call ScanSoft at (1) 800.443.7077.

About ScanSoft, Inc.

ScanSoft, Inc. is the leading supplier of speech and imaging solutions that are used to automate a wide range of manual processes-saving time, increasing worker productivity and improving customer service. For additional information on the company, please visit www.scansoft.com.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft, OmniPage, and the ScanSoft logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with market trends, competitive factors, and other risks identified in ScanSoft'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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