Nuance Adds Powerful Document and Forms Processing Capabilities to eCopy ShareScan - Letting Organizations Turn Paper into Profits

Nuance Adds Document Conversion to eCopy, Introduces eCopy Forms Processing Extender and Empowers Creation of Third-party Document Processing Extensions for eCopy

Burlington, MA – April 21, 2010 – Nuance Communications, Inc., a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions, today announced significant expansions to the document automation capabilities of eCopy® ShareScan®, the world’s best-selling MFP (multifunction peripheral) scanning system that enables organizations to replace manual paper processes with digital document workflows. Nuance also revealed significant additions to the eCopy Software Development Kit (SDK) and developer program that will accelerate the development of valuable document processing solutions using the eCopy ShareScan system.

“eCopy ShareScan has gained a leading position in the market and has won a wide array of awards – including the top score possible from Buyers Lab – due to its robust scanning features and ease-of-use,” said Robert Weideman, General Manager for the Nuance Document Imaging Division. “We are building on that success by dramatically expanding the document processing capabilities built into the product, and by providing our partners and third-party developers with the tools needed to quickly create repeatable and profitable document automation solutions using the ShareScan platform.”

eCopy ShareScan now includes the Document Conversion Extender™, a document processing snap-in that enables customers to turn paper documents into fully-formatted Microsoft Word, Excel and RTF formats. Further, the OCR software (optical character recognition) accuracy levels in eCopy have been improved by up to 50 percent or more over the previous release, bringing additional value to the creation of searchable PDF archive files. The OCR accuracy in eCopy ShareScan is up to 30 percent more accurate than alternative solutions. The high level of accuracy in document conversion can save office workers 15 minutes per page compared to the manual re-typing of documents and spreadsheets, and insures searchable PDF archives are not lost due to OCR errors.

Nuance has also greatly expanded the document automation capabilities of eCopy ShareScan with the introduction of the eCopy Forms Processing Extender™. This new document processing snap-in provides a rapid-deployment capability that enables customers to use eCopy ShareScan to automatically route and process paper forms, including the ability to extract data and perform automated database look-ups.

Nuance has also leapfrogged the competition by being the only MFP scanning solution vendor to provide a complete OCR and document processing SDK to its third-party developer community. Nuance has accomplished this by expanding the eCopy SDK to include the API set of the OmniPage® SDK, the world’s leading OCR, scanning and document conversion developer toolkit.

“With their document processing strategy, Nuance is intelligently leveraging the large number of solution partners that it gained with the eCopy acquisition,” said Harvey Spencer, President Harvey Spencer Associates Inc. “By providing their eCopy partners with the OmniPage OCR SDK, Nuance is well on its way towards expanding ShareScan into being the industry-standard platform for deploying MFP scanning solutions throughout the Enterprise.”

Registered members of the eCopy Connections Alliance Program (eCAP), the eCopy developer program, will now have access to the expanded eCopy SDK, including the OmniPage SDK, for developing solutions that are integrated and deployed within the eCopy ShareScan system. OmniPage features, including advanced image processing and 3D capture for book scanning, robust OCR and document conversion, forms processing, zonal OCR and export to over 100 formats – including eBook and audio books – can now be added to eCopy Application Connectors or to create new eCopy Processing Extenders.

For example, developers can use the OmniPage extensions to add scan-to-redaction capabilities to their eCopy Connector or value-added eCopy solution, allowing keywords or phrases to automatically remove sensitive information, with the results either printed to a redacted copy or sent to the user as a redacted PDF file. The expanded eCopy SDK with OmniPage APIs also supports scan-to-highlight, which results in a paper-search feature that finds and highlights information hidden within stacks of paper – with the highlighted document either printed or sent as a PDF into a digital workflow.

The OmniPage SDK also brings to eCopy ShareScan award-winning document conversion capabilities, including support for eBook formats for Amazon® Kindle® or Apple® iPad®, and text-to-speech technology, which enables applications to turn paper and digital documents into audio-books for Apple iPod® and iPad, as well as other media players.

About the eCopy ShareScan MFP Scanning System

eCopy ShareScan provides organizations with everything needed to automate their paper-to-digital workflows, letting office workers scan paper documents easily and securely using equipment that is readily available in any office – scanners and MFPs. The award-winning eCopy ShareScan solution delivers the highest levels of automation and ease-of-use, providing organizations with an intuitive touch-screen application that increases productivity in the office and saves money – turning paper into profits at organizations of every size. As the market-leader, eCopy solutions are sold by the world’s leading MFP vendors – including Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Océ, Ricoh/IKON, Toshiba and Xerox.

eCopy Application Connectors enable office workers to use eCopy ShareScan to scan from network MFP and scanning devices directly into business applications, using intuitive touch-screen interfaces that are optimized for specific document workflows-- increasing the value of existing enterprise applications while also enhancing worker productivity and reducing costs. There are over 100 commercially available eCopy Connectors developed by Nuance and Nuance eCAP partners, enabling paper-to-digital workflows for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange, EMC Documentum, Autonomy iManage WorkSite, and a wide range of applications used by business, healthcare, finance, education and government organizations.

eCopy Processing Extenders, also known as ShareScan Document Services, add robust document automation capabilities to eCopy ShareScan, speeding a wide range of paper and digital document workflows. Examples include the free Document Conversion Extender, Barcode and Document Splitting Extender, Forms Processing Extender and SQL Database Lookup Extender. Nuance eCAP partners and channel partners can quickly develop additional eCopy Extenders using the eCopy SDK.

The eCopy SDK is an extensible and open API that enables the development of eCopy Application Connectors and eCopy Processing Extenders. Using the eCopy SDK, developers, integrators and customers can automate a wide range of document workflows, providing a customized interface at the MFP that connects to powerful document processing and back-end enterprise applications. The eCopy SDK is unique in the industry in providing development partners with access to a full set of document conversion and processing APIs, through the inclusion of the Nuance OmniPage API set within the eCopy SDK.

Pricing and Availability

The eCopy Document Conversion Extender is included with eCopy ShareScan 4.3.5 and higher. The eCopy Forms Processing Extender is $995 per connected MFP and will be available for eCopy ShareScan 4.35 or higher within 60 days. The new eCopy SDK, including access to the OmniPage API extensions, is available to Nuance eCAP members at no charge to approved partners. A runtime deployment agreement with Nuance is required for solutions using the eCopy SDK and the OmniPage APIs. There is also no charge to join the eCAP program.

Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Trademark reference: Nuance, the Nuance logo, eCopy, ShareScan, eCopy Connectors, eCopy Extenders and OmniPage are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other company names or product names referenced herein may be the property of their respective owners.