Visioneer Announces OEM and Licensing Agreement With Compaq To Integrate Scanners Into Desktop Personal Computers For The First Time; Industry's First Scanner Keyboard To Ease Getting Paper Into Computers and Putting It to Work

Business Wire, Jan 29, 1996

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 1996--Visioneer, developer of the award-winning PaperPort paper input system, today announced an agreement with Compaq Computer Corporation, the world's largest supplier of PCs, to integrate scanners with desktop personal computers, which will ease getting paper into computers and putting it to work.

Under the agreement, the industry's first scanner keyboard, developed jointly by Visioneer and Compaq, will be a standard feature on the Compaq Presario 7232 PC being announced today.

The Compaq Scanner Keyboard will be offered as an option for use with other Compaq PCs, or any other industry-standard PC with minimum hardware requirements. The companies' agreement incorporates the PaperPort API (application programming interface) as the standard method for software developers to "paper-enable" their products to work with the new scanner keyboard.

The scanner keyboard, based on the award winning PaperPort integrated hardware and software paper input system, is designed to transform the standard home computer into a home copier, fax machine and sophisticated filing system.

Beginning in February, users will be able to easily get paper-based personal and home business records, such as completed medical forms, article clippings, financial statements and receipts, into their computers where they can be faxed, filed, copied, or integrated into more than one hundred popular software applications.

"Integrating a scanner keyboard with a computer is similar to integrating a CD-ROM drive with a computer," said Kristy Holch, principal at InfoTrends Research Group. "The impact will have a significant effect on the way that consumers use their computers."

Compaq's custom version of PaperPort hardware and software provides most of the same features available in PaperPort Vx, Visioneer's flagship paper input system, including Visioneer's proprietary SharpPage technology for getting the most readable images on faxes, on screen or on copies; PaperPort desktop software for organizing scanned documents; and PaperPort Links to more than one hundred of the most popular software applications, such as Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, Lotus cc:mail, Delrina WinFax and America Online. The new scanner keyboard will also come bundled with Xerox's award-winning TextBridge OCR software.

"We chose to work with Visioneer on the scanner keyboard because of their unique and innovative technology for paper input systems that are small, fast and easy-to-use," said Rod Schrock, vice president, Consumer Division at Compaq.

"The size and shape of the Visioneer PaperPort could not only readily blend into a keyboard, but the product's hardware and software integration has set the standard for ease-of-use, which is of utmost importance to our home and business users. More importantly, the ability to use paper-based data within a multitude of applications will provide our users with new levels of functionality."

PaperPort Links to third-party applications enable customers to automatically and intelligently integrate scanned paper into the application of their choice by simply dragging and dropping a scanned document onto the application's icon on the PaperPort desktop.

The PaperPort API allows third-party developers to "paper-enable," or use paper as a data type within their applications, by providing easy-to-use one-button links to their applications from the PaperPort desktop. Visioneer plans to work with more third-party developers on adopting the PaperPort API in their applications, which will provide users with new ways to use their scanner keyboard.

"Compaq's decision to integrate PaperPort into the Presario platform is an important development for the scanning industry and all computer users," said Mike McConnell, president and CEO of Visioneer. "Compaq's visionary approach could further expand the acceptance of sheet-fed scanning as a desirable feature for most PC users, and their support of our API provides another compelling reason for software developers to paper-enable their applications."

The relationship with Compaq follows an important year for Visioneer, in which the company launched PaperPort Vx for Macintosh and Windows; and successfully completed its initial public offering. PaperPort recently received a highly coveted World Class Award and five star review from Macworld magazine and an Editor's Pick Award from Home Office Computing.

EDITORS NOTE: Please see release dated Jan. 29, 1996 from Compaq Computer Corporation. "Compaq Revolutionizes PC Document Management with Industry's First Scanner Keyboard."

About Visioneer, Inc.

Visioneer, a publicly traded company (NASDAQ:VSNR) that is headquartered in Palo Alto, develops and markets products that provide a fast and easy way to get paper into computers and put it to work.

The company's first product shipped in 1994 and garnered widespread industry acceptance and endorsements, including a World Class Award and two five-star ratings from Macworld magazine, two MVP awards from PC Computing magazine, Editor's Choice and Product of the Year Awards from Imaging Magazine, and more recently, a silver product design award from BusinessWeek.