Caere to Supply OCR Technology for New HP OfficeJet Multifunction Device; OmniPage Limited Edition Provides Highly Accurate OCR Technology for Basic OCR Needs and Offers an Inexpensive Upgrade Path to OmniPage Pro

Business Wire, March 11, 1996

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 1996--Caere Corporation (NASDAQ:CAER) today announced that it has signed an OEM agreement with Hewlett-Packard Company that provides Caere's optical character recognition (OCR) technology in the just-announced HP OfficeJet Model 350 printer-fax-copier-scanner.

Caere's OCR technology processes scanned or faxed information and converts it into actual text that can be used in word processing, spreadsheet, and other text-based applications, eliminating the need to retype information. Under the agreement, Caere is currently providing OmniPage Limited Edition, an OEM version of its award-winning OmniPage product, in OfficeJet Model 350 printer-fax-copier-scanner units sold in the United States. Previously, OCR technology was not included in HP OfficeJet models.

"The new OfficeJet Model 350 printer-fax-copier-scanner, which is designed specifically for people who take work home from the office, offers fully-integrated printing, faxing, copying, and scanning in one affordable, space-saving unit," said Steven J. Gomo, general manager at HP's San Diego Division. "Caere's OmniPage Limited Edition OCR software complements the scanning and faxing functionality of the new product by enabling users to easily turn paper-based information into more useful, computer-editable text."

OmniPage Limited Edition

OmniPage Limited Edition provides highly accurate OCR capabilities to meet the needs of users with basic OCR requirements. OmniPage Limited Edition is an OCR "applet" that includes basic OCR functionality. With OmniPage Limited Edition, users can load images from a scanner, fax software, or hard drive and take advantage of features such as zoom, rotate, add zone, and other base-level OCR capabilities. The converted text can then be saved into text-based applications like Word, WordPerfect for Windows, and Excel.

"Our partnership with HP is important in our mission to expose mainstream computer users to the time and money saving benefits of OCR," said Chad Kinzelberg, Caere's vice president of marketing. "OmniPage Limited Edition has been designed to offer simple OCR capabilities and let scanner users try OCR first hand, in order to evaluate its usefulness, without any additional investment up front."

OmniPage Pro 6.0 for Windows

For users who decide that they want more robust OCR capabilities including higher accuracy and ease of use features, Caere makes upgrading to OmniPage Pro easy and affordable. OmniPage Pro provides more robust, extended capabilities over OmniPage Limited Edition including: -0-

    -- Caere's newest OCR engine for increased accuracy;
    -- AutoOCR Toolbar that performs all the key steps of the OCR
       process automatically with a single mouse click;
    -- Superior accuracy on degraded documents such as photocopies and
       faxes;
    -- Text proofing for faster job completion;
    -- True Page technology that maintains the original format of the
       page, including text and graphics, to reduce the number of
       editing steps;
    -- Deferred/batch processing to delay recognition to a more
       convenient time;
    -- Advanced OCR settings panel for greater precision and
       accuracy; and others.-0-

OfficeJet Model 350 printer-fax-copier-scanner owners who wish to upgrade to OmniPage Pro can do so by purchasing Caere's retail upgrade package. The upgrade package is priced at $129. The upgrade pricing represents more than a $350 reduction in the cost of OmniPage Pro and is available to any WordScan or OmniPage owner who either purchased Caere OCR as a stand alone application or received the software bundled with most scanners. The upgrade packages are available at major resellers, including Egghead, CompUSA, Computer City, Best Buy, OfficeMax or directly from Caere. Note: Upgrade pricing may vary outside the United States.

Caere also provides OmniPage Limited Edition in the HP ScanJet 4c scanner and provides OmniPage Lite in the HP ScanJet 4s and 4Si scanners.

Caere Corporation

Caere Corporation, with U.S. headquarters in Los Gatos, and European headquarters, Caere GmbH, in Munich, Germany, is the leader in OCR technology and a leading provider of desktop document management and form processing products. Caere has expanded its line of OCR products as a result of the December 1994 merger with Calera Recognition Systems. Caere's products include the OmniPage and WordScan lines of OCR software that convert printed and faxed documents into electronic text; the PageKeeper line of Windows document management software that effortlessly retrieves a wide range of information from virtually any source; OmniForm, which converts paper forms to electronic format; the M/Series high-speed, high-volume OCR hardware and software for commercial applications; and a broad array of OCR and bar code readers that accelerate transaction processing. -0-

Note to Editors: Caere, OmniPage, PageKeeper, and WordScan are registered trademarks, and True Page, OmniForm, and M/Series are trademarks of Caere Corporation. Other products named may be trademarks of their respective manufacturers and are hereby recognized.