ScanSoft Unveils OmniPage Professional 15, Raising the Bar for OCR, PDF and Document Conversion Applications

Business Wire, August 9, 2005

BURLINGTON, Mass. -- With Accuracy Up to 50% Better Than Alternatives and Unique PDF and Digital Document Conversion Capabilities, OCR Isn't Just for Scanning Anymore

ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq:SSFT), a global leader of speech and imaging solutions, today launched ScanSoft(R) OmniPage(R) Professional 15, a new version of the world's most popular optical character recognition (OCR) and document conversion application for Microsoft Windows. With superior accuracy and speed, OmniPage Professional 15 is the most accurate and efficient way to convert, edit, archive and share paper and PDF documents, replacing the need to manually re-create paper and image-based documents and simplifying document workflow and archiving through an automated, electronic process.

OmniPage Professional has long been recognized as the best solution for saving time and money by instantly turning paper and PDF files - such as letters, contracts, spreadsheets, magazine articles, research reports, manuals and more - into editable documents. With the release of OmniPage Professional 15, in addition to a host of new functionality, ScanSoft has enhanced the trusted features that continue to matter most to OCR users - accuracy and speed. Boasting accuracy improvements of 25 percent and new, advanced OCR and document conversion engines, OmniPage Professional 15 eliminates the historical trade-off between speed and accuracy. With the superior formatting and layout retention that can be 50 percent more accurate than alternatives, OmniPage Professional 15 makes it easier than ever to work between electronic and paper documents - even those with formatted text, columns, graphics, tables and spreadsheets.

"OmniPage has long been known for its first-rate OCR," said Ralph Gammon, editor & publisher, Document Imaging Report. "This release of OmniPage not only drives up accuracy levels even higher - critical to anyone using OCR - but it goes a step further to address the growing need for PDF support and complete digital document conversion. As adoption of scanning on the workgroup level increases, and interest in digital archiving continues to rise, ScanSoft is right there to meet emerging market needs."

Recognized as the most accurate and best-in-class OCR solution available, OmniPage Professional 15 expands the value of OCR well beyond scanning, providing solutions to a range of both paper and digital document conversion problems:

--Accuracy improvements for paper and PDF conversion that are 25 percent better than the previous release and 50 percent better than alternatives

--Patented One Button Scanning, which associates frequently used document processing settings to specific buttons on an MFP, all-in-one or scanner

--The batch conversion of images and any digital format into PDF for document sharing and archive

--Digital-to-digital document conversion between a wide array of formats

--Automatic forms conversion to convert paper or static electronic form into fillable forms

--Workgroup scanning using networked multi-function products (MFPs)

--Integrated Google Desktop Search with unique OCR Indexing

"OmniPage Professional significantly enhances the workflow process at my practice, bringing cost effectiveness to the otherwise long and tedious document repurposing process," said Norman Michaels, attorney. OmniPage Professional 15 is really spot on in terms of accuracy and performance. It also has a very simple interface and does exactly what I need it to do - effortlessly."

ScanSoft OmniPage Professional - consistently judged the most accurate by independent experts - sets the standard for OCR, PDF and document conversion applications and delivers features and functionality not matched by any other OCR product. This new release expands the value of OCR into universal document conversion, and enables users to get more from scanning and archiving to solve difficult digital document conversion problems and allow PDF archiving of any digital format. Key features include:

--The Most Accurate OCR and Layout Retention - OmniPage Professional 15 is 25 percent more accurate than the previous release and up to 50 percent more accurate than alternative solutions. Independent industry experts have consistently found OmniPage Professional to be the most accurate solution and the only OCR product that successfully processed all of their test documents. OmniPage Professional 15 also delivers superior page layout capabilities to ensure that a converted document is as exact to the original as possible. By delivering the highest accuracy, and processing all of a user's documents, OmniPage Professional practically eliminates proofing and editing - delivering unrivaled productivity benefits to an organization.

--Batch Digital PDF Archive - PDF has become the de facto standard format for archiving documents into folders and content management systems. OmniPage Professional is highly valued for its ability to scan-to searchable PDF archives, using OCR to automatically create index data. OmniPage Professional 15 makes a significant advance with its PDF capabilities with Digital PDF Archive, which automatically turns any digital document format into searchable PDF archives. Now organizations don't need to pay $1,500 or more to batch process emails, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets into "flat" and secure PDF archive files. With OmniPage Professional 15, users get the core Digital PDF conversion capabilities found in Adobe Acrobat Distiller Server but in a more affordable and easier to use application.