ABBYY Announces FineReader 6.0 Engine and Customers of the New SDK.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 27, 2002

Toolkit Provides Enhanced Development Environment for VARs, SIs,

and Developers Integrating ABBYY's OCR, ICR and Barcode Recognition Technologies Into Software and Hardware Document Imaging Applications

ABBYY(R), a leading developer of document recognition and linguistic technologies, today announced the availability of ABBYY FineReader(R) 6.0 Engine, a new software development toolkit for integrating ABBYY's FineReader OCR (machine print), ICR (handprint), and barcode recognition technologies into Windows applications. Providing higher accuracy and improved OCR functionality than ever before, FineReader 6.0 Engine enables hardware and software developers, consultants, VARs, and system integrators to leverage ABBYY's advanced recognition technologies and integrate them into document and content management, data capture, and form processing applications.

ABBYY also announced today FineReader 6.0 Scripting Edition, automation API tools designed to customize and integrate the FineReader 6.0 software into Windows applications for mid- to high-volume production. A complete description is provided in a separate release available at: www.abbyy.com/news.asp.

Customers of FineReader Engine 6.0

FineReader 6.0 Engine has already been purchased by many customers, including Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc., a leading developer of reading technology for the visually impaired and people with reading difficulties. Kurzweil is using FineReader Engine to incorporate ABBYY recognition technologies into new versions of its software, Kurzweil 1000 and Kurzweil 3000.

"We have used FineReader in previous versions because it is clearly the most accurate engine. Accuracy is critical to our blind users and students who are listening to the text using computer- generated speech -- mistakes can be confusing and distracting," said Stephen Baum, vice president of research and development at Kurzweil. "We are particularly impressed with the new engine's ability to automatically adjust text contrast and filter background noise and texture. This is very helpful since our customers tend to input a wide variety of documents, from old books and newspaper clippings to faxes and magazine articles. FineReader provides accurate results -- even on low quality pages."

Robust Development Tools for a Variety of Applications

FineReader 6.0 Engine provides developers with the tools to access the core functionality, or "engine," of ABBYY's award-winning FineReader applications. With the new SDK, developers have the flexibility to either integrate FineReader recognition technology into existing applications or build powerful new applications from scratch. FineReader Engine includes a set of Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) as well as open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that fully conform to the Component Object Model (COM) standard and can be easily used by C/C++, VisualBasic, Visual Studio .NET, Delphi, or any other development tools supporting COM components.

FineReader 6.0 Engine's high level of accuracy, robust functionality, and versatile technology make it ideal for developing a wide range of applications that include:

-- Improved recognition accuracy -- Fine Reader 6.0 Engine includes ABBYY's newly developed Intelligent Background Filtering technology. This innovative system employs new algorithms to filter background noise and texture and reduces the number of word errors on low-contrast, color and degraded documents by up to 35%.

-- Extended language support of multilingual documents -- ABBYY FineReader 6.0 recognizes multilingual documents with unsurpassed accuracy. In addition, version 6.0 supports 177 languages -- more languages than any other OCR toolkit. These are unique and powerful advantages for developers with global market products.

-- Improved layout retention -- FineReader 6.0 Engine offers a host of new page synthesis capabilities for increased accuracy, including improved format retention of non-rectangular pictures, multi-column pictures and wrap-around text; better retention of letter spacing and line length; retention of bulleted and numbered lists; and retention of text alignment within table cells.

-- Extended export options -- FineReader Engine features a new mode of saving in PDF: image only. This extends the product's PDF output abilities to now include all popular saving options. Also, the product includes foreign language Type 1 fonts that enable the export of multilingual PDF documents without the need to install additional fonts.

For users who want to customize an existing FineReader OCR application, FineReader 6.0 Scripting Edition provides automation API tools. This solution enables system integrators, VARs, service bureaus or corporate IT developers to customize or modify ABBYY's FineReader 6.0 OCR software and integrate the solution into Windows applications by writing a few lines of code -- eliminating the need to develop applications from scratch.

Increased Accuracy, Extended OCR Functionality

FineReader 6.0 Engine offers a complete set of document imaging functionality for image input, image pre-processing, page analysis, recognition, and exporting. The new version adds significant enhancements over the previous version, including:

-- Improved recognition accuracy -- Fine Reader 6.0 Engine includes ABBYY's newly developed Intelligent Background Filtering technology. This innovative system employs new algorithms to filter background noise and texture and reduces the number of word errors on low-contrast, color and degraded documents by up to 35%.

-- Extended language support of multilingual documents -- ABBYY FineReader 6.0 recognizes multilingual documents with unsurpassed accuracy. In addition, version 6.0 supports 177 languages -- more languages than any other OCR toolkit. These are unique and powerful advantages for developers with global market products.

-- Improved layout retention -- FineReader 6.0 Engine offers a host of new page synthesis capabilities for increased accuracy, including improved format retention of non-rectangular pictures, multi-column pictures and wrap-around text; better retention of letter spacing and line length; retention of bulleted and numbered lists; and retention of text alignment within table cells.

-- Extended export options -- FineReader Engine features a new mode of saving in PDF: image only. This extends the product's PDF output abilities to now include all popular saving options. Also, the product includes foreign language Type 1 fonts that enable the export of multilingual PDF documents without the need to install additional fonts.

For a full description of FineReader 6.0 Engine, go to: www.abbyy.com/developer_toolkits.

Pricing and Availability

FineReader 6.0 Engine is now available. ABBYY offers flexible pricing options that allow developers to select the type of licensing model that is best suited to their product and sales strategy. A free trial version is also available. For additional product information visit the company's website at www.abbyyusa.com or contact the company at 510/226-6717.

About ABBYY USA

ABBYY USA is a member of the ABBYY Software House Group, a world leader in document recognition and linguistic technologies. ABBYY specializes in the development of software for optical character recognition (OCR), intelligent character recognition (ICR), linguistics, semantics, and electronic lexicography. Leading products from ABBYY include the FineReader line of OCR, ICR and barcode recognition software, and FineReader development tools. Companies that license ABBYY OCR/ICR technologies include Acer, AISoft, BancTec, C-Technologies, Cardiff, Cobra Technologies, Hewlett-Packard, Freedom Scientific, Kurzweil, Lexmark, Microtek, Mustek, NewSoft, Notable Solutions, Legato Systems, Panasonic, Samsung Electronics, Siemens Nixdorf, Sumitomo Electric Systems, Toshiba, and UMAX. For more information about ABBYY, visit: www.abbbyyusa.com or contact ABBYY USA, 46560 Fremont Blvd, Suite 105, Fremont, CA 94538. Phone: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. E-mail: [e-mail].

Note to Editors: ABBYY and FineReader names and logos are registered trademarks of ABBYY Software House. Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby recognized.