Business Editors & High Tech Writers

STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 2, 2001

ReadSoft has closed a strategic agreement with SPSS MR (Market Research), a division of the US based software company SPSS Inc. SPSS MR will integrate and resell Eyes & Hands FORMS, ReadSoft's product for automatic data capture. The agreement is initially worth 200 000 USD.

SPSS MR offers a broad variety of market research solutions to customers on a global market. When setting up a model for a market survey with SPSS MR, ReadSoft's Eyes & Hands FORMS will automatically be put into work to capture, interpret and verify the scanned information on paper forms. The global agreement makes Eyes & Hands FORMS a fully integrated part of the SPSS MR portfolio.

"The market research industry was an early adopter of automatic data capture technology and is one of our largest segments. The agreement with SPSS MR will further improve our penetration of the market research segment. SPSS MR has a considerable share of the global market and has previously worked with competitors of ours," says Jan Andersson, MD of ReadSoft.

Ian Durrell, MD of SPSS MR, comments the agreement: "We are excited about the agreement with ReadSoft. Our new Dimensions range of data collection products has been built to interface seamlessly with ReadSoft software. We believe we can add substantially to the number of users of ReadSoft software through the integration of our two products."

SPSS MR analyzes data within, for instance, telecommunications, healthcare, banking and insurance. ReadSoft's Eyes & Hands FORMS is specialized in capturing and interpreting data on forms and is therefore well suited for the market research segment. Eyes & Hands FORMS is already an integrated part in market research projects run by companies such as GFK and Infratest Burke.

SPSS Inc has more than 900 employees in over 40 offices globally. In 2000 revenues amounted to $140 MUSD.

ReadSoft is the market leader in the development and sales of software for automatic data capture, which is software that automatically registers and interprets data on forms and invoices in paper or electronic format. Since its establishment in 1991,ReadSoft has evolved into a global corporation with twelve subsidiaries in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, The UK, The US, Chile, Brazil and Australia. The annual growth, for the last five years, has been approximately 70%. In 2000 the turnover was 31 MUSD. In May the Swedish business magazine Veckans Affarer awarded ReadSoft the title "IT-Company of the year 2001".

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