Monday June 12, 9:12 am Eastern Time
Hi All,

The rumor mill has been running full tilt on this one.  Here's the official
press release running on newswires as of this morning.

Kelly


Company Press Release
Freedom Scientific Acquires Arkenstone Reading Systems
CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 2000--Freedom Scientific, a
leader in assistive technology products for people with sensory impairments
and learning disabilities, has acquired the business operations and product
lines of Arkenstone, Inc., the leading maker of reading systems for people
who are blind or visually impaired.

Arkenstone, a non-profit organization located in Moffett Field, Calif., was
founded in 1989 by Jim Fruchterman, a Silicon Valley software entrepreneur
who started two successful software companies in the field of optical
character recognition (``OCR''). His goal in starting Arkenstone was to
bring the benefits of OCR technology to blind people by making affordable
reading systems. Arkenstone's flagship product, Open Book, is the world's
leading reading software for blind and visually impaired people, with over
25,000 users in 60 countries worldwide. When loaded into a personal
computer, connected to a scanner, Open Book uses the PC's sound card to
read aloud any scanned material, from books and newspapers to monthly
charge account statements. Arkenstone also makes WYNN, one of the leading
reading software packages for people with learning disabilities, and VERA,
a free standing reading machine designed for seniors and others who want an
easy to use scanning/reading appliance.

Freedom Scientific will be acquiring the Arkenstone product lines, as well
as its name, intellectual property, and business assets. The Arkenstone
engineering group, including Jim Fruchterman, will continue in California
as a nonprofit entity, to be re-named Benetech, and will develop new
adaptive technology products for people with disabilities. Fruchterman and
his Benetech group have also been engaged by Freedom to continue research
and development work on the purchased software product lines, including
future upgrades of each.

Freedom Scientific was recently formed through the merger of Henter-Joyce
and Blazie Engineering, two leading firms in the field of assistive
technology for people with visual impairments. Freedom was founded by
Richard Chandler, former CEO of Sunrise Medical, and was funded primarily
with venture capital investments from two leading private equity firms,
Patricof & Co. Ventures and Summit Partners. Freedom will integrate the
Arkenstone Open Book reading software product line into Henter-Joyce
operations in St. Petersburg, Fla. and the VERA reading machine into Blazie
operations in Stuart, Fla. The Arkenstone, Henter-Joyce and Blazie
businesses will all operate as part of the Freedom Scientific Blind/Low
Vision Group, headquartered in St. Petersburg. The WYNN product line will
remain in Northern California under the direction of Roberta G. Brosnahan,
Arkenstone's COO, who will become Freedom's vice president and general
manager for learning systems. Freedom intends to build on the WYNN learning
disability business with other technology acquisitions in the special
education field. Freedom Scientific's corporate headquarters are in
Carlsbad, California.

Commenting on his decision to merge with Henter-Joyce and Blazie and become
part of Freedom Scientific, Jim Fruchterman said, ``Ted Henter and Deane
Blazie welcomed me warmly to this industry in 1989. The opportunity to work
together now is a great opportunity for broadening our combined range of
products and better serving our customers. Dick Chandler brings experienced
management talent and access to the additional capital needed to accelerate
the growth of Arkenstone's products. I'm personally delighted that Benetech
will be able to use the proceeds from this sale to further our non-profit
objectives, extending our current product lines under the continuing
development relationship with Freedom and inventing new ones for people
with disabilities.''

Richard Chandler, Freedom Scientific CEO, said, ``Jim Fruchterman, a
leading expert in OCR technology, has been one of the pioneers in applying
high tech solutions to the challenges faced by people with visual
impairment. Merging the Arkenstone product lines he created with those from
Henter-Joyce and Blazie is a perfect strategic fit that will improve
efficiencies and service levels while extending our combined market reach.
We look forward to an ongoing relationship with Jim and the Benetech team
as their commercial partner, helping their future products to reach greater
numbers of disabled people.''

Freedom Scientific is a privately-owned company dedicated to becoming the
global market leader in the field of assistive technology. Freedom's
mission is to change the world for people with sensory and learning
disabilities by creating innovative, technology based products and solutions.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Contact:

      Freedom Scientific
      Steve Leese, 760/602-5232
      or
      Arkenstone
      Beth Thomlinson, 650/603-8880
      www.arkenstone.org
      or
      Henter-Joyce
      Sharon Spencer, 727/803-8000
      www.hj.com


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