Scan-Optics Announces Major Services Contract

Access Services Will Provide Field Service and Support to Buhrs Americas

Manchester, CT -- September 26, 2002 -- Scan-Optics, Inc., (OTC BB: SOCR) a leader in information capture customer service solutions for government, insurance order entry, proxy, health claims, test scoring and other paper-intensive businesses, today announced that Access Services, the field service division of Scan-Optics, has signed a significant service agreement with Buhrs Americas to provide on-site service in the field for the companies equipment.

The agreement specifies that Access Services will provide on-site field service and support to Buhrs Americas, Inc., the North American sales and service division of The Buhrs Group, for their product lines of high performance envelope inserting systems and high-speed poly and paper wrapping systems in the United States.

The Buhrs Group is an international group of companies engaged in development, manufacturing, sales and service of mailing and fulfillment solutions. These solutions are capable of preparing a wide variety of media for distribution such as magazines, newspapers, computer output, direct mailing products, books, videos, CDs, CD-ROMs and credit cards.

Buhrs is a global market leader, with its products installed in leading postal organizations, publishers, printers, mailing houses, letter shops, banks, insurance companies, press wholesalers, fulfillment centers and many other top-ranking companies. Buhrs has an installed base of more than 3,500 systems all over the world with about four new installations every week. Approximately 150 of these systems are installed in the United States. Buhrs systems are manufactured in the Netherlands, Germany and Norway and sold their through own sales and service companies in the United States of America, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Malaysia, China and Japan. In other countries Buhrs sells through industry qualified third-party distributors.

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Buhrs Americas
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Access Services is the field services division of Scan-Optics, Inc. Access Services primary goal is to ensure maximum equipment availability to customers through a Total Satisfaction" approach to equipment maintenance and repair. The field services organization consists of highly trained service representatives operating from field locations nationwide. These service representatives, supported by an extensive network of technical and administrative personnel, and backed by a multi-million dollar inventory, embody Scan-Optics commitment to providing full product support and total satisfaction to customers.

Chuck Rife, Vice President of the Access Services Division of Scan-Optics, stated, We are very pleased that Buhrs Americas selected Access Services to provide their customers with additional on-site product support. Buhrs Americas equipment is an excellent fit with the skills of our nationwide field service staff. Our technicians have extensive experience in maintaining complex electro-mechanical products used in business-critical applications. We wish to welcome Buhrs Americas to our growing number of field service partners and look forward to providing their customers with the highest level of on-site service support."

Scan-Optics, Inc., with headquarters in Manchester, Connecticut, is recognized internationally as an innovator and solution provider in the information management and imaging business. It designs, manufactures and services products and systems for character recognition, image processing and display, data capture, data entry, and storage and retrieval. Scan-Optics systems and software are marketed worldwide to commercial and government customers directly and through distributors. Through its Manufacturing Services Division, Scan-Optics also provides contract manufacturing services to customers, outsourcing the manufacturing of complex, electro-mechanical assemblies. The Company has sales and service offices located throughout the United States and abroad. Additional information is available at www.scanoptics.com.

Statements about the Companys future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are forward-looking statements" made under safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could materially affect future results. Among these risk factors are changes in general economic and business conditions in the United States and foreign markets, which impact capital investments by customers, the cyclical nature of funding within federal and state government agencies, further adverse changes in the Companys banking relationship, insufficient cash resources, increased competition from similar products, the implementation of other technologies which may provide alternative solutions, ability to complete projects in a timely manner, and other risk factors and cautionary statements listed from time to time in the Companys periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001.

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