The company behind the popular Dragon speech recognition software has broadened its document management portfolio with the $US54M acquisition of eCopy.

Nuance Communications says its own multifunction printer (MFP) desktop software fits well with eCopy's server offerings to deliver a broadened network scanning solutions.

eCopy's network scanning solutions are offered by leading MFP vendors - including Canon, HP, Konica Minolta, Oce, Ricoh, Toshiba and Xerox.

eCopy's solutions support document connectivity to more than 100 enterprise applications, such as SharePoint, EMC Documentum, Oracle and SAP.

"Nuance and eCopy share a vision of connecting MFP devices to a wide range of applications in an easy and productive way," said Robert Weideman, general manager and senior vice president of the Nuance Document Imaging Division.

"eCopy has earned a strong reputation for quality and innovation, and its team is respected for providing high levels of customer and partner service. We look forward to welcoming eCopy to the Nuance organisation."

The combined company will tackle the market for scanning software to support intelligent MFP devices and efficient document workflows.