OIT Positions for Growth through Financial Agreement with South Carolina BlueCross Subsidiary

State College, Pa. – Companion Capital Management Inc., a BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina subsidiary, has acquired Optical Image Technology Inc. (OIT), the company that developed the DocFinity® suite of document management software used in a variety of industries.

Headquartered in State College, Pa., OIT is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Companion Capital Management. OIT will remain separate under their existing management and employees will continue to do business from their location in State College.

Established in 1986, the company developed a suite of DocFinity products that electronically capture, store and index organizations’ paper-based documents and files. Currently the company has hundreds of thousands of concurrent users, allowing millions of people in the public and private sectors to access information, using the software to meet their individualized business needs. Customers include Fortune 500 companies, Big Ten universities, and organizations in major industries such as insurance, manufacturing, retail, transportation, education, financial services, government and healthcare. Its products have won numerous awards during the past ten years.

“BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina is known for its technology outsourcing to the healthcare industry through its cimrONE System and other subsidiaries and we’re pleased to be part of its group of companies,” said Scott Buchart, OIT president and CEO. “Having the backing of a company that has the highest financial rating in its industry, combined with their truly amazing IT team, will help us perform even better in our field. OIT intends to leverage the financial power and business guidance of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina to take OIT and its current and future customers to a whole new level of automation.”

“We are happy to welcome OIT to our group of companies. OIT is a company that will continue to compete successfully with major companies in a global arena. Its customer base will continue to expand at a high growth rate as more and more organizations, large and small, get into automatic workflow and document imaging technology,” said Mike Mizeur, president of Companion Capital Management. “Furthermore, the OIT technology will increase BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina’s capabilities to efficiently serve all of our customers.”

A.M. Best Co. rates BlueCross’ financial strength at A+ (Superior). BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Companion Capital Management is the subsidiary responsible for mergers and acquisitions and strategic investment activity for BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.

About Optical Image Technology, Inc.

Since 1986, OIT has been developing award-winning integrated document management solutions. OIT’s DocFinity Suite of document management software has gained prominent industry recognition by organizations such as AIIM International, Doculabs, Kinetic Information and Transform Magazine.

OIT serves customers throughout the world and across all major industries, including insurance, education, financial services, government, healthcare and more. By dynamically coordinating and managing the transfer of content with its document management software, the DocFinity Suite of products, OIT enables organizations to realize increased profitability, improved productivity and enhanced customer satisfaction by empowering them with enterprise-wide business processes.

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Media Contacts:
Jill Filby, Optical Image Technology, Inc., 814-238-0038 ext. 236
Elizabeth Hammond, BlueCross Blue Shield of South Carolina, 803-264-4626

Release Date: July 21, 2005