SAN RAFAEL, Calif., March 15, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK) today announced that Autodesk Inventor(R) Series software has outsold all other 3D mechanical design applications for the fourth consecutive year. For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2005, the company exceeded the sales of its closest competitor by 25 percent. With Autodesk Inventor Series, the company brings the power of innovative 3D mechanical design software to the mainstream market, helping manufacturers realize their ideas to compete and win.

Autodesk Inventor customers consistently report significant improvements in design productivity and better collaboration among extended team members, which helps them bring products to market faster. With Autodesk(R) Vault's built-in data management capabilities, Autodesk Inventor enables designers to create, manage and share designs more easily, optimizing the company's investment in design data.

"As the world's largest provider of mechanical design software with millions of seats in service, Autodesk's success with 3D is having a significant impact on mainstream manufacturers as they begin to realize the overall productivity gains of 3D design," said Charles Foundyller, president and CEO of market research firm Daratech.

Marc Halpern, a research director at Gartner, Inc., added, "The market for 3D mechanical design software continues to grow as more companies realize the business benefits of designing in 3D. We expect the rate of 2D to 3D migration to increase as design software vendors make their offerings more appealing to the mainstream market."

Customers Benefit from Greater Efficiency in the Design Process

Using Autodesk Inventor Series, customers consistently improve the efficiency of the design process, while reducing overall costs.

Unverferth, a leading U.S.-based manufacturer of agriculture equipment, is using Autodesk Inventor to improve product development processes and stay competitive.

"Once we made the decision to enter a new market with our skid loader product, we knew we were going to need much more powerful design systems," says Mike Hilvers, design engineer and CAD manager for Unverferth. "Autodesk Inventor was the obvious choice because of its powerful 3D design capabilities and our history of mutual trust and success with Autodesk. Besides, only Autodesk could provide true upward compatibility for all our existing design data."

A Comprehensive Portfolio of Manufacturing Solutions

Delivering on its strategy to help customers create, manage and share their digital design data and solve critical business challenges, Autodesk offers the most comprehensive portfolio of integrated 2D and 3D design and data management solutions available -- helping customers design better quality products, accelerate time to market, and achieve maximum project visibility and collaboration. Unlike other offerings on the market today, these solutions are easy to deploy and use, help companies transition from 2D to 3D design at their own pace, and help them leverage their design data throughout the manufacturing process.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. is wholly focused on ensuring that great ideas are turned into reality. With six million users, Autodesk is the world's leading software and services company for the building, manufacturing, infrastructure, digital media, and wireless data services fields. Autodesk's solutions help customers create, manage and share their data and digital assets more effectively. As a result, customers turn ideas into competitive advantage by becoming more productive, streamlining project efficiency, and maximizing profits.

Founded in 1982, Autodesk is headquartered in San Rafael, California. For additional information about Autodesk, please visit www.autodesk.com.

NOTE: Autodesk, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Streamline, DWF, and Productstream are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Contact: Tania Kempf, 415-547-2429

Email: tania.kempf@autodesk.com

SOURCE Autodesk, Inc.

Tania Kempf of Autodesk, Inc., +1-415-547-2429, or tania.kempf@autodesk.com