SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 3, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Atlanta-Based Restaurant Chain Standardizes on Autodesk Buzzsaw to Streamline Communication Among Regional Construction Teams and Printing Services

Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADSK), the world's leading design and digital content creation company, today announced that Chick-fil-A, the nation's third-largest, quick-service chicken restaurant chain, has adopted the Autodesk Buzzsaw collaboration service to support its strategic expansion initiative. In 2002, Chick-fil-A anticipates opening as many as 77 new locations, including 56 freestanding restaurants. The Autodesk Buzzsaw online project collaboration system will facilitate communication between Chick-fil-A's multiple architect partners and general contractors, improve project control, and provide for more efficient document management.

After many years of steady growth in the Southeast and Sunbelt regions of the United States, Chick-fil-A has embarked on an ambitious growth strategy to expand its brand into new markets in the Central Atlantic region, the Midwest, the Northeast, and Southern California. The company works with six architecture firms, each one responsible for a specific geographic area. Autodesk Buzzsaw will enable Chick-fil-A to immediately share drawings and construction documents among all of these building partners, as well as the regional general contractors with which it works.

"With our nationwide expansion strategy, we will be building many more Chick-fil-A restaurants than we currently complete per year. This faster pace makes it essential that we implement a more efficient, more cost-effective construction process," said Trent Gilley, project design supervisor at Chick-fil-A. "Using Autodesk Buzzsaw building collaboration technology, we can share drawings with our regional architecture firms just seconds after they are revised or updated -- there's no delay or expense from shipping. Every time we use Autodesk's collaboration services instead of traditional delivery services we save a whole day in project time."

Before selecting Autodesk Buzzsaw, Chick-fil-A considered a variety of other collaboration systems and technology options. Chick-fil-A was in the process of pricing custom software when Gilley attended a demonstration of Autodesk online collaboration technology at a construction industry conference in Atlanta. "We chose the Autodesk Buzzsaw service because it was proven in the field and it had the backing of Autodesk," said Gilley.

"Chick-fil-A is realizing the kind of stellar results in terms of cost and time savings that more than 600 Autodesk Buzzsaw customers have experienced over the last three years," said Chris Bradshaw, vice president, Autodesk Building Collaboration Services. "Buzzsaw provides superior collaboration capabilities that will enable Chick-fil-A's geographically dispersed project teams to make decisions faster than ever. We are heartened that Autodesk technology is helping Chick-fil-A to achieve its goals of increased unit production over the next ten years."

    About Chick-fil-A

Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, currently with more than 1,020 restaurants in 34 states and Washington, D.C., is the country's third-largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in sales. Chick-fil-A serves nutritious food products in malls, freestanding units, drive-thru-only outlets, Chick-fil-A Dwarf House(R) and Truett's Grill(R) full-service restaurants, and through licensed outlets in college campuses, hospitals, airports, businesses, and industrial sites. Additional information about Chick-fil-A is available on the chain's website, located at www.chick-fil-a.com.

    Autodesk Buzzsaw for Building Management

Powered by proprietary Autodesk ProjectPoint technology, Buzzsaw is an online project collaboration service that connects building project team members and helps them communicate by storing and sharing information in one, secure location. This enables owners, developers, architects, and engineers to save time and increase profitability throughout the entire design, construction, and building management process. In an effort to support international companies, a local language version was recently introduced in Japan.

Customers that currently use the Autodesk Buzzsaw service include Degenkolb Engineers; Ellerbe Becket; Hellmuth Obata & Kassabaum (HOK), Inc.; Lockwood Greene; LPA, Inc.; Maeda Corporation; Montgomery Watson; PlayaTec; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM); Takenaka Corporation; The Walt Disney Company; Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo; and Zaha Hadid. These customers use Autodesk Buzzsaw for managing midsize and large projects ranging from mixed-use high rises to resorts.

    About Autodesk

Founded in 1982, Autodesk, Inc., is the world's leading design and digital media creation, management, and distribution company. The company serves a diverse portfolio of markets, including building design, geographic information systems, manufacturing, digital media, and wireless data services. By delivering tools that foster innovation and creativity, Autodesk helps customers throughout the value chain leverage digital design data to work better, faster, and smarter. For more information about the company, see www.autodesk.com. For information about the Autodesk Buzzsaw service, visit the product site at www.autodesk.com/collaborate.

Autodesk, Buzzsaw, and ProjectPoint are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

CONTACT:          Autodesk, Inc.
                  Gabrielle Friedly, 415/356-0741
                  gabrielle.friedly@autodesk.com

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