Asia's Largest Air Compressor and Automotive Service Station Equipment Manufacturer Achieves Rapid ROI, Competitive Advantage with Autodesk Software

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Jan. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK), the world's leading design software and digital content company, today announced that Elgi Equipments Limited, a global market leader and Asia's largest manufacturer of air compressors and automotive service station equipment, reported shortening drawing creation speed by as much as 30 percent by using Autodesk Inventor(R) Series software. Additionally, the design team created 3D models and animations, enabling it to detect flaws earlier, thereby reducing their cost of prototypes by 15 percent. Elgi was also able to decrease its overall design process time by as much as 15 percent, in addition to enabling a significantly faster assembly process.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000518/SFTH083LOGO )

Elgi achieved these results in product development after upgrading from Autodesk(R) Mechanical Desktop(R) software to Autodesk Inventor(R), the cornerstone of the Autodesk Inventor Series, the world's best selling 3D mechanical design software. Autodesk Inventor Series is the only product to combine best-in-class 2D and 3D design in one solution with AutoCAD(R) Mechanical, Autodesk Mechanical Desktop, and Autodesk Inventor software. Elgi is now using Autodesk Inventor as its primary design tool in its product design process.

"Our investment in Autodesk Inventor Series is just the beginning. We want to emerge technologically stronger and this investment is aimed at creating a strong foundation," said Jairam Varadaraj, managing director, Elgi Equipments Limited. "We are not keen on spending huge sums on market development. We would rather invest in technology where we can achieve a faster return on investment and greater competitive advantages."

"Autodesk Inventor Series helps companies realistically create accurate 3D models and detect errors early to eliminate the need for many costly prototypes, thereby dramatically accelerating the product development cycle," said Robert Kross, vice president of the Manufacturing Solutions Division at Autodesk.

Autodesk Manufacturing's Design and Data Management Solutions

As part of its strategy to help customers create, manage, and share their digital design data and solve critical business challenges, the Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions Division offers companies the most comprehensive portfolio of integrated 2D and 3D design and data management solutions, critical tools that help customers innovate, increase productivity, simplify processes, improve product quality, and accelerate time to market for less cost. Unlike other offerings on the market today, Autodesk's design and data management solutions are easy to buy, deploy, and use, and provide significant process improvements and rapid results without the complex, costly installations of large-scale product lifecycle management systems. Autodesk's manufacturing solutions include AutoCAD(R), AutoCAD Mechanical and AutoCAD(R) Electrical software, Autodesk Inventor Professional and Autodesk Inventor Series 3D mechanical design packages that are integrated with new Autodesk(R) Vault functionality, and the Autodesk Streamline(R) collaboration service. In addition, customers can take advantage of widely available third-party applications purpose-built for Autodesk software and they can utilize Autodesk Professional Services to garner greater value from their software.

For an annual fee, Autodesk(R) Subscription customers benefit from a complete technology, training, and support program that protects their software investments by providing them with the most current design technology, web support direct from Autodesk, flexible self-paced training options, and a broad range of other technology and business benefits. For products like Autodesk Inventor Series and Professional, the program provides a timely cycle of new releases with rich new content as soon as it becomes available. For more information about Autodesk Subscription, visit www.autodesk.com/subscription .

About Autodesk

Autodesk is the world's leading design software and digital content company, offering customers progressive business solutions through powerful technology products and services. Autodesk helps customers in the building, manufacturing, infrastructure, digital media, and wireless data services fields increase the value of their digital design data and improve efficiencies across their entire project lifecycle management processes. For more information about the company, see www.autodesk.com .

NOTE: Autodesk, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Streamline, and Mechanical Desktop, are registered 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: Amal Nichols, US, +1-925-736-2433, or amal@sbcglobal.net, or Tarana Uthayya, India, +91-080-2998892, or Tarana@2020india.com, both for Autodesk, Inc.

SOURCE Autodesk, Inc. -0- 01/14/2004 /CONTACT: Amal Nichols, US, +1-925-736-2433, or amal@sbcglobal.net, or Tarana Uthayya, India, +91-080-2998892, or Tarana@2020india.com, both for Autodesk, Inc./ /Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000518/SFTH083LOGO AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org PRN Photo Desk, +1-888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840/ /Web site: http://www.autodesk.com / (ADSK) 9972 01/14/2004 08:01 EST http://www.prnewswire.com