SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Mar 25, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Four Global Partners Developed Applications that are Immediately Available: COADE, Inc., ARCHIBUS, Inc., CYCO Software, and VIA Development Corporation

Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADSK), the world's leading design software and digital content company, today announced that more than 30 authorized partners have released or will soon be releasing 50 highly customized software applications that run on the AutoCAD 2004 foundation. These industry-leading AutoCAD 2004 add-on applications meet the specialized needs of customers in a number of markets, enabling customers worldwide to design with greater speed and efficiency.

"In record time, our software development partners have taken the impressive performance and new features of AutoCAD 2004, and contributed to them to deliver major advancements in the specialized solutions they deliver to our joint customers," said John Sanders, vice president, Platform Technology Division of Autodesk. "Together with our partners we are improving the design process by making it easier and faster than ever before."

Hundreds of thousands of Autodesk's five million customers use add-on software with their Autodesk(R) products, according to an Autodesk 2002 International Customer Survey. To ensure that applications built on the new AutoCAD 2004 platform were available to customers without lag, software development partners from around the world worked hand-in-hand with Autodesk to distribute their applications within one month of the AutoCAD 2004 shipping date. These add-on applications were released simultaneously with AutoCAD 2004 on March 17. COADE shipped its flagship suite of applications, CADWorx, for the specialized design needs of the chemical, power, utility, food, and pharmaceutical industries; ARCHIBUS, Inc. shipped ARCHIBUS/FM for infrastructure and facilities management; CYCO Software shipped AutoManager Meridian for the engineering document management; and VIA Development Corporation developed VIA WD for electrical design, which will become a part of the Autodesk solution set in the coming weeks.

Thomas Van Laan, president of COADE, believes that the improvements offered in AutoCAD 2004 are exactly the features his customers in the plant design industry have been asking for. "Our customers will love this new version of AutoCAD, as they are always concerned with speed, size, and how to manage it," said Van Laan. "For example, we've found that a 22 megabyte project created under our flagship application -- CADWorx -- is reduced to less than six megabytes on AutoCAD 2004 -- a project file size reduction of more than 70 percent."

The second wave of AutoCAD 2004-based applications are scheduled to be introduced by the following Autodesk software development partners within the next few weeks:

AC Plant                                                Austria
ACERI S.A.                                              Spain
Alphatech                                               Japan
C.A.D ltd.                                              Japan
Cadpoint AB                                             Sweden
Chuden Computer Service Co.,LTD                         Japan
COSPEC INFORMATION CO., LTD                             Korea
Digital Dream Research Software                         Korea
Eagle Point                                             USA
ECT                                                     USA
EDS-PLM                                                 USA
Elektro-CAE-Software GmbH                               Germany
EMT Software/CADalog.com                                USA
Facility Information Systems                            USA
Imao                                                    Japan
IT Frontier                                             Japan
KIWI Software GmbH                                      Germany
Korea CIM, Ltd.                                         Korea
Kozo Keikaku Engineering (KKE)                          Japan
Kubota                                                  Japan
Linetek System Co., Ltd.                                Korea
Mensch und Maschine Software AG                         Germany
Mighty Net                                              Japan
Nichizo Ariake Design                                   Japan
Peopleware Co., Ltd                                     Korea
Robert McNeel & Associates                              USA
Salesoft CAD Solutions                                  New Zealand
SOFiSTiK AG                                             Germany
SRD                                                     Japan
Sumitem                                                 Japan
Toyobo Engineering                                      Japan
Trion                                                   Japan
ViaNova IT AS                                           Norway
Wacom Technology                                        Japan

In addition to these Autodesk software partners, hundreds of other software developers are developing and releasing products that are compatible with and take advantage of the speed, collaboration, and management enhancements in AutoCAD 2004 software. There are already more than 300 add-on applications available for AutoCAD 2004. For a current list of AutoCAD 2004-compatible applications see http://www.autodesk.com/partnerproducts.

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.

Autodesk and AutoCAD are registered 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:          Autodesk
                  Dawn Holstein, 415/507-6554
                  dawn.holstein@autodesk.com

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