New Autodesk Vault Delivers Exceptional Value at No Additional Cost to Autodesk Inventor Series and Autodesk Inventor Professional Subscription Customers

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bringing substantial value to its Autodesk Inventor(R) Series and Autodesk Inventor(R) Professional subscription customers, Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK), the world's leading design software and digital content company, today announced a new release of Autodesk(R) Vault. The latest version of Autodesk Vault extends the customers' data management capabilities with new functionality that delivers the ability to create, manage, and share product designs more easily than ever before.

Wipaire (www.wipaire.com) of South St. Paul, Minnesota, manufacturers aircraft floats, skis, and other aircraft parts. They selected Autodesk Inventor Series with built-in Autodesk Vault over more complex and costly product offerings from SolidWorks, PTC, and UGS. "I did not have to take any help from an IT team or engage in big deployment planning. I was able to simply install it across the Engineering Department myself," said Charles Wiplinger, chief engineer at Wipaire. "Now the entire Engineering Department is using it on a daily basis for our critical projects. It has been phenomenal in helping us with design organization, security, and accuracy. Autodesk Vault is exactly what we needed."

Autodesk Vault - A Practical Approach to Data Management

Autodesk Vault helps customers securely manage engineering data, minimize version control errors, and increase design reuse because the data management capabilities are built right into the CAD solution. This approach dramatically improves engineering productivity and accelerates development cycles by synchronizing the efforts of individual designers, across the workgroup and throughout the value chain. Further, Autodesk Vault eliminates complex deployments because it is simple to install, minimizing the need for costly IT engagements.

"With this release we are responding to feedback from our customers to take a practical approach to data management because that is what they need to do. As a result, we have responded by enhancing the capabilities of Autodesk Vault with new features and functionality that can be implemented quickly and easily today," said Robert Kross, vice president of the Manufacturing Solutions Division at Autodesk.

New features such as cross highlighting and drag and drop help customers maximize their Autodesk Inventor use and to associate their various CAD and non-CAD design data together in one place. Users can better manage data once it is in the Autodesk Vault and use the Autodesk Vault for larger teams through the assignment of global roles and permissions, and support for non- uniquely named files. Additionally, Autodesk has delivered new features to simplify the process of sharing designs from the Autodesk Vault using automated DWF(TM) publishing and upload to the Autodesk Streamline(R) collaboration service, allowing users to share their designs instantly with suppliers and partners around the world. Autodesk Streamline enables customers to integrate their suppliers and partners into their extended design teams, and provides online project collaboration, visibility, and control.

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 to help customers innovate, increase productivity, simplify processes, improve product quality, decrease costs, accelerate time to market, and transition easily from 2D to 3D design when it is required. Unlike other offerings on the market today, these solutions are easy to 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 Autodesk Inventor Series, the #1 best-selling 3D mechanical design software, and Autodesk Inventor Professional-both with Autodesk Vault functionality built in; AutoCAD(R) Mechanical and AutoCAD(R) Electrical software; 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.

The easiest way to keep Autodesk design tools up-to-date is through the Autodesk(R) Subscription Program including Support services. For an annual fee, the program provides the latest versions of licensed Autodesk software, offering a budget-conscious way to stay current with the latest technology. 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. Customers can also access Autodesk Consulting and Training services to maximize the value of their investment in Autodesk technology. 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 DWF 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.

SOURCE: Autodesk, Inc. 02/19/2004

CONTACT: Sarah Singleton of Fleishman Hillard, +1-415-318-4160, or singlets@fleishman.com, for Autodesk

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