SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Oct 20, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK), the world's leading design software and digital content company, today introduced the latest version of the Autodesk(R) Buzzsaw(R) online project management and collaboration service. Buzzsaw 5 combines support for global design and construction teams with a host of new features and optional solution upgrades for specific building industry sectors. For building owners and developers, the advanced version called the Buzzsaw Professional service delivers greater return on investment throughout the lifecycle of a building by enhancing project visibility and control, and advancing collaboration within geographically dispersed design and build teams.

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Buzzsaw 5 - Support for Global Teams

As demand for online collaboration has grown in the European and Asian design and construction industries, the Autodesk Buzzsaw service has become increasingly popular for connecting teams all over the world. In fact, Buzzsaw has increased its international presence dramatically over last year, nearly doubling its customer base in the EMEA region and experiencing a nearly 500% surge in new customers in the APAC region. To better meet the needs of this growing customer base, Autodesk is making Buzzsaw 5 available in six languages: English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, German and Spanish. With the ability to collaborate and manage documents in their native languages, project team members will now be able to realize the full time- and cost-saving benefits of online collaboration. For international building owners and developers, the Buzzsaw 5 collaboration and project management service makes it possible to smoothly route and share documents and communications, as well as proactively manage project tasks and resources, across international borders and time zones.

The Hong Kong Science and Technology Park is the type of international construction project on which Buzzsaw 5 can deliver measurable gains in team efficiency and productivity. Scheduled for completion in 2006, Phase II of the HKSTP involves a large team of architects, engineers and contractors. "Buzzsaw has been the ideal collaboration platform for the Phase II development of the HKSTP because it has the capabilities to support the diversity of our design/build teams," said Mr. S.H. Pau, Vice President, Projects & Facilities Division, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation. "What we're creating with the HKSTP is an environment where leading-edge organizations and individuals can work together on creating technology project teams in areas such as electronics, biotechnology, precision engineering, and IT/telecommunications. Because this is essentially an international, multidisciplinary collaborative effort, the Buzzsaw service's native language capabilities and packaged templates will be a huge advantage."

Similarly, Amenagement, Recherche, Pole d'Echanges (AREP), a Paris-based architecture and engineering firm that specializes in the creation of transport-linked public spaces, anticipates that Buzzsaw 5 will help to smooth teamwork between its teams in Europe and Asia as it completes work on the Beijing Museum and the South Shanghai Railway Station. "Autodesk understands the business issues we're facing as a French firm doing business with partners and clients in Asia," said Frederic Lamu of AREP. "Buzzsaw enables us to efficiently communicate with our people on the ground in Beijing and Shanghai, without having to worry about time zones or many of the bandwidth concerns that can arise with local ISPs. Moreover, because our team members in China can now experience Buzzsaw in their native language, they are able to expand their use of the product beyond simple file sharing into areas such as bidding and document management where substantial productivity gains can be made. With the language barrier removed, team communication has improved overall, and we're realizing greater return on our Buzzsaw investment."

Solutions Tailored For Industry Sectors

With the release of the Buzzsaw 5 service, subscribers of Buzzsaw Professional will now have access to retail industry enhancements that include templates, forms and dashboards tailored to the retail building sector. The Buzzsaw retail solution helps builders simplify the management of multi-site retail projects and meet aggressive store opening deadlines.

Under current development plans, Autodesk plans to offer enhancements and solutions for additional industries including manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare and education to further reduce costs and improve efficiencies throughout the entire project lifecycle.

Greater User Benefits With Buzzsaw 5

With this new release, both Buzzsaw Professional-which is optimized for building owners and developers-and Buzzsaw Standard-which is optimized for architects and engineers-have been upgraded to provide greater ROI and time savings for team leaders and members. In addition to the new language capabilities and the tailored industry enhancements, both versions will help reduce workloads for project administrators through streamlined user group creation and management, and provide more extensive viewing and mark-up by supporting a wider range of file formats, including TIFF's, JPEG's, and Microstation DGN.

Autodesk continues to see evidence of the Buzzsaw service's popularity in the industry. Most recently it placed first among online project management and collaboration services for the AEC industry in a recent study conducted in March by ENR Technology and Zweig White. "For our diverse global customer base, greater flexibility and choice within their collaboration platforms are becoming essential. By delivering native language capabilities and advanced customization features in Buzzsaw 5, Autodesk continues to lead the way in online project management and collaboration services," said Amar Hanspal, senior director of Autodesk Collaboration Services. "We believe that with these latest enhancements to Buzzsaw we will continue to be one of the most popular collaboration offerings in the marketplace."

About Autodesk

Founded in 1982, Autodesk, Inc. is the world's leading design software and digital content company. Autodesk offers solutions for professionals in building design, geographic information systems, manufacturing, digital media, and wireless data services. By delivering progressive products and services, Autodesk helps customers create, manage, use and maximize the value of their digital data throughout the lifecycle of their projects. For more information about the company, see www.autodesk.com. For information about the Buzzsaw service, visit the product site at www.autodesk.com/buzzsaw.

NOTE: Autodesk and Buzzsaw 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.

Occasionally, Autodesk makes statements regarding planned or future development efforts for our existing or new products and services. These statements are not intended to be a promise or guarantee of future delivery products, services, or features but merely reflect our current plans, which may change. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect any change in circumstances, after the statements are made.

SOURCE Autodesk, Inc.

Gabrielle Friedly of Autodesk, Inc., +1-415-356-0741, or
gabrielle.friedly@autodesk.com
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