Armstrong Kendall, Inc. Enters its Fourth Year with Expanded Headquarters, New Silicon Valley Office, and New Clients.

Business Editors

BEAVERTON, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 16, 2001

PR Agency Targets $900 Billion Electronics Supply Chain Market

Armstrong Kendall, Inc.(TM) (AKI), a leading public relations agency serving companies in the global electronics supply chain, begins its fourth year of business with expansion and new clients.

"Armstrong Kendall serves electronics companies and their vendor-partners with expertise in strategic and tactical PR, strong media and analyst relationships, a deep knowledge of electronics, and a stellar team of professionals," said Jean Armstrong, principal and co-founder of AKI. "The agency's revenues have grown by more than 50 percent each year since we incorporated in mid-1998, and we see strong growth continuing in 2001."

Expansion of Beaverton Headquarters and New Silicon Valley Office

The agency is undertaking the third expansion of its Beaverton headquarters, increasing its office by one-third to 4,000 square feet. According to Abbie Kendall, principal and co-founder of AKI, "We are very pleased with the quality of talent we can hire in the Portland area, and see the potential for more business from local companies."

In addition to the headquarters expansion, the agency has opened an office in downtown San Jose, Calif., at 111 West St. John Street. "We see most of our future growth coming from the Silicon Valley, and we're excited to have a presence there at the center of electronics innovation. We are actively recruiting for a managing director to lead our business in the Silicon Valley," Kendall said.

New Clients

Armstrong Kendall welcomes Forte Design Systems, Inc. (www.forteds.com), Penton Media (www.penton.com), and sweetciruits.com (www.sweetcircuits.com) to its family of clients.

"As an emerging, leading provider of software for the design of silicon chips, Forte Design Systems needed an agency that understood the merger and acquisition process, and one we could effectively collaborate with to launch our new company and its products," said Brett Cline, director of marketing at Forte. "Based on this, Armstrong Kendall was Forte's clear choice for its public relations agency."

According to Cheryl Ajluni, editor-in-chief of Wireless Systems Design and chair of Penton's new EDA: Front-to-Back conference and exhibition, "We chose AKI as our PR agency because of its unmatched knowledge of the engineers and media in the electronics design market. And, AKI acts as a strategic partner, not just a PR vendor, and that was important to us."

Last December, Cadence Design Systems, Inc., the largest supplier of electronic design automation products and services, chose Armstrong Kendall as its agency of record. "Armstrong Kendall had established a solid reputation with influencers in the electronics industry," said Kevin Kimball, vice president of corporate marketing at Cadence. "When we decided to consolidate our PR efforts with one agency, we looked at AKI, which is well established in the electronics design space. Based on that positioning and its reputation, it was an easy decision to hire AKI to support Cadence's internal public relations team."

About Armstrong Kendall, Inc.

Armstrong Kendall, Inc. provides public relations counsel and services to fast-growing technology companies in the global electronics supply chain. Its clients include Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN), CMP Media, Forte Design Systems, Inc., Micro Industries Corporation, Penton Media, and sweetcircuits.com. AKI also produces the annual EDA Business Forum(TM) at the Design Automation Conference, and co-sponsors the Portland Capital Markets Dinner. Call 503/643-7663 or visit www.akipr.com for more information.

Armstrong Kendall and EDA Business Forum are trademarks of Armstrong Kendall, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Note to Editors: Photos of Abbie Kendall and Jean Armstrong are available at www.akipr.com.