Artesyn Technologies Acquires Spider Software, Ltd.; Enhances Artesyn's Leadership Position in the Communications Sector.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 27, 2000

Artesyn Technologies (Nasdaq:ATSN) today announced that it has acquired privately owned Spider Software Ltd., a leading supplier of embedded telecommunications and networking software to the communications marketplace.

Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Spider Software Ltd. is one of the world's leading developers of enabling telecommunications and networking software solutions. Spider's products are used to facilitate communication across and between telecommunications and datacommunications networks, computers and wireless and fixed wire telecommunications devices, (i.e. phones, pagers, routers, Internet servers, telephone exchanges). Its software portfolio includes Frame Relay; SS7; PPP; ISDN; TCP/IP; X.25; and High Availability protocol solutions. Spider licenses its software to OEM customers world-wide, including Motorola, Lucent, Nortel, Ericsson, IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Sun Microsystems.

The all cash acquisition, which will be accounted for as a purchase transaction, includes fixed payments of approximately $33 million and contingent earn out payments through 2003 valued at approximately $11 million. The transaction is expected to be slightly accretive to Artesyn's earnings per share excluding amortization of goodwill in 2000.

Spider Software, which employs 50 people, expects to generate $5 million in revenues for the remaining nine months of 2000. Combined software revenues for Spider Software and Artesyn Communication Products are expected to exceed $12 million in 2001.

"This acquisition has important strategic implications for Artesyn and forms an integral part of our ability to successfully address the highest growth markets of the communications sector, primarily wireless and internet infrastructure," stated Joseph M. O'Donnell, President and CEO. "Artesyn has established a leading position within the communications sector by providing its customers with the solutions to their hardware needs. However, an important part of our customers' networks is the protocol that allows the hardware to interface with the rest of the network. Driven by the rapid growth of the Internet and the demand for high-speed voice, video and data communications, our customers are investing heavily in their communications networks and demanding bundled software/hardware solutions to speed the build-out of their networks. In order to meet their needs and enhance our own revenue growth, we found a partner as focused on providing quality communication products as we are."

Mr. O'Donnell continued, "Spider is not a new name to Artesyn or its customers. They are a leader in providing critical software to the communications industry and we have been partnering with them for over 3 years. This transaction formalizes an already strong relationship and allows us to more efficiently address our customer's demands in the rapidly growing market for integrated communication interfaces and protocol subsystems for the communications market. By vertically integrating and providing the software protocol that is critical to connecting our customers networks along with the equipment interface, we can significantly accelerate their time to market and help ensure they are able meet the ever increasing demands of their own customers."

Robert Aebli, President of Artesyn Communication Product division, commented, "We have worked closely with Spider in the past to provide our OEM customers with an integrated solution to their networked communications needs. Artesyn Communication Products provides the core communications technology and building blocks for today's converging telecommunications networks. Our product lines include communication interfaces, CPU boards, and hardware/software subsystems and are employed in a wide range of worldwide telecom and datacom networks, such as gateway/routers, switching, call processing, and wireless communications infrastructure. In today's fast growing communications market, customers are outsourcing more and more of their network needs and expecting higher levels of integration. By combining Spider's protocols with our hardware, we provide a completely integrated solution to the customer, giving us a significant competitive advantage in one of the highest growth segments of the market."

Dave Noble, CEO of Spider Software, who is expected to stay on with the company, stated, "We have experienced significant growth over the last few years. Our products are used in fault tolerant and high availability communications networks and many mission critical applications for civil and military end users. This combination provides Spider with access to the significant capital resources and R&D expertise at Artesyn that will allow us to expand our product offerings and accelerate the development of new protocols driving Internet and wireless applications today."

Artesyn Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., is a leading provider of power conversion equipment, real-time systems and logistics management for the communications industry. For more information about Artesyn Technologies and its products, please visit the Company's web site at http://www.artesyn.com.

Spider Software Ltd. is located in Edinburgh, Scotland and is one of the world's leading suppliers of telecommunications and networking protocol software for OEMs. Spider's products bridge the gap and promote interoperability between LAN/WAN and voice/data products. For more information about Spider and its products, please visit the company's website at http://www.spider.com.

This release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve certain risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. Readers are referred to the documents filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the most recent reports on Form S-4 and Forms 10-K and 10-Q, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, integration of operations and technology, market acceptance of existing and new products, dependence on and volatility of foreign sales, the potential for fluctuations in operating results, and the volatility of the trading price of the Company's stock.