CVC and Commonwealth Scientific Announce Merger.

ROCHESTER, N.Y./ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 6, 1999-- CVC Inc. (CVC), a worldwide supplier of deposition equipment for the fabrication of thin film recording heads for the data storage industry and semiconductor integrated circuits and Commonwealth Scientific Corporation (CSC), a worldwide supplier of advanced ion beam processing equipment and technology, today announced that they have signed a definitive merger agreement.

The combined organization is expected to have annual sales exceeding $100M. CVC currently has an installed base of over 350 process modules on more than 90 CONNEXION(R) Cluster Tool Platforms. CSC's product installations include over 3000 ion sources and more than 1000 production and R&D ion beam processing systems.

According to Christine Whitman, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of CVC, "This merger will provide us with the critical mass to more effectively serve our customers. Combining the strengths of our two companies will enable us to accomplish our vision to be the best at providing materials processing solutions and by manufacturing robust and cost effective, integrated fabrication equipment for the data storage and semiconductor industries."

George Thompson, President of Commonwealth Scientific, commented, "This combination creates a value-added environment from which the data storage and semiconductor industries should benefit greatly. This merger will enable us to provide a one-stop thin film processing solution with ion beam technology and PVD/CVD technologies. Our strategic objectives, assets and activities are complementary and will allow the combined company to remain at the forefront of thin film technology. We see the fit in culture and personnel as a synergistic asset and are confident in our ability to work together to build value for our customers."

CVC provides cluster tool manufacturing equipment for the data storage and semiconductor industries, including Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) and Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD). In the data storage area, CVC offers advanced process solutions for thin film heads including MR and GMR heads, as well as MRAM device production. For semiconductor device fabrication, CVC offers cluster tools for multi-level PVD, MOCVD interconnect metallization processes and specialty applications, such as GaAs, bump metallization and passive components. CVC operates Advanced Product Development, Systems Engineering, Applications Engineering, Customer Service and Technical Support centers throughout the world.

Commonwealth Scientific is a leading provider of ion beam sources as discrete components and integrated systems for the data storage, optical and semiconductor industries. With over 30 years of ion beam experience and process development programs, CSC's ion beam products include Ion Beam Deposition (IBD), Ion Beam Etching (IBE), Ion Assisted Deposition (IAD), Diamond-like Carbon (DLC), ion beam cleaning and pre-cleaning technologies for many different applications, most notably thin film magnetics, micro-electronics, semiconductor and optical coatings. Manufacturing, engineering and R&D facilities are located in Virginia, Colorado and California. Sales and service offices are located throughout the United States, Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim.

The statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, the Company's estimate of the Company's served available market and the Company's competitive position in its industry. Actual results could differ materially as the result of unanticipated marketplace or competitors' responses.