Fluent's Icepak V3.0 Sets New Standards for Design Capabilities, Ease of Use, and Speed to Solution in Electronics Cooling Design Software.

LEBANON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 22, 1999--

Advances Match Electronics Industry's Demand For Design Tools

That Help Meet Time-To-Profit Goals

Fluent, Inc. (Nasdaq:AATT), the world's leading supplier of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software announces version 3.0 of its Icepak(tm) CFD-based thermal analysis software. Fluent's newest version of Icepak adds design capabilities to its already industry-leading modeling and simulation capabilities. Icepak 3.0 gives users the fastest time to solution for cooling electronics in today's most demanding computer and data processing products.

Icepak allows engineers to build a computer model of a product or system design, then virtually prototype it, testing it under real-world conditions so that they can verify designs or make changes. Virtual prototyping is rapidly increasing in popularity as a design tool because it enables engineers to test their complex prototypes quickly and accurately, yielding more design iterations in less time, improving product quality, and speeding time to market.

Ease of Use, Robust Features Speed User Time to Profit

According to Icepak Business Manager Prabhu Sathyamurthy, "Icepak is a true extension of your CAD analysis tool set. It is optimized in many ways to make it easy for you to integrate computer aided design with electronics cooling virtual prototyping. In version 2.2, we introduced a direct interface with Pro Engineer. With version 3.0, we've added parametric design capabilities, so you can automate the software to consider several design options quickly. The solver is even faster, and if you have multiprocessor computers, you can take advantage of expanded parallel processing capabilities for even more speed and performance."

According to Applied Thermal Technologies' Vice President Dr. Vivek Mansingh, "We are a `power' user of Icepak software. Fluent has developed a very robust product, while making it easier and easier to use. This is critical to the electronics market where product managers are under pressure from management to adjust their sights from product time-to-market to time-to-profit."

Rajesh Nair, Fluent's Icepak product manager says, "This new version of Icepak incorporates several new and advanced features including multiple units, local and global coordinate systems, and a user editable spreadsheet summary table. We've also introduced a downloadable library of fans, heat sinks, and IC packages aimed at making model building process easier and faster. The code architecture changes resulted in a leaner code with lower disk requirements, that is also significantly faster."

Icepak 3.0 retains its cornerstone "ease of use" feature. Nair continues, "For those new to Icepak, our initial training lasts three days with users already applying it to their thermal design challenges by the end of the session. We listen carefully to what our users say they need in Icepak and its success is a direct result of our commitment to supply them with the most robust software tools for solving thermal problems in electronics."

Icepak 3.0's object-oriented user interface supports easy access to the latest CFD technology for the electronics community. Developed by Fluent and ICEM-CFD Engineering, the technology in Icepak is unmatched in the electronics cooling design software market.

Competitive software offerings for thermal design in electronics rely on older CFD technology, some dating from the 1980s, with limited capabilities to accurately model today's complex electronics systems and components.

Icepak is used for design of electronics thermal management systems in the computer, telecommunications, consumer electronics, and automotive industries. It predicts cooling at the component, board and cabinet levels, allowing designers to optimize designs without more costly physical prototyping. By improving both designs and the design processes, Icepak helps electronics manufacturers shorten time-to-profit for new products.

Pricing and Availability

Icepak 3.0 is now available worldwide on all major UNIX and NT platforms as a license renewed annually. Typical entry level pricing is $20,000 which includes the software, training and unlimited technical support.

Corporate Background

Fluent, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aavid Thermal Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:AATT). Fluent is a world leader in the rapidly growing field of computerized design and simulation software. Its software is used to predict fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, chemical reaction and related phenomena.

Fluent's software products and services help engineers with detailed product development, design optimization, trouble shooting, scale-up and retrofitting. The software significantly reduces engineering cost while improving the final design of products in applications ranging from design of electronic components and systems to automotive engineering, and from combustion system design to process plant troubleshooting.

Fluent's corporate headquarters are located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA with offices throughout the United States. Its European headquarters are located in Sheffield, England with local offices in France and Germany. Fluent's software is also available around the world through joint ventures, partnerships and distributors in Australia, Brazil, China, Korea, Taiwan, the Czech Republic, and most European countries.

Additional information on Fluent and its products can be obtained on the World Wide Web at http://www.fluent.com or by e-mailing [e-mail]. More information on Aavid Thermal Technologies is available at http://www.aavid.com.

Icepak is a trademark of Fluent, Inc. and is a joint development of Fluent and ICEM-CFD Engineering.