Intergraph joins Avondale/Bath Iron Works/Hughes Team for LPD 17.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 1996--Intergraph Corporation (Huntsville, Ala.) announced today that Avondale Industries has selected Intergraph's suite of Integrated Ship Design and Data Management Products to support Avondale's bid for the U.S. Navy's new Amphibious Transport Doc ship, the LPD 17.

Intergraph now joins the LPD 17 team as a fourth partner with Avondale Industries (AII), Bath Iron Works (BIW), and Hughes Aircraft. AII, BIW and Hughes will use a common set of computer-aided design (CAD) and product data management (PDM) tools. After performing an extensive and independent evaluation of world-class CAD and PDM providers, the Avondale alliance selected Intergraph based on its ability to address the requirements of an Integrated Product Data Environment (IPDE) as called for in the Navy requirements document for the LPD 17.

Intergraph Corporation brings an additional dimension to the Avondale team in that Intergraph is the largest supplier of shipbuilding hardware, software and technology to the U.S. Navy. Intergraph has won all three of the competitively bid long-term contracts for NAVSEA, NAVAIR/SPAWAR and Facilities CAD-2. These contracts have a total potential value of approximately $1.2 billion.

Intergraph has worked closely with NAVSEA since 1991 to implement 3D product modeling technology for preliminary design and planning yard applications. The addition of Intergraph to the Avondale shipbuilding team allows the partners to leverage years of knowledge, experience and improvements made to commercial-off-the-shelf CAD/CAE/CAM and data management products.

Additional Commercial Applications

Independently of the award of the LPD 17 contract, Avondale plans to move forward with the implementations of Intergraph's data management and shipbuilding technologies for commercial applications. Although Avondale has been a long standing user of CAD technology, this parallel implementation for commercial work represents a new level of commitment to the ship product data model concept and the use of 3D solids modeling.

Avondale Industries' desire to assimilate new and existing business practices and to position itself quickly as a leader in cost effective, innovative solutions for the international shipbuilding community is driving a rapid schedule for implementation. Several new commercial ship production efforts are currently in the planning stages and the Avondale technical team members have begun preliminary work towards full production capability.

Intergraph Background Information

A member of the Fortune 1000, Intergraph Corporation (Huntsville, Ala.) is the world's largest company dedicated to supplying interactive computer graphics systems. Products range from point solutions, meeting individual and departmental needs, to integrated, enterprise-wide systems. Noted for delivering interoperable systems and applications, Intergraph bases its products on Windows, Windows NT and UNIX operating systems. The company has five business units:

Intergraph Computer Systems develops and markets Intergraph hardware products, including personal workstations and servers. Intergraph Software Solutions (ISS) develops and markets integrated software for the Technical Desktop -- the combination of compatible technical applications and personal productivity tools in a single desktop computer. Technical applications include computer-aided design, engineering, analysis, manufacturing, publishing and earth sciences.

ISS also provides core system software, high-end applications, and training, consulting and implementation services. Intergraph Federal Systems markets commercial off-the-shelf products and services, and specially-developed products, to governments worldwide. VeriBest, Inc. develops and markets a complete suite of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software tools for design capture, simulation, synthesis, layout and verification/analysis. Intergraph Public Safety develops, markets and implements computer-aided dispatch systems for public safety agencies around the world.

Avondale Background Information

Avondale, the lead yard, is the largest private employer in Louisiana with approximately $570 million in annual sales. The New Orleans facility employs 5,300 people and has a staff of approximately 350 designers, technicians and engineers. Last year, the shipyard delivered three ships and is considered one of the five largest surface shipbuilders in the country. Avondale's current backlog is approximately $1.4 billion.

Bath Iron Works Background Information

Bath Iron Works Corporation -- a General Dynamics company -- is the U.S. Navy's lead shipbuilder of DDG-51 ARLEIGH BURKE class AEGIS Destroyers. Its current backlog is approximately $2 billion. BIW will join Avondale in the LPD 17 shipbuilding effort and will provide specialized engineering, design and life cycle support.

Hughes Aircraft Background Information

Hughes Aircraft Company, a leader in defense electronics, brings its experience in ship systems integration and combat systems development to the LPD 17 team. Hughes' Combat Systems operation in San Diego, Calif., will lead the effort, and will integrate capabilities from its weapons systems unit in Tucson, Ariz. and sensor unit in Fullerton, Calif. Hughes will provide electronic systems development and integration for the LPD 17 and is responsible to develop the ship's information distribution infrastructure.

BACKGROUNDER

Fulfilling the LPD 17 Requirements for IPDE

The Avondale alliance selected Intergraph based on its ability to address the requirements of an Integrated Product Data Environment (IPDE) as called for in the Navy requirements document for the LPD 17.

IPDE requirements specify the ability to integrate a central 3D ship product model with associated data products such as drawings, technical manuals and training materials. In addition, the IPDE must contain program management information such as plans, deliverables, schedules and the procedures necessary to satisfy the life cycle information requirements of both the Navy and the contractor.

Intergraph's Integrated Ship design & Production (ISDP) suite for 3D ship product modeling -- including Product Model Enhancement (PME) for shipbuilding specific data management -- enables users to concurrently design, capture and re-use data in electronic form. This powerful combination will provide data integrity, efficiency and configuration control throughout the life cycle of the LPD 17.

Intergraph, a leading supplier of data management and shipbuilding software, is providing a fully integrated suite of products to address implementation at multiple Avondale, Bath Iron Works, Hughes and customer sites. Each of the activities will participate in concurrent management and design functions for the program, using a combination of Intergraph's DM2/PME information management tools and the ISDP Products.

These products enable a tightly-coupled detail design and production effort to be carried out simultaneously by team members located in Louisiana, Maine, California and at numerous customer sites. Furthermore, the government will maintain an active role in the management of the project through on-line interaction with the integrated product data environment.

Enterprise-wide Data Management

The data management software selected for the LPD 17 project and Avondale Industries commercial efforts is DM2/PME, Intergraph's successful multi-site, corporate information management system. Based on the Metaphase object-oriented engine from Metaphase Technology Incorporated (MTI), the DM2/PME product suite is comprised of: DM/Server, DM/Manager, I/FTR (Full Text Retrieval), DM/Workflow, DM/API (Application Programming Interface Toolkit), DM/View and DM/Redline.

-- DM/Server, the server-based component for DM2, provides the object-oriented framework for storage, query, security and control.

-- DM/Manager is the client user interface for the DM2 system. It provides a configurable graphical user interface into the object data vault managed by DM/Server, enabling easy management of multiformat files distributed across hardware, software and databases.

-- I/FTR, DM2's full text retrieval technology, enables users to search through numerous CAD and business documents to identify and retrieve relevant user-specified material independently of its format.

-- DM/Workflow is a comprehensive tool for enterprise-wide workflow and document routing; it creates workflows tailored to an organization's business model, enabling users to define workflows throughout the entire life cycle of an object.

-- DM/View and DM/Redline extend Intergraph's information management capabilities to include desktop viewing and non-destructive redlining of documents; DM/View and DM/Redline support more than 60 native file formats.

Intergraph's DM2 customer base ranges from workgroup environments to enterprise-wide networks. These users' applications include chemical processing, shipbuilding, power generation, utility, transportation, mechanical design and manufacturing. Working with the customer base and following the market trends and demands, Intergraph recognized that corporations and businesses were lacking one major component in their computer-aided design and manufacturing solutions -- a common data management infrastructure within the entire corporation to help make businesses more "enterprise-wide" information management system, DM2, which is currently installed at eight major government and commercial sites.

Integrated Ship Design and Production

Intergraph's Integrated Ship Design and Production (ISDP) product suit includes the following shipbuilding specific modules: I/VDS, I/STRUCT, I/ROUTE, I/LOFT, Nesting, Extract for Review and product Model Review (PMR). The 3D Product Model data for all of these modules is managed in a single, integrated SQL compliant database, enhancing the Integrated Product and Process Design (IPPD) approach. There are more than 600 users of the ISDP suite of products located at more than 60 sites worldwide.

-- I/VDS is the foundation for the ISDP suite, supporting the design, construction and maintenance of ships. It provides for the creation and maintenance of fully associative and parametric component libraries, hull forms, subdivisions, compartmentations design and the placement of equipment and furnishings in arrangement models.

-- I/STRUCT provides the capability to model structural elements on the shell, decks and bulkheads with automated structural detailing, minimizing the time and effort required to design and manufacture the total ship structure.

-- I/ROUTE is a comprehensive routing package which helps automate the design of piping, heating and ventilation and electrical raceways. Specification-driven design and embedded rule-checking ensure network continuity throughout the design and modification process.

-- I/LOFT provides powerful lofting powerful lofting functions that automatically create production information for ship structure -- from cutting and forming shell plates, to associated stiffening, to assembly. The nesting module optimizes the layout of piece parts on user specified plates and produces the DNC instructions for physically cutting and marking the plates.

-- Extract for Review produces a visualization model that is geometrically accurate, maintains attributes and relationships, and is ready for walk-through and interrogation using the Product model Review product.

-- Product Model Review (PMR) maximizes communication and information exchange while enabling design walk-through in a virtual environment. It provides 3D conferencing capability for remote walk-through, local and remote model interrogation and the ability to access external documents and database information based on model attributes.

For additional information about ISDP, DM2 or other Intergraph products or services call 1-800-345-4856 or visit Intergraph's World Wide Web site and http://www.intergraph.com. -0-

Intergraph and the Intergraph logo are registered trademarks and Solutions for the Technical Desktop is a trademark of Intergraph Corporation. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Intergraph Fereral Systems, Huntsville

Chris Waagen, 703/264-5734