Southwall Technologies Celebrates 20 Years of Innovation in Thin Film Coatings to Improve Comfort At Home, Work and On the Road.

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 1999--

Revolutionary advances in energy efficient window glass for homes, offices and automobiles are among the significant achievements being commemorated in 1999 as Southwall Technologies Inc. celebrates its 20th anniversary year.

"We were certainly gratified to learn but not surprised that Southwall's Heat Mirror(tm) has been recognized in the November issue of Popular Science as one of the 100 greatest inventions of the millennium," says Thomas G. Hood, president and CEO of Southwall Technologies. Popular Science ranked Heat Mirror with such historic innovations as electric lights, the airplane, computer, telephone and Internet.

Acknowledgment for pushing the envelope in product design is not new for the Silicon Valley based company. Southwall's Heat Mirror, an insulating glass unit with a special infrared heat reflecting film suspended between two panes of glass, was introduced in 1980. It was identified by the San Francisco Chronicle as "the first major improvement in window technology since double pane glass was patented in the last year of the Civil War." Historic news coverage of Heat Mirror, the world's first commercially available clear, heat reflective insulating glass, appeared in Business Week, The New York Times and on NBC Nightly News.

Southwall Technologies, long considered the premier innovator in high performance thin film coatings for window glass, is credited for achieving several dramatic breakthroughs in glass performance including:

-- 1983 - Heat Mirror 66, the first major clear shading insulating glass, significantly reduced the use of mirrored glass.

-- 1990 - Superglass(R) achieved insulating performance in clear glass the equivalent of 92% of a solid wall. Superglass created "superwindows", an entirely new category of glazing performance resulting in coverage ranging from Better Homes & Gardens to The Wall Street Journal.

-- 1993 - Heat Mirror(R) XIR film, introduced in a clear laminated glass, significantly reduces heat build-up, increases security and improves occupant comfort in cars, trucks, buses, trains and cruise ships.

-- 1994 - Solis(R) becomes the first clear heat reflective window film to be applied to the inside surface of existing glass. In 1997, Solis received a best new product award from Today's Homeowner and was profiled in Newsweek Japan.

-- 1999 - Superglass Quad(R), acknowledged by Window World magazine as the most energy efficient glass available in North America.

Southwall's 20th anniversary celebration of its technological leadership culminates in a festive gathering for employees, staff and invited guests at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose the evening of Monday, December 20, 1999. Many of the company's specialty thin film products will be exhibited among some of Silicon Valley's most prominent technology that is permanently on display in the museum.

Southwall Technologies develops, manufactures and markets advanced thin film vacuum-sputtered coatings that reflect infrared heat and perform other optically desirable functions. Southwall's Heat Mirror film is purchased by 75 major window, solarium, and insulating glass manufacturers worldwide where it is assembled into energy-efficient insulating glass.

More than 120 million square feet of high-performance Heat Mirror insulating glass have been installed in commercial and residential structures throughout the world. Significant Heat Mirror installations include 300 McDonald's restaurants; the Bank of Holland, Amsterdam; Al Fanar Commercial Center, Kuwait City, Kuwait; the Art Institute of Chicago; Mount Rushmore National Memorial; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; the First Securities Building, Seoul, South Korea and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington DC.

Southwall's Heat Mirror XIR(R) reflects heat and also blocks 99.5% of ultraviolet light. Heat Mirror XIR film is laminated into the glass on more than a million automobiles per year by leading European automobile manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, Citroen, Mercedes Benz, Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo.

Additional Southwall products include anti-reflective optical films for cathode ray tubes (CRT) and flat panel displays manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Samsung Display Devices Co. Heat Mirror, Superglass, Superglass Quad, Heat Mirror XIR, and Solis are all trademarks of Southwall Technologies Inc.

Southwall employs over 280 people, holds more than 60 active patents, and occupies nearly 175,000 square feet of office, manufacturing and research space in Palo Alto and at production facilities in Tempe, Arizona and Dresden, Germany. Sales offices are located in Belgium and the states of Washington, Ohio, and New York. Southwall reported sales of $50 million in 1998 and will approach $60 million in 1999. The company's approximately seven million shares of stock are publicly traded (NASDAQ Symbol: SWTX).

This press release may contain forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. All forward-looking statements included in the document are based on information available to the Company on the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this News Release, which has been prepared by the Company. Further risks are detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those set forth in the Company's most recent Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.