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SDRC Acquires Sherpa Systems Corp and Inso France Development, SA

6 January 2000

SDRC Acquires Sherpa Systems Corporation and Inso France Development, SA; Acquisition Adds 90,000 PDM Production Users and XML E-business Technology

    CINCINNATI--Jan. 5, 2000--SDRC , a leading global supplier of Internet-enabled collaborative product development solutions, today announced that it has acquired all the stock of both Sherpa Systems Corporation and Inso France Development, SA for cash and other contingent consideration in a transaction to be accounted for as a purchase. The financial effect is expected to be non-dilutive to earnings.
    The acquisition of Sherpa Systems Corporation expands SDRC's Product Data Management (PDM) user base to 340,000 -- the largest number of global production users in the industry -- and also adds experienced PDM development and sales personnel.
    Through the acquisition of Inso France Development, SA, SDRC gains advanced eXtensible Markup Language (XML) technology and related development expertise, critical components in supporting business-to-business Internet collaboration. These acquired technologies and resources complement SDRC's E-commerce strategy and position the company in the broad, rapidly growing E-business market.
    Sherpa Systems Corporation and Inso France Development, SA currently serve the E-business and PDM needs of customers worldwide, including industry leaders such as Marconi plc, Raytheon Company, The Boeing Company, Johnson Controls, Schlumberger, Thiokol, and Northrop Grumman Corporation.
    "Sherpa was one of the PDM industry's pioneers, and was the market leading firm for several years as they developed an extensive base of customers," said Ed Miller, president of CIMdata. "Their acquisition by SDRC is good news for those customers. SDRC and its Metaphase PDM solution can provide the Sherpa customer base with both a solid source of support and an evolutionary technology path with one of the industry's leading suppliers. For SDRC, the resulting combined customer base is clearly one of the industry's largest, and includes some of the biggest and most visible implementations in the industry. In addition, the acquisition includes ownership of some XML-based technology that had been previously acquired by Sherpa in France -- this has the potential to be a 'hidden jewel' that SDRC can utilize to extend their Metaphase technology offerings."
    "GartnerGroup believes that PDM will continue to be a fast growing opportunity in the engineering applications market," said David Burdick, vice president and research director, Application Solutions, GartnerGroup, "and is a significant component of a broader collaborative product commerce strategy designed to enhance product lifecycle competitiveness across the new Internet-based B2B and B2C commerce streams."
    "The employees and customers of Sherpa are excited to be part of the PDM industry leading team of SDRC Metaphase," said Paul Anderson, president, PDM Division, Inso Corporation. "In fact, Sherpa's customers' number 1 choice is Metaphase."
    "Thiokol Propulsion is a long time user of both Inso's Sherpa PDM software and SDRC's I-DEAS products and technology," said Mike Evans, vice president, Information Systems, Thiokol. "We are very excited about the possibilities of a fully integrated solution that will allow us to leverage our I-DEAS data at the enterprise level."
    "Johnson Controls is very pleased and supports Sherpa being acquired by a PDM marketplace leader -- SDRC," said Steve Strachan, director of engineering operations/global PDM, Johnson Controls. "Metaphase has an excellent reputation, and we look forward to working with SDRC."
    "The acquisition of Sherpa reflects SDRC's strategy to be the undisputed technology and market share leader in the rapidly growing PDM space," said Bill Weyand, chairman, president and CEO of SDRC. "Equally exciting are Inso's key E-business-enabling technologies, like XML, that will further enhance SDRC's web-based connect and collaboration initiatives to be introduced and delivered throughout 2000. We welcome both the Sherpa and Inso sales and development teams and the extensive industry experience they bring to SDRC. We also look forward to supporting the many existing Sherpa customers and providing them a technology growth path to the industry's leading PDM offering--Metaphase--while also leveraging their existing software investment."
    SDRC will hold a conference call at 9:00 A.M. Eastern Time, Thursday, January 6, to discuss the details of this announcement. The dial-in number is 712/271-3631 and the pass code is "SDRC." A replay of the call will be available until Monday, January 10 at 5:00 P.M. Eastern Time by dialing 888/458-8111.

    About SDRC

    SDRC (Structural Dynamics Research Corporation) is a leading global provider of Internet-enabled collaborative product development solutions through its Metaphase(R) Enterprise(TM) product data management software and I-DEAS(R) mechanical design automation software. The Company's products, coupled with process engineering and consulting services, create an E-business environment that enables industry leaders to optimize product development early in the design process, accelerate product innovation, and significantly improve time-to-market. SDRC employs more than 2,500 people worldwide, with 77 offices in 18 countries throughout North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific.

    http://www.sdrc.com/

    Note to Editors: SDRC, Metaphase and I-DEAS are registered trademarks, and Metaphase Enterprise is a trademark of Structural Dynamics Research Corporation. All other trademarks or registered trademarks belong to their respective holders.