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ANXeBusiness and PlanetCAD Team Up On the ANX Network to Offer Additional Services; ANX Network Members to be Offered More Engineering Applications

12 September 2000

ANXeBusiness and PlanetCAD Team Up On the ANX Network to Offer Additional Services; ANX Network Members to be Offered More Engineering Applications

    DETROIT--Sept. 12, 2000--PlanetCAD(TM), a division of Spatial Inc. (AMEX:STY), today announced it is again working with ANXeBusiness Corp., an SAIC company, to provide Bits2Parts.com(TM) and PrescientQA(R) over the ANX(R) network.
    PlanetCAD was the first to offer engineering data quality solutions to trading partners within the secure, managed ANX(R) extranet with the 3Dshare.com(TM) model translation and healing service in June 2000.
    ANXeBusiness' subscribers are provided access to a managed network for eBusiness, offering companies reliable service, predictable performance and secure communications, with 24/7 customer care support. ANX(R) service operates independently of the public Internet while using the same industry standard TCP/IP communication protocols. Its unique architecture gives companies a choice of providers for all core services and assures interoperability, replacing complex legacy networks and facilitating the re-engineering of supply chains.
    "The alliance between PlanetCAD and ANXeBusiness Corp. brings PrescientQA's engineering design quality products and Bits2Parts.com's rapid prototyping solutions to the ANX(R) network, and will only further enhance the engineering capabilities within the ANX(R) trading partner community," said Steve Shapiro, ANXeBusiness Corp. vice president and general manager, Application Services.
    Bits2Parts.com (www.bits2parts.com) is an application offering manufacturers a secure, intelligent and private Web space to create and submit customized requests for quotes (RFQs) with attached 3D CAD data for the quote process. PrescientQA is a family of software tools and services that assure quality in the engineering product. The PrescientQA family includes DriveQA(TM), DesignQA(R), GeometryQA(TM), and CertifyQA(TM) software and the AuditQA(TM) quality audit.
    The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), in a 1998 report entitled, Best Practices in Supply Chain Product Development, revealed that the "highest priority issue (affecting the effectiveness of best practices in the automotive supply chain) was concerned about the quality of product data, or rather, the lack thereof, which is directly related to the usefulness of that data for purposes beyond basic product representations." The report went on to note that "these kinds of product data quality problems lead to increased cost and time delays."
    "The growing alliance between ANXeBusiness and PlanetCAD is very exciting for the automotive industry and PlanetCAD," said David Tait, director of Custom Manufacturing, PlanetCAD. "The ability to have access to these services on the secure ANX(R) platform will do much to streamline processes and ensure quality in engineering products."
    This strategic alliance with ANXeBusiness means that PrescientQA, Bits2Parts.com and other services from PlanetCAD will be available by a secure link into the ANX(R) network where members can safely use these services to streamline their manufacturing processes in real time.

    About ANXeBusiness

    ANXeBusiness Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation). In December 1999, SAIC purchased the ANX(R) network's assets and operations from the AIAG (Automotive Industry Action Group). Through its significant resources, SAIC is accelerating the development of ANX(R) services and infrastructure, ultimately making ANXeBusiness the world's premier provider of reliable and secure Web-based integrated business solutions. Through a variety of relationships, ANXeBusiness also now offers complete eBusiness solutions delivered by integrating certified hosting and applications with the existing managed network. These solutions can be accessed through the ANX(R) portal. For information about subscriptions to the ANX(R) service, please contact ANXeBusiness' Customer Care Center by telephone 1-877-488-8ANX, or by e-mail anxccc@saic.com. Additional information is available at www.anxnow.com.
    SAIC is the nation's largest employee-owned research and engineering company, providing information technology and systems integration products and services to government and commercial customers. SAIC scientists and engineers work to solve complex technical problems in telecommunications, national security, health care, transportation, energy, the environment and financial services. With annual revenues exceeding $5.5 billion, SAIC and its subsidiaries, including Telcordia Technologies, have more than 40,000 employees at offices in more than 150 cities worldwide. More information about SAIC can be found on the Internet at www.saic.com.

    About PlanetCAD

    In early 2000, PlanetCAD(TM) was launched as the first provider of Web-based engineering and manufacturing design tools that are available within a corporate Intranet and as easy-to-use services available at PlanetCAD.com(TM). PlanetCAD is a first-to-market Web portal for mechanical and design engineers and their extended organizations.
    PlanetCAD is a division of Spatial Inc. Currently, PlanetCAD offers three Web-based application services, 3Dshare.com(TM), 3Dpublish.com(TM) and Bits2Parts.com(TM). For more information about PlanetCAD, please visit www.planetcad.com.

    About Spatial Technology Inc.

    Since its inception in 1986, Spatial (AMEX:STY) has evolved from its origin as the creator of ACIS, the CAD/CAM/CAE industry's de facto standard 3D modeling kernel, into the leading provider of Web-based engineering services, e-frastructure, and advanced engineering technology solutions.
    Spatial is now an international organization, with nearly 180 employees worldwide. The company is headquartered in Boulder, Colo., with its Web-focused business based in San Francisco, California and Boston, Mass., and satellite offices in France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. For more information about Spatial Inc., please visit www.spatial.com.

    Spatial Technology Inc., 3Dshare.com, 3Dpublish.com, Bits2Parts.com, ACIS 3D Toolkit and PlanetCAD are trademarks. SAT, ACIS and IntraVISION are registered trademarks of Spatial Technology Inc. All other trademarks are properties of their respective companies.