For Immediate Release

CONCORD, MASS. -- November 6, 2000 -- SolidWorks Corporation, a leading provider of affordable, easy-to-use 3D CAD software for the mainstream market today announced its strategic alliance with TechniCon Corporation, an innovator in e-commerce solutions for highly configurable industrial products. Through this alliance, SolidWorks' revolutionary 3D PartStream.NET Service will be fully integrated with TechniCon's CustomCommerce technology, enabling TechniCon to create fully customized, 3D-enabled online catalogs for manufacturing companies.

The powerful combination of 3D PartStream.NET and CustomCommerce allows customers of manufacturing companies to quickly and easily identify, configure, and download parts online. This new alliance represents the first in a series of future relationships that SolidWorks will establish with its "3D Publishing Partners," companies that provide web-based services for online product catalogs, e-commerce systems, and web-based trading exchanges.

3D PartStream.NET is a unique service that allows manufacturers to integrate exciting, live, 3D models into web-based product catalogs and e-commerce systems. Using 3D PartStream.NET, suppliers can demonstrate what their products look like in "real-life" by enabling potential buyers to view 3D product models and drawings from all angles, configure product models based on specific customer requirements, and download these models and drawings into their own product designs in a wide variety of file formats.

TechniCon has developed an online catalog for SMC Pneumatics, Inc., a leading developer of pneumatic and electrical automation products, including cylinders, actuators, valves, fittings, flow controls, tubing, vacuum equipment, and hundreds of specialty products. SMC's new online catalog simplifies the configuration and sale of these complex, highly variable products, allowing its' customers to easily sort through 8,000 different products that can have up to one million variations.

"3D PartStream.NET and CustomCommerce make it easier for our customers to do business with us by revolutionizing the way they select and configure products," said Tony Hutchinson, marketing manager for SMC. "Many of our competitors continue to supply their customers with printed catalogs, forcing engineers to spend hours searching through books to find the correct components and product numbers. Our customers, on the other hand, will simply log onto our web site, use one of the four simple specification tools to select products they need, and within a few minutes find and configure the preferred product. This process makes it easy to view product selections and download the models into their assembly drawings, which ultimately increases the likelihood that the product will be specified and purchased."

"CustomCommerce was created to simplify the sale of complex, highly variable products. CustomCommerce technology features unique, easy-to-use product selection and configuration methods that narrow down potential choices through a hierarchical product catalog, or based on specific product characteristics and requirements," said Anthony Mirante, founder and president of TechniCon.. "By integrating 3D PartStream.NET with CustomCommerce, we provide manufacturing companies with a comprehensive solution that can be easily incorporated into their e-commerce systems. We are excited about SolidWorks' new 3D PartStream.NET service, since it enables our customers like SMC Pneumatics to fully leverage TechniCon's second generation B2B software aimed at industrial mass customization."

For more information on 3D PartStream.NET or about becoming a 3D Publishing Partner, contact the SolidWorks Inside Sales Department at +1-800-693-9000 (outside of North America +1-978-371-5000) or go to http://www.3dpartstream.net.

TechniCon Corporation is a leading provider of electronic commerce solutions for highly variable products. The company's advanced CustomCommerce software combines dynamic product selection, configuration, and visualization technology to help customers narrow the field of options and simplify the purchase of complex products. By allowing buyers to select, configure, visualize, and order highly variable products directly over the Internet, CustomCommerce dramatically shortens the sales cycle, thus increasing vendor profitability and customer satisfaction. Now in its 3.0 Release, CustomCommerce is available to customers immediately. TechniCon (http://www.solidworks.com/html/Company/www.technicon.com) is located in the San Francisco Bay Area in Emeryville, CA.

SMC Pneumatics, Inc. is the world's largest manufacturer of pneumatic and electrical automation products. Founded in 1959, SMC has harnessed the latest technology to produce world-class products coupled with experienced personnel to provide solutions for the most complex manufacturing processes. SMC offers a comprehensive product line of over 8,900 basic products with over 520,000 variations to meet the wide variety of international standards. There are more than 100 new products or models introduced each year. For more information, visit the company's web site at http://www.solidworks.com/html/Company/www.smcusa.com.

SolidWorks Corporation, a Dassault Systemes S.A. (Nasdaq: DASTY) company, develops and markets mechanical design software solutions. Founded in 1993, SolidWorks mission is to deliver the power of 3D to everybody in design and manufacturing. In less than 5 years of shipping product, SolidWorks has sold more than 60,000 commercial seats of software to over 18,000 customers and more than 54,000 educational seats to more than 3,200 academic institutions worldwide. SolidWorks has offices worldwide and distributes its products through a network of 230 resellers selling in 70 countries. For more information and a product demonstration, contact a SolidWorks distributor or reseller, or call SolidWorks directly at 1-800-693-9000 (outside of North America, call +1-978-371-5000). For the latest news, information, or a live online demonstration, visit the company's web site www.solidworks.com.

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SolidWorks and the SolidWorks logo are registered trademarks and 3D PartStream.NET is a service mark of SolidWorks Corporation. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. TechniCon is a service mark of TechniCon Corp. CustomCommerce is provided to TechniCon customers under an exclusive license from TechniCon's sister company Variational Technologies, Inc. Copyright (c) 2000 SolidWorks Corporation.