Cambridge, MA, -- Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN), today announced major initiatives to strengthen its market position as the world leader in the area of Advanced Process Design which encompasses process integration using Pinch Technology and distillation synthesis. Seven leading consultants in this field have joined AspenTech. They are Dr. Manolis Kotzabasakis, Mr. Rik Klavers, Dr. Yoshio Kumagae, Dr. Vikas Dhole, Mr. Eric Petela, Dr. Greg Ashton and Dr. Mark Yell. Other leading consultants will join the Advanced Process Design team in the near future.

"The initiatives we are taking to expand our Advanced Process Design business are strategic for us to meet our vision of providing complete solutions for the design and operation of process plants. The new members, each well-recognized in the field of process integration, add to our existing highly-reputed team to make this a powerful, world-class group of leading technologists and experienced practitioners. We have substantially increased our ability to deliver a total solution of technology and services for Advanced Process Design," said Larry Evans, AspenTech Chairman and CEO.

AspenTech's Advanced Process Design technologies provide benefits to process manufacturers across the entire manufacturing life cycle - from R&D, through engineering and into production. Savings on the order of millions of dollars have been demonstrated in projects where AspenTech has worked with customers to develop better designs of new plants as well as to improve operations of existing plants.

"Our plans are to broaden AspenTech's leadership in extending existing and developing new technologies for Advanced Process Design. Equally important, we will expand AspenTech's service capabilities to help process manufacturers obtain the full benefits of applying these technologies to their plants. Our new team is ideally positioned to bring the benefits of Advanced Process Design to the process industries by combining and exploiting the synergies of all AspenTech products," said Manolis Kotzabasakis, Director, Advanced Process Design. AspenTech's initiatives are aimed at providing the process industries with a comprehensive technology suite for Advanced Process Design including process integration, distillation synthesis, total site analysis, water minimization and process-specific packages.

"AspenTech has also joined the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) Process Integration Research Consortium. We want to establish strong links to UMIST and other leading universities as well as enhance our strategic relationships with companies who are active in this field," said Su Ahmad, Vice President, Advanced Process Design. "At the same time, we are providing consulting services and the tools for engineers to perform process design more effectively and creatively."

New releases of AspenTech's Advanced Process Design products for the Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT platforms are scheduled for the near future. ADVENT(R), used for process integration using Pinch Technology, will be available this Spring; SPLIT(R), used for distillation synthesis, will be available this Summer.

About the New Members of AspenTech's Advanced Process Design Team
Dr. Manolis Kotzabasakis was former CEO of Linnhoff March group, based in Manchester, UK. Prior to that, he was a lecturer at UMIST. The other new members of the Advanced Process Design team were former senior managers of Linnhoff March. Prior to that, they held various management and engineering positions in industry or academia, including UMIST, Fluor Daniel, Air Products, Sumitomo Chemical Company and Costain Engineering among others.

About AspenTech
Aspen Technology, Inc. is a leading supplier of software and services for the analysis, design and automation of process manufacturing plants in industries such as chemicals, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, electric power, pulp and paper, and metals. Process manufacturers use AspenTech's solutions to improve the way they design, operate and manage their plants. These solutions enable customers to reduce their raw material, energy and capital expenses, meet environmental and safety regulations, improve product quality and shorten the time required to get new production processes on stream. AspenTech employs more than 1,100 people and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with offices in 16 countries worldwide.

ADVENT, SPLIT, AspenTech and the AspenTech logo are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc. All other marks are trademarks of their respective owners.

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