October 12, 2004, Lebanon, NH, USA

Fluent Inc., the world leader in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), recently won a prestigious 2004 R&D 100 Award for the novel integration of two best-in-class simulation software packages. The integrated simulation packages, used by many engineers in the process industries, are Aspen Plus®, process flowsheet modeling software from Aspen Technology, and FLUENT®, CFD modeling software from Fluent Inc. The primary goal of the integration is to combine high-fidelity equipment modeling with plant-wide process modeling to enable rapid assessment of innovative new plants involving unique equipment (e.g. fuel cells, gasifiers, complex reactors). The interface enables a comprehensive assessment of how all equipment items work together in a process by allowing detailed fluid mechanics models to plug into the overall flowsheet.

This technology breakthrough enables engineers to conduct process simulations with both a scope and an accuracy never seen before. The toolkit will accelerate innovation, reduce capital costs, improve product yields, reduce energy consumption and reduce emissions. The Aspen Plus – FLUENT integration toolkit is expected to have a high impact on a wide variety of industrial applications throughout the process industries, including power generation, chemicals and polymers.

Fluent Inc. worked closely with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in West Virginia under a US Department of Energy cooperative agreement to develop and demonstrate this integrated piece of software. The software is now available commercially. “This Award is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between NETL, ALSTOM Power Plant Laboratories, Aspen Technology Inc, West Virginia University and Fluent Inc.,” says Dr. Madhava Syamlal of Fluent, the project leader, “We believe that it paves the way for more accurate simulations of complex process / power plants as hardware and software technologies grow ever more powerful in the next 10 years.”

The R&D 100 Awards, hosted by R&D Magazine, have been running for over 40 years. The aim of the Awards is to select the 100 most technologically significant new products introduced into the marketplace during the year from the many nominations received from around the world. Previous winners of the R&D 100 Award have included Polacolor Film (1963), the Halogen Lamp (1974), the Fax Machine (1975), Liquid Crystal Displays (1980), the Nicoderm Antismoking Patch (1992) and Lab on a Chip technologies (1996) to name a few. An independent judging panel of consultants and academics along with the editor of the magazine chose the winning entries. Details of this year’s winners were revealed in the September edition of the magazine. An Awards ceremony in Chicago is set to follow on October 14 th.

About Fluent Fluent is the world's largest provider of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and consulting services. Fluent's software is used for simulation, visualization, and analysis of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions. It is a vital part of the computer-aided engineering (CAE) process for companies around the world and is deployed in nearly every manufacturing industry. Using Fluent's software, product development, design and research engineers build virtual prototypes and simulate the performance of proposed and existing designs, allowing them to improve design quality while reducing cost and speeding time to market. Fluent's corporate headquarters is located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA, with offices in Belgium, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan and Sweden. Its CFD software is also available around the world through joint ventures, partnerships, and distributors in Korea, Australia, Brazil, China, Taiwan, the Czech Republic, Middle East, and most European countries.

FLUENT® is a registered trademark of Fluent Inc.

For more information on the Aspen Plus – FLUENT integration: http://www.fluent.com/about/news/pr/pr65.htm

For more information on Fluent’s 2004 R&D 100 Award: http://www.rdmag.com

And for general enquiries contact: Jennifer Correa Fluent Inc. 10 Cavendish Court Lebanon, NH 03766 (603) 643-2600 Ext. 668 jrc@fluent.com

About AspenTech Aspen Technology, Inc. provides industry-leading software and implementation services that enable process companies to increase efficiency and profitability. AspenTech's engineering product line is used to design and improve plants and processes, maximizing returns throughout an asset’s operating life. Its manufacturing/supply chain product line allows companies to increase margins in their plants and supply chains, by managing customer demand, optimizing production, and streamlining the delivery of finished products. These two offerings are combined to create solutions for enterprise operations management (EOM), integrated enterprise-wide systems that provide process manufacturers with the capability to dramatically improve their operating performance. Over 1,500 leading companies already rely on AspenTech's software, including Aventis, Bayer, BASF, BP, ChevronTexaco, Dow Chemical, DuPont, ExxonMobil, Fluor, Foster Wheeler, GlaxoSmithKline, Shell, and Total. For more information, visit www.aspentech.com.

Aspen Plus ®, AspenTech, Aspen Engineering Suite, Aspen Plus and the aspen leaf logo are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.

For Media: Peter Watt Aspen Technology, Inc. +44 1223 819-752 peter.watt@aspentech.com

Marie Telepneff Aspen Technology, Inc. (510) 748-4709 marie.telepneff@aspentech.com

For Investors: Joshua Young Aspen Technology, Inc. (617) 949-1274 joshua.young@aspentech.com