MIRA INVESTS HEAVILY IN FLUENT CFD SOFTWARE LICENSE

October 4, 2002, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA, and Sheffield, England…Fluent Inc., the world's leading CFD software provider, announces that MIRA, the independent European product engineering and test services provider for the automotive industry has recently invested extensively in engineering software from Fluent Europe, following a rigorous evaluation process. This contract crowns the growing relationship between the two companies over the last 18 months, after working jointly on an underhood CFD methodology for cars. Commenting on the investment and the rapidly developing relationship with Fluent, Head of Aerodynamics at MIRA, Dr Anthony Baxendale said: "We chose the FLUENT CFD software as it offers a wide range of functionality, it is easy to use and robust. Another factor in our decision was that the FLUENT code is requested by many of our major clients primarily in the automotive industry."

This investment takes MIRA's CFD capability to the level needed to meet the increased demand for large design analysis programs in the automotive industry, for example whole vehicle thermal management. It will give MIRA's consultants even more detailed predictions of complex flow structures. MIRA will also use the software to support the growing demand for its services in many other application areas, and the two companies are aiming for closer collaborative work in the future.

Adrian Booth, Fluent Europe's Business Development Manager for Northern Europe was very pleased to announce the development in MIRA's use of Fluent's CFD software. He added: "We have been through a very long and demanding evaluation period with MIRA who are well known and respected in the automotive industry. Our tried and proven automotive CFD capabilities in FLUENT V6 very much met their immediate CFD needs and our vision for the future was in line with their ongoing customer demands. MIRA is very much driven by the needs of their clients and we are confident that we can continue to provide the best and easiest-to-use CFD software. Indeed, we are seeing more and more clients use Fluent's CFD software for automotive applications."

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 prediction 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 in almost 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, which helps them to optimize, troubleshoot, scale-up, and retrofit. Use of CFD software reduces time-to-market by reducing the need for costly physical testing and prototyping.

Fluent's corporate headquarters are located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA, with local offices in Belgium, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, and Sweden. Fluent's Asia Pacific headquarters are located in Tokyo, Japan. 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 subsidiary of Aavid Thermal Technologies Inc. Additional information on Fluent's products can be obtained on the World Wide Web at www.fluent.com or by e-mailing info@fluent.com. More information on Aavid Thermal Technologies is available at www.aavid.com.

About MIRA MIRA is the world's leading independent supplier of engineering services to the automotive industry. MIRA has over 56 years of experience working with automotive customers worldwide. The combination of highly experienced engineers and world-class facilities based in the UK enables MIRA to provide a 'one-stop-shop' service to the vehicle industry. Additional information can be obtained at www.mira.co.uk or by emailing enquiries@mira.co.uk.

FLUENT® is a registered trademark of Fluent Inc.

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For more information, contact:

Paul Whalen

Fluent Inc.

10 Cavendish Court

Lebanon, NH 03766

(603) 643-2600 Ext. 666

pww@fluent.com