Vendor Spotlight:

MSC ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF MSC.ROBUST DESIGN 2004 r2

MSC.Software Corp., a global provider of virtual product development (VPD) products, including simulation software and services, announced the availability of MSC.Robust Design 2004 r2. MSC.Robust Design drives probabilistic analysis with MSC.Nastran simulations by allowing the efficient investigation of multiple variables and design parameters. The results of MSC.Nastran and MSC.Robust Design simulations provide customers with deeper insight and better understanding of design sensitivity, allowing them to better manage risk and improve product quality, safety and performance.

"MSC.Robust Design specifically supports stochastic simulation with MSC.Nastran and provides a very efficient environment to study real life uncertainties and product performance," said Frank Perna, chairman and chief executive officer of MSC.Software. "Used in combination, MSC.Nastran and MSC.Robust Design help customers increase their productivity and improve their product development processes and results. We are convinced that our customers will see immediate benefit from providing access to the industry's most widely-used simulation tool from the industry's most powerful stochastics environment and, with a range of complementary services, enable rapid return on their investment in this exciting technology."

The second release of MSC.Robust Design is highlighted by the enhanced non- linear capabilities in MSC.Nastran 2004 (Sol600), which is based on the powerful technology of MSC.Marc. The simulation of 3D contact and nonlinear problems is increasingly important for manufacturers testing deformable bodies and complex assemblies.

In addition, a new bi-directional interface to Microsoft Excel provides users with the capability to leverage MSC.Robust Design's unique post processing capabilities on data generated from other sources. Furthermore, results from MSC.Robust Design can be exported to Excel for further annotation and inclusion in reports.

To complement the new functionality within MSC.Robust Design, MSC.Software has launched a number of new services offerings for stochastics simulation including:

• Training: Two-day standard course on MSC.Robust Design and stochastic mechanics is available at one of MSC's offices or at customer sites.
• Engineering Consulting Services: A customer provides MSC.Software with a model and certain design objectives, and MSC delivers a complete stochastic solution to the problem. The two specific services are:
• Stochastic Simulation: Computation of the most likely product performance, performance scatter (quality), outliers and pathologies determination (if any), for multiple disciplines (statics, vibration, buckling, etc.)
• Stochastic Design Improvement: Design-to-target, with particular focus on mass reduction, while satisfying multiple objectives (statics, vibration, buckling, etc.)
• Advanced Engineering Services: Special projects beyond the scope of the standard version of MSC.Robust Design and which involve coupling of different applications (proprietary codes, MSC.Software's Laminate Modeler, commercial crash codes, etc.). MSC.Software's 64 CPU Linux cluster is dedicated for this purpose.

MSC.Robust Design runs on Windows operating systems including Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It can also be used to run MSC.Nastran simulations in a networked environment (Linux, UNIX, etc.). It is currently shipping to customers in all world regions and is available under the MSC.Software MasterKey Licensing System. For more information about MSC.Robust Design, please visit http://www.mscsoftware.com/products/.

About MSC.Software Corporation

MSC.Software is a provider of virtual product development tools that help companies make money, save time and reduce costs associated with designing and testing manufactured products. MSC.Software works with thousands of companies in hundreds of industries to develop better products faster by utilizing information technology, software, services and systems. MSC.Software employs more than 1400 people in 23 countries. For additional information about MSC.Software's products and services, please visit http://www.mscsoftware.com.