DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /    ( Table of Contents )

Systems/Enterprise:

ALTAIR LAUNCHES ONLINE MESSAGE BOARD FOR GRID CUSTOMERS

Continuing its efforts to support valued customers, Troy, Mich.-based Altair Engineering announced the launch of iExchange -- a customer centric online message board center.

According to Michael J. Kidder, corporate marketing director for Altair, "iExchange is exciting new online message board functionality that will allow our customers to communicate and learn about our products, ask real-time questions and share innovative applications with our growing community of engineering professionals from around the world. It is our belief that iExchange will be welcomed by our user community, reinforcing our market leading position in customer service."

Altair announced the launch of iExchange to its registered clients on June 18 and describes the online message board center as "the communication infrastructure needed to nurture the growth of global community forums for CAE and Grid computing software users." iExchange includes the flexibility to join software and application specific message board communities with the future ability to request private message board forums. Altair hopes to foster an open communication exchange which will benefit all industry professionals currently registered at www.altair.com as clients.

Advantages of iExchange over traditional user group e-mail aliases include:

• Message board postings only go to an opted-in and online user community.
• iExchange is not e-mail based so it will not increase the volume of e-mail received by participants. It also prevents broad e-mail postings that are not of interest to users.
• iExchange is customizable for the specific needs of each participant.
• Searchable by keyword, products and applications.
• iExchange participants can communicate anonymously without disclosing their employer and personal information.
• Each message board is monitored daily by Altair staff to assist in the knowledge transfer concerning our products and their application.

Jeff Brennan, vice president of Altair Engineering's Commercial Software business unit said, "iExchange is another example of Altair Engineering's continuing efforts to deliver an ongoing commitment to our customers needs and responding to their feedback. The addition of iExchange truly compliments our already world-class support organization while providing more value and an enhanced user experience to our software community."