Voting Begins in Search of Most Innovative Design and Engineering Customers

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK) today invites the 2.7 million users that make up one of the largest manufacturing engineering communities on the planet to log onto the Autodesk community web site (http://mfgcommunity.autodesk.com ) and vote for their favorite Inventor of the Month customer to become the 2006 Inventor of the Year. The Inventor of the Month program began in January 2006 and recognizes the most innovative design and engineering advancements made by the extensive community of customers using Autodesk Inventor software, the world's best-selling 3D mechanical design software.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050415/SFF034LOGO )

The Inventor of the Month with the highest community rating will be presented with the title Inventor of the Year. The voting will commence immediately and will wrap up on Wednesday, January 17, at 12:00 a.m. EST. The Inventor of the Year customer will be announced at the end of January 2007. Inventor of the Month customers for 2006 included:

January 2006: WaveLoch designs groundbreaking wave rides and attractions for athletes, water parks, amusement parks, resorts and cruise ships around the world. WaveLoch's Flow Riders are created using Autodesk Inventor software for 3D modeling and design, in addition to Autodesk Inventor Studio software for visualization.

February 2006: Planet Products is an innovative manufacturer of food processing and automation machinery. Planet Products uses Autodesk Inventor software to develop the SP3 Next Generation Loader -- a machine that places hot dogs into packaging.

March 2006: Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation is the maker of the world's fastest certified piston-powered aircraft. Columbia uses Autodesk Inventor software across many areas in the company's design processes to build personal aircraft that redefine aircraft performance and pilot expectations.

April 2006: Environmental Systems Products (ESP) is the maker of the world's most sophisticated remote sensing devices for measuring vehicle emissions. Their latest innovation, the AccuScan 4600 was designed using Autodesk Inventor software.

May 2006: Cybersonics Technology Team, Palisades High School, from Kintnersville, Pennsylvania, was comprised of 29 high-school students. The team used Autodesk Inventor software in the 3D design of a robot that competed at the 2006 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. The Cybersonics Technology Team was awarded the Autodesk Inventor Award at the final competition in Atlanta, Georgia.

June 2006: Stannah Lifts, part of the Stannah Group, is the UK's largest independent manufacturer of passenger and vertical platform lifts. The company recently relied upon Inventor 3D software to integrate its 2D CAD system with its enterprise and operation applications.

July 2006: American Challenge and Russ Wicks broke the world stock car speed record in July 2006. The American Challenge engineers relied on the powerful 3D capabilities in Autodesk Inventor to design, test and customize performance-enhancing car modifications.

August 2006: Can Lines is a leading provider of turnkey conveyor systems for the food and beverage industries. Autodesk Inventor software played an important role in helping Can Lines design and engineer a recent complex conveyor system project much faster than would have been possible with 2D drawings.

September 2006: Bosch Rexroth Canada is a leading provider of drive and control solutions, providing solutions in the major technology areas of industrial hydraulics, electric drives and controls, linear motion and assembly technologies, pneumatics, service and mobile hydraulics. The company used Autodesk Inventor to successfully navigate a complete modernization of the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway's Welland Canal.

October 2006: Marin Bikes is a leading manufacturer of mountain bikes. Marin Bikes uses Autodesk Inventor software to streamline its product development processes and create new products and expand its product line in less time than ever before.

November 2006: QED is a leading manufacturer of professional and consumer lighting devices. QED uses Autodesk Inventor to run virtual product test runs within the Inventor 3D environment, releasing its product designs to manufacturing with confidence, reducing the number of physical prototypes and the number of back-and-forth modifications before full production begins.

December 2006: MERU is a designer and manufacturer of specialized medical equipment for children with disabilities. Autodesk Inventor plays a key role in helping MERU create products that meet diverse requirements. With its support for both 2D and 3D design processes, Autodesk Inventor allows MERU to visualize and sample design ideas before they are built, without the time and costs associated with developing a series of physical prototypes.

To read more about each Inventor of the Month and to vote for your choice, please visit http://mfgcommunity.autodesk.com .

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. is a Fortune 1000 company, wholly focused on ensuring that great ideas are turned into reality. With seven million users, Autodesk is the world's leading software and services company for the manufacturing, infrastructure, building, media and entertainment, and wireless data services fields. Autodesk's solutions help customers create, manage and share their data and digital assets more effectively. As a result, customers turn ideas into competitive advantage, become more productive, streamline project efficiency and maximize profits.

Founded in 1982, Autodesk is headquartered in San Rafael, California. For additional information about Autodesk, please visit http://www.autodesk.com/ .

NOTE: Autodesk, Autodesk Inventor and Inventor are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

Contact: Carly Herrig 312-233-1356 Andrew Favreau 312-297-7587
Email: carly.herrig@edelman.com andrew.favreau@edelman.com

SOURCE Autodesk, Inc. 12/20/2006


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(ADSK)


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