National Instruments Acquires German Automotive Software

Company / Acquisition Resolves Infringement Dispute on LabVIEW(TM) Patent AUSTIN, Texas (PROTEXT) - National Instruments Germany GmbH (Nasdaq: NATI) announced today that it has acquired GfS Systemtechnik GmbH & Co.KG (Aachen, Germany), and related subsidiaries. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. GfS, founded in 1981, is a leading software provider for the German automotive industry with branch offices in Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg and Munich plus a United States subsidiary in Novi, Michigan. "The combined technologies and expertise of National Instruments and GfS bring to the global marketplace the leading computer-based measurement and automation solutions for the automotive industry," said Dr. James Truchard, President and CEO of National Instruments. "We are excited about further expanding our research and development base in Germany, adding the new employees to the National Instruments team, and providing expanded coverage for GfS." Dr. Truchard added the 80 GfS employees will continue their current employment, and that Dr. Wilfried Melder, President of GfS, will remain as President (Geschaftsfuehrer) of the new National Instruments subsidiary. "The combination of GfS and National Instruments greatly enhances the product development, customer support, training, and turnkey systems that we can provide our customers," said Dr. Wilfried Melder, President of GfS GmbH & Co.KG. National Instruments will be adding the GfS products to its portfolio of software products for measurement and automation applications including DIAdem(R), standard software for processing measured data under Windows. "The acquisition of GfS strengthens our position as the software vendor of choice for measurement and automation," said Alex Davern, CFO, National Instruments. "With the exception of a one time charge related to the acquisition, we do not anticipate that the acquisition will have any material short term impact on earnings per share." Dr. Truchard concluded that National Instruments was pleased that the patent infringement issue was amicably resolved in a way that customers would not be affected. National Instruments holds more than 20 patents worldwide on LabVIEW features such as graphical programming structure nodes and VI hierarchy. LabVIEW is a leading graphical programming environment for measurement and automation applications. About National Instruments National Instruments, a leading supplier of computer-based measurement and automation products, was founded in 1976. The company manufactures hundreds of software and hardware products, which when combined with industry-standard computers, are used to replace and/or communicate with traditional instrumentation to acquire, analyze, and display data and to monitor and control processes. These computer-based instrumentation systems are used for measurement and industrial automation applications. National Instruments stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol NATI. Interested parties can obtain investment information from the company's Investor Relations Department at 512-349-5090, e-mail nati@natinst.com , or by visiting http://www.natinst.com/nati For more information, contact National Instruments, 11500 N Mopac Expwy, Austin, Texas, 78759-3504. Call toll free in the United States and Canada at 800-258-7022, fax 512-683-9300, e- mail info@natinst.com. Product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. ots Original Text Service: National Instruments Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Dave Kamp, Editor Contact, 800-258-7022, or Alex Davern, Investor Relations, 512-683-6977, both of National Instruments Web site: http://www.natinst.com Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents. PROTEXT