National Instruments Acquires German Automotive Software

Company / Acquisition Resolves Infringement Dispute onLabVIEW(TM) Patent AUSTIN, Texas (PROTEXT) - National Instruments Germany GmbH(Nasdaq: NATI) announced today that it has acquired GfSSystemtechnik GmbH & Co.KG (Aachen, Germany), and relatedsubsidiaries. Financial terms of the acquisition were notdisclosed. GfS, founded in 1981, is a leading software providerfor the German automotive industry with branch offices in Berlin,Dresden, Hamburg and Munich plus a United States subsidiary inNovi, Michigan. "The combined technologies and expertise of NationalInstruments and GfS bring to the global marketplace the leadingcomputer-based measurement and automation solutions for theautomotive industry," said Dr. James Truchard, President and CEOof National Instruments. "We are excited about further expandingour research and development base in Germany, adding the newemployees to the National Instruments team, and providingexpanded coverage for GfS." Dr. Truchard added the 80 GfSemployees 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 greatlyenhances the product development, customer support, training, andturnkey 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 itsportfolio of software products for measurement and automationapplications including DIAdem(R), standard software forprocessing measured data under Windows. "The acquisition of GfS strengthens our position as thesoftware vendor of choice for measurement and automation," saidAlex Davern, CFO, National Instruments. "With the exception of aone time charge related to the acquisition, we do not anticipatethat the acquisition will have any material short term impact onearnings per share." Dr. Truchard concluded that National Instruments was pleasedthat the patent infringement issue was amicably resolved in a waythat customers would not be affected. National Instruments holdsmore than 20 patents worldwide on LabVIEW features such asgraphical programming structure nodes and VI hierarchy. LabVIEWis a leading graphical programming environment for measurementand automation applications. About National Instruments National Instruments, a leading supplier of computer-basedmeasurement and automation products, was founded in 1976. Thecompany manufactures hundreds of software and hardware products,which when combined with industry-standard computers, are used toreplace and/or communicate with traditional instrumentation toacquire, analyze, and display data and to monitor and controlprocesses. These computer-based instrumentation systems are usedfor measurement and industrial automation applications. National Instruments stock is traded on the Nasdaq NationalMarket System under the symbol NATI. Interested parties canobtain investment information from the company's InvestorRelations 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 NMopac Expwy, Austin, Texas, 78759-3504. Call toll free in theUnited States and Canada at 800-258-7022, fax 512-683-9300, e-mail info@natinst.com. Product and company names listed aretrademarks or trade names of their respective companies. otsOriginal 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

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