For more information, contact:

Richard Beck Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. 970.407.6204 dick.beck@aei.com

John Field Symphony Systems 408.558.9160

Symphony Systems and Advanced Energy Debut Web-Enabled, Integrated Connectivity Solution for Semiconductor Manufacturing Industry

Campbell, California, and Fort Collins, Colorado (February 1, 2001)—Symphony Systems and Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS) announced the first in a family of products designed to increase overall equipment efficiency (OEE) within the semiconductor manufacturing industry—the eSES External Symphony Equipment Server. The eSES software is a network-optimized module that provides all the services needed to easily integrate equipment into applications that use intranets and extranets.

 

Last March, Advanced Energy (AE) and Symphony formed a strategic partnership to deliver an advanced network-based infrastructure that seamlessly connects people, equipment, and information to form a global resource management system that will dramatically improve overall equipment productivity. Under this agreement, both AE and Symphony will develop, market, and support these products for semiconductor OEMs and end-users, while AE will exclusively distribute these products to the semiconductor industry as a whole.

The eSES software was developed to address the escalating demand for productivity solutions within the chipmaking industry. With this new product, users can concurrently access and share tool and sensor data—a key factor in dramatically increasing the overall efficiency of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Symphony's Equipment Server software solution enables equipment to become a shared resource on the network, allowing multiple applications to concurrently access the tool and associated sensors in real time, much like printer servers provide access to multiple applications in the office environment. The eSES software resides at the equipment supervisory control level and manages the communication between client applications and the equipment Bill Shade, integrated systems product director of AE, commented on the role the eSES software is playing in providing increased productivity. “The eSES software is an important element in AE’s strategy to deliver integrated technology solutions. Symphony has made significant progress toward solving the equipment efficiency dilemma manufacturers currently face by enabling unprecedented, yet safe and secure, access to critical equipment information.”

The eSES software is specifically designed to support industry consortium SEMATECH’s e-Diagnostics initiative, facilitating collaboration between equipment manufacturers and fabs for more efficient tool maintenance and troubleshooting. The eSES software uses an object-based, open tool communications architecture and provides remote access to equipment for easy monitoring and control. The eSES software is available as an external add-on for semiconductor equipment with SECS communications interfaces. In addition, the product supports SECS pass-through and can be placed inline as a retrofit for existing factory automation systems.

Dr. Keith Bennett, Symphony chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Our primary goal is to provide customers with advanced, integrated solutions to maximize production efficiency and equipment value. After months of extensive beta testing and orders already secured from four key customers, the eSES software is positioned to provide significant value to the semiconductor industry, in much the same way that the office environment was revolutionized in the 80's with networked connectivity."

The eSES software greatly reduces the knowledge of the SECS/GEM standard required for development of equipment applications such as automatic process data collection, advanced process control (APC/AEC), manufacturing execution systems (MES), and others. Application developers can use off-the-shelf rapid application development tools to create and integrate a variety of equipment applications.

Sensor manufacturers can use eSES software to instantly add TCP/IP connectivity to their existing sensors without any sensor redesign. This enables correlation of the tool manufacturing data with the sensor data for real-time process analysis.

The eSES software provides equipment data access to the applications through an object interface such as an ActiveX(R) Control, a Java(R) interface, and other protocols or interfaces, as required by the application.

About Advanced Energy
Advanced Energy is a global leader in the development, marketing, and support of integrated technology solutions that are central in the manufacture of semiconductors, data storage products, and flat panel displays as well as other mission-critical power applications. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and end-users around the world depend on AE products when plasma-based technology plays a vital role in their manufacturing process. AE offers a comprehensive suite of key subsystems for vacuum process systems, including power conversion and control solutions, process monitoring and machine control tools, ion-beam sources, dynamic temperature control and measurement products, mass flow systems, and plasma abatement technologies. AE technology solutions are sold and supported globally by direct offices, representatives, and distributors. Founded in 1981, AE is a publicly held company traded on Nasdaq under the symbol AEIS. AE's URL is www.advanced-energy.com.

About Symphony Systems
Founded in 1997, Symphony uses its network-based tool connectivity infrastructure and suite of software services to seamlessly connect people with new and existing equipment within an entire supply chain, creating a web-based community of equipment, equipment users, equipment suppliers, parts and consumables suppliers, and application software providers, in real time. The result is a dynamic, highly secure resource management environment that optimizes the productivity of mission-critical capital equipment. More information can be found on www.symphony-systems.com.

Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent the companies' reasonable judgments with respect to future events, but are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Among the factors that could cause such different results are: the company may not be successful launching the new product into the marketplace and the company may face unanticipated manufacturing and marketing costs associated with the new product introduction. These and other cautionary statements are discussed in Advanced Energy's SEC reports, including its Forms 10-Q and most recent annual report on Form 10-K. The company continues to be susceptible to fluctuations in quarterly and annual revenues and operating results and the volatility and cyclicality of the semiconductor and semiconductor capital equipment industries. The company assumes no obligation to update the information in this release. Free copies of this and other documents are available from the SEC at www.sec.gov or Advanced Energy at 1625 Sharp Point Drive, Fort Collins, Colorado 80525; 970-221-4670.