Altair and FTSS Cooperate to Deliver Integrated Safety Analysis Solution

Altair to sell, support and integrate FTSS correlated virtual dummies with RADIOSS crash analysis software

TROY, Mich., May 27 -- Altair Engineering, Inc., a global provider of technology and services empowering client innovation and decision-making, today announced a long term agreement with First Technology Safety Systems, Inc. (FTSS), the world's leading designer and manufacturer of sophisticated crash test dummies and their virtual counterparts, to integrate and deliver FTSS crash dummy models with Altair's RADIOSS crash analysis software. The unique agreement provides the foundation to jointly develop and deliver a highly integrated, accurate safety analysis solution, specifically tailored to meet the needs of the global crash analysis community.

Under the agreement, Altair will have responsibility to market, sell, and provide first-line support for FTSS dummy models that are provided with RADIOSS. The agreement also outlines close collaboration between Altair and FTSS software development teams to harmonize RADIOSS with the FTSS virtual dummies to deliver a high quality, well-correlated safety analysis solution. FTSS dummy models will be directly supported in HyperWorks modeling and visualization products including HyperMesh and HyperView as well as HyperCrash, a highly tuned modeling environment for crash analysis and safety evaluation.

"Altair is firmly committed to delivering world class safety performance solutions," says James R. Scapa, president and CEO of Altair Engineering. "As such, we recognize the importance of high fidelity dummy models deeply integrated with our core product set. This need is clearly best served through partnering, at both a business and technology development level, with the premier dummy manufacturer in the world."

"FTSS is pleased to offer its high fidelity dummy models in the RADIOSS solution for our joint customers," says Christopher J. O'Connor, president and CEO of FTSS. "We are proud to partner with a global leader in the field of Computer Aided Engineering and Analysis, and confident that together we will deliver optimized CAE solutions in the field of occupant safety and crashworthiness."

"High quality finite element dummy models are critical to the virtual safety design process," says Djamal E Midoun, NAE unibody safety manager at Ford Motor Company. "I am glad to see a partnership between FTSS and Altair in developing such models, it will provide us with an important enabler to meet the increasingly demanding external as well as Ford internal requirements, with less time and fewer physical prototypes."

About First Technology Safety Systems, Inc.

FTSS is the world's leading provider of sophisticated crash test dummies and computer crash simulation models. Headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan USA, FTSS has been leading the innovation of crash test dummy design and manufacturing for over 40 years. FTSS products include a full range of infant, youth and adult dummies for automotive, military and aerospace applications. FTSS is also the leading provider of sophisticated computer finite element models for crash simulation analysis and integrated in-dummy, crash wall, trolley and pole data acquisition systems, known as iCrash(TM).