Altium Local Media Contact Janice Hughes Hughes Communications, Inc. 15 Oak Tree Lane Old Lyme, CT 06371 USA Telephone: +1 860 434 3782 Fax: +1 860 434 8136 Email: janice@hughescom.net

Corporate Media Contact David Ross ALTIUM LIMITED Level 3, 12a Rodborough Road Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 Australia http://www.altium.com Telephone: +61 2 99757710 Fax: +61 2 99757720 Email: dave.ross@altium.com.au

Sydney, Australia - August 6, 2001 - Protel International Limited, leading developer of Windows-based desktop electronic design software, today announced that the organization has been renamed Altium Limited. Altium Limited is the new corporate brand that will work hand-in-hand with all current and future individual product brands and serve as a highly recognizable corporate platform adding value to the organization's current and future products.

More than a name change, the launch of Altium as a distinct corporate brand represents the next stage in the realization of the Company's long-established vision to help engineers turn their ideas into products in the easiest and most productive way possible. This is being achieved by reframing and unifying the organization's product development, sales and support processes across all product brands and by enhancing the Company's focus on the most important element in the design process - the engineer.

All current product brands, such as Protel, P-CAD, TASKING, Accolade, CircuitMaker and CAMtastic!, will continue to be developed, marketed and sold under their respective brand names, with Altium representing to customers a unified source for these and future product brands. All corporate, sales, support and promotional activities will take place under the Altium name, and all operating subsidiaries will also be renamed from this date.

Altium is a Latin word that means "high" or "to grow great" - a definition that embodies not only the organization's rapid progress since its foundation in 1985, but more importantly its vision to provide engineers with everything they need to succeed. The Altium motto - Think it, Design it, Build it - embraces the engineering process and communicates the organization's commitment to engineers. Just as the individual engineer is passionate about developing ideas and bringing them to life, Altium is committed to providing all engineers with the best design tools to enable them to achieve their goals.

As stated by Nick Martin, Protel founder and joint CEO of Altium Limited:

"We recognize that the engineer is the quiet achiever, the unsung hero, the one who drives significant change and fosters the technological advancement of our society. Our mission is to know and understand the engineer, to help him or her succeed. We strive to create products that make the engineer as powerful, productive and effective as possible. We want to make things easier for the engineer in any way we can."

Altium does not represent a change in the strategic direction for the Company. Rather, the transformation of corporate brand identity from Protel International to Altium is the vital next step in the realization of the long-established vision to make complete state-of-the-art electronic design systems accessible to all professional engineers and designers. To date, this vision has been achieved through a consistent focus on developing and acquiring desktop software tools that cover a broad range of electronic design technologies and that are easy to learn, use and afford. The creation of Altium as a corporate masterbrand furthers this vision by providing a strong identity that engineers will see as the single source for all of their design tool needs.

Nick Martin reaffirms this commitment to the engineer:

"Historically, the most advanced, state-of-the-art design tools have been prohibitively priced, with access being limited to engineers based within the few companies that could afford them. The Altium vision - and one that has remained unchanged since the Company's inception - is to break down these artificial barriers to innovation and technological advancement and provide every engineer and system designer with easy access to the best possible design tools. Our ultimate goal is to develop the complete electronics design system and ensure it is available to every professional engineer and designer - this is the driving force behind why our Company was founded and why we are still here today doing what we do."

Why Change?

The Company has a long history of innovation in the EDA industry and has always looked beyond its traditional boundaries to ensure that it can sustain high growth rates and achieve its strategic aims. The continuing rapid expansion of the Company, facilitated by a highly successful IPO in 1999, has seen the Company grow from one that developed and marketed a single product brand - the Protel desktop PCB design tool - to one that now serves a growing customer base with multiple brands, covering a wide spectrum of the EDA and embedded systems markets.

In parallel with its aggressive product development and acquisition strategy, the Company has been pursuing the development of a strong corporate masterbrand that will equally represent all product brands and provide a unified platform for future growth. Altium is the culmination of this strategy.

The Future

The Company's strength in board design tools and the recent acquisitions of FPGA and embedded software design technologies, will make Altium a true single source for all electronic design tools, bridging the gap between the design of hardware and software. The unique "Design Explorer" tool integration platform currently powering the Protel 99 SE board design solution will be used as the platform upon which all Altium product brands will be based. The creation of a single environment that seamlessly delivers all the tools required by engineers and designers is a key ingredient in the Altium vision. This platform, "Design Explorer," allows unprecedented levels of tool integration and will serve as an environment in which both hardware and software design tools can interact, paving the way for true system-focused design.

Altium will also continue Protel International's focus on developing the desktop as the most productive design platform for engineers. By providing products that are full-featured, offer true value for money and run on a low-cost infrastructure, Altium will provide engineers with unrivalled access to state-of-the-art design tools and represent a real alternative to high-priced, complex Unix-based systems. Without the burden of having to reserve high-value technologies for high-end platform products Altium will be able to remove many of the artificial constraints faced by engineers - such as restricted access to advanced tools and the traditional high costs associated with new design methodologies.

The establishment of Altium as a distinct corporate masterbrand will bring significant benefits to customers. These benefits include:

• A single source for all design tool needs and a unified sales and support channel across all product brands, simplifying purchasing and maintenance processes.
• Altium's unique "Design Explorer" will mean a consistent design environment across all product brands. This means high levels of tool integration as well as smooth transition between the different phases of design, facilitating ease of use and eliminating the need to learn a new environment when adding new design tools.
• Altium's focus on the desktop is an attractive alternative to high-end, complex, expensive Unix systems. Altium tools provide all the power and performance of a workstation toolset but with desktop pricing, ease-of-use and accessibility.
• The majority of electronic design tools in the marketplace are sold as separate modules - whereas Altium's products are "full suites" with all core tools integrated and offered at a single price point.
• Altium is continually acquiring and incorporating the latest technology into all product lines made possible by the Design Explorer platform. Customers get the benefit of earlier access to these emerging technologies.

The move also signals to Altium's investors a continuation of the forward-looking philosophy applied to the development of both the business and its markets. The Company has demonstrated a strong ability to deliver returns on shareholders' investment, and the progressive principles applied to Altium's product development will continue to fuel the Company's growth. Since its listing on the Australian Stock Exchange, the Company has displayed an insightful and intuitive approach to the market and, having developed a unique platform for the integration of desktop design software, is poised to expand into new related markets.

Altium is firmly positioned at the forefront of desktop design software development. Its strong commitment to empowering the engineer with revolutionary levels of accessibility, functionality and ease of use in desktop design software will see Altium shape the future of this rapidly expanding industry. The organization's commitment to the development of advanced tools for the PC desktop, as well as its continuing investment in emerging technologies and business approaches will ensure that Altium continues to offer design systems that make the engineer as powerful, productive and effective as possible.

Altium Brand Structure Diagram

About Altium Limited

Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), trading as Protel International Limited (ASX: PRI) prior to August 6, 2001, is a leading global developer and supplier of desktop electronic design automation (EDA) software for the Microsoft Windows environment.

Since the Company's foundation in 1985 and its release of the world's first Microsoft Windows-based EDA tool in 1991, Altium has continued to apply the most advanced software design methods to provide powerful, easy-to-use and affordable design software to engineers and electronics designers worldwide.

Altium's current product brands include Protel, P-CAD, TASKING, Accolade, CircuitMaker and CAMtastic!. These products offer tailored solutions covering a range of hardware and software design processes.

Altium is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and operates a number of sales and support offices in Australia, the United States, Japan and Europe - as well as maintaining a large reseller network in all other major markets. More information about the Company and its products and services may be obtained from our new website at http://www.altium.com.