Release Details

Support Center Practices Certification Recognizes AspenTech for Delivering Top

Quality Customer Support

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aspen Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AZPN) today announced that its Customer Support Group has achieved certification under the prestigious Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification program. AspenTech achieved certification after an extensive audit of their Houston, Seattle and Cambridge support centers. SCP Certification is an internationally recognized standard created by the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) and a consortium of leading technology companies. It quantifies the effectiveness of customer support based upon a stringent set of performance standards, and represents the best practices in the industry.

"We are pleased to meet the rigorous requirements of the SCP program," said David McQuillin, President and CEO of AspenTech. "Our customers require comprehensive, enterprise-wide support to ensure they derive maximum value from our Engineering and Manufacturing/Supply Chain solutions. This certification is a reflection of the truly superior service provided by our dedicated Customer Support Group in meeting and exceeding those needs."

SCP Certification defines best practices for delivering world-class technology support. The program quantifies the effectiveness of customer support, establishes a foundation to build on existing quality programs, and provides a clear focus on measurable results. SCP Certification requires comprehensive on-site audits to confirm that companies meet the requirements of over 100 business elements defined in the program. In addition, certified companies must demonstrate their commitment to high performance standards through annual re-certification audits. The SCP community is comprised of approximately 100 leading technology companies representing more than 200 support centers located across North and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

"Aspen Technology's Customer Support Group is to be congratulated on successfully attaining their first SCP certification for their Houston, Seattle and Cambridge support centers," said SCP Auditor Dennis K. Fukuyama, Senior Consultant, Service Strategies Corporation. "The group's management team has worked extremely hard at building an organization that meets and exceeds the expectations of their customers. This is supported by the fact that 96% of their customers indicate that they are more than satisfied with the support services provided by this team of individuals. There is no questioning this team's commitment to continuously improving their operations and the levels of service they provide their customers. I look forward to their continued success."

AspenTech joins the ranks of leading technology companies that have achieved SCP Certification. Currently, over 80 companies representing over 200 support centers around the world are participating in the SCP program. These companies include industry leaders such as CompuCom Systems, Inc., Xerox Corporation, Mentor Graphics Corporation, Cognos Inc., McKesson Corporation, Stream International and Lockheed Martin Inc.

AspenTech's latest achievement follows a number of previous awards for excellent customer service. Earlier this year, the company announced that its Customer Support Group had again earned the Software Technical Assistance Recognition (STAR) Award from the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA). The award acknowledged the AspenTech team for providing exemplary customer support in the Complex Support Applications category.

About Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification

The Support Center Practices Certification program was developed to address service quality issues that affect the rapidly growing technology support industry. The SSPA and 35 of its member companies created the program along with Service Strategies Corporation. These companies contributed their insight and perspective into defining the key elements required for delivering World Class support. The SSPA represents nearly 20,000 service executives in 2,400 support centers worldwide. SSPA gives service and support professionals opportunities to share ideas, discuss developing trends and network with their peers. For more information about SSPA, visit http://www.theSSPA.com. Service Strategies Corporation is responsible for administering the SCP Certification program and conducting on-site certification audits. For more information about SCP Certification, contact Service Strategies Corporation at 858-674- 4864 or visit http://www.scpcertification.com/scp.

About AspenTech

Aspen Technology, Inc. is a leading supplier of enterprise software to the process industries, enabling its customers to increase their margins and optimize their business performance. AspenTech's engineering solutions, including Hyprotech's technologies, help companies design and improve their plants and processes, maximizing returns throughout their operational life. AspenTech's manufacturing/supply chain solutions allow companies to run their plants and supply chains more profitably, from customer demand through to the delivery of the finished products. Over 1,200 leading companies rely on AspenTech's software every day to drive improvements across their most important engineering and operational processes. AspenTech's customers include: Air Liquide, Aventis, Bayer, BASF, BP, ChevronTexaco, Dow Chemical, DuPont, ExxonMobil, GlaxoSmithKline, Lyondell Equistar, Merck, Mitsubishi Chemical, Shell, Southern Company, TXU Energy and Unilever. For more information, visit www.aspentech.com.

Certain paragraphs of this press release contain forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For this purpose, any statement using the term "will," "should," "could," "anticipates," "believes" or a comparable term is a forward-looking statement. Actual results may vary significantly from AspenTech's expectations based on a number of risks and uncertainties, including: AspenTech's lengthy sales cycle which makes it difficult to predict quarterly operating results; fluctuations in AspenTech's quarterly operating results; AspenTech's dependence on customers in the cyclical chemicals, petrochemicals and petroleum industries; AspenTech's need to hire additional qualified personnel and its dependence on key current employees; intense competition; AspenTech's dependence on systems integrators and other strategic partners; changes in the market for e-business solutions for AspenTech's customers; increased governmental regulation and taxation of e-commerce and the Internet; information security and privacy concerns relating to e-commerce; and other risk factors described from time to time in AspenTech's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AspenTech cannot guarantee any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. Moreover, neither AspenTech nor anyone else assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any forward-looking statements. AspenTech undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.

AspenTech, and the aspen leaf logo are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.

Contacts:

For Media:

Peter Watt

Aspen Technology, Inc.

+44 1223 819-752

peter.watt@aspentech.com

For Investors:

Carin Warner

Warner Communications

(978) 526-1960

carin@warnerpr.com

Joshua Young

Aspen Technology, Inc.

(617) 949-1274

joshua.young@aspentech.com

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SOURCE Aspen Technology, Inc.

-0- 12/17/2002

/CONTACT: Media: Peter Watt of Aspen Technology, Inc., +44 1223 819-752, peter.watt@aspentech.com; or Investors: Carin Warner of Warner Communications, +1-978-526-1960, carin@warnerpr.com; or Joshua Young of Aspen Technology, Inc., +1-617-949-1274, joshua.young@aspentech.com/

/Web site: http://www.scpcertification.com/scp