Release Details

Aventis to extend AspenTech's manufacturing and compliance solution to primary

and secondary manufacturing plants worldwide

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/-- Aspen Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AZPN) today announced it has reached agreement with Aventis, a market-leading global pharmaceutical company, to extend AspenTech's pharmaceutical manufacturing and compliance solution to Aventis' primary and secondary manufacturing plants worldwide. The solution provides Electronic Batch Records, Data Historian, Data Analysis and Enterprise Integration. The agreement is a key element in the Aventis strategy to maintain compliance with current and future FDA requirements, including 21 CFR Part 11.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000811/ASPENLOGO )

"We selected AspenTech after an intense study, and have assessed its solution to be the most complete and cost-effective available today," said Dr. Hanns E. Erle, Aventis Senior Vice President in Industrial Operations. "This agreement is expected to reduce the complexity in our business, contain the number of our software suppliers, and enable us to consider new ways of improving our manufacturing operations in partnership with AspenTech."

This new agreement provides a standard and complete solution that can be applied to all of Aventis' worldwide manufacturing facilities.

"The endorsement of a world leader such as Aventis is an important validation of our Enterprise Operations Management solution for the pharmaceutical industry," said David McQuillin, President and CEO of AspenTech. "Our experience in driving cost out of manufacturing in other process industries, together with our investment in compliance solutions for pharmaceuticals, is a unique combination that offers a way for pharmaceutical companies to optimize their operations in the current challenging business environment."

About Aventis

Aventis is dedicated to improving life by treating and preventing human disease through the discovery and development of innovative prescription drugs for important therapeutic areas as well as human vaccines. In 2001, Aventis generated sales of 17.7 billion euros, invested 3 billion euros in research and development and employed approximately 75,000 people in its core business. Aventis corporate headquarters are in Strasbourg, France. For more information, please visit: www.aventis.com

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.

The first paragraph and certain other 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

Carin Warner

Warner Communications

(978) 526-1960

carin@warnerpr.com

For Investors:

Joshua Young

Aspen Technology, Inc.

(617) 949-1274

joshua.young@aspentech.com

SOURCE Aspen Technology, Inc.

-0- 11/20/2002

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

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/Web site: http://www.aspentech.com