Joint Venture

Flomerics Group PLC
16 October 2000


                     FLOMERICS GROUP PLC

     ANNOUNCE JOINT VENTURE WITH NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR

 'New Thermal Simulator Powered by Web Tools from Flomerics
  Dramatically Shortens Time-to-Market for New Products by
     Enabling Concurrent Thermal and Electrical Design'

Flomerics  Group PLC, supplier of analysis software  to  the
telecommunications, semiconductor, and computer  industries,
is   pleased  to  announce  its  partnership  with  National
Semiconductor and todays release of WebTHERM TM, the first on-
line thermal simulator from a semiconductor manufacturer.
WebTHERM  is the first thermal simulation tool of its  kind,
allowing  designers to perform on-line thermal  analysis  of
their   power   supply  boards,  and  assess   the   thermal
performance of various National Semiconductor parts in-situ.
Once  a design is finalized, the designer can buy a part,  a
kit  of  parts or an entire evaluation board,  and  have  it
delivered the next day.

WebTHERM  was  developed  by  the  partnership  of  National
Semiconductor with Flomerics, the market leader  in  thermal
analysis  software  for  electronics.  The  development   of
WebTHERM  was a result of National's realization  that  heat
management  is  an  increasingly critical design  factor  in
today's  fanless products, and that thermal loading  is  the
largest single cause of failure of electronics devices.
WebTHERM   helps  engineers  create  power   supply   layout
iterations,  perform environmental and airflow  adjustments,
measure   heat   dissipation  trade-offs,  run   board-level
simulations, and view a full-color thermal image in minutes.
It  is powered by the innovative 'SmartPart' technology from
Flomerics,  which generates accurate thermal  models  of  IC
packages through a high-level interpretive language.

David Tatchell, Chief Executive, Flomerics, commented:
'Flomerics  and  National Semiconductor are  proud  to  have
created  the  industry's first web-based thermal  simulation
capability, and to have made it available free of charge  to
design  engineers. WebTHERM will help designers avoid costly
thermal  design  problems, and help speed  new  products  to
market.'

Phil   Gibson,   vice  president,  Web  Business,   National
Semiconductor said:
'National  and Flomerics are partnering to  deliver  fast,
easy-to-use,  on-line thermal modeling for  every  engineer.
Using  WebTHERM,  engineers around the  world  will  deliver
rugged   power  supply  designs  faster  than  ever   before
possible.'

For further information, please contact:

Flomerics:
David Tatchell / Hassan Moezzi               020 8941 8810


Buchanan Communications:
Tim Thompson / Nicola Cronk                  020 7466 5000



NOTES TO EDITORS
About National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor (www.national.com) provides  system-
on-a-chip solutions for the information age. Combining real-
world  analog  and state-of the-art digital technology,  the
company's  chips lead many sectors of the personal computer,
communications, and consumer markets.  With headquarters  in
Santa  Clara,  California, National reported sales  of  $2.1
billion  for  its  last  fiscal year and  has  about  10,500
employees  worldwide. National Semiconductor Corporation  is
quoted  on  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  with  a  market
capitalisation of over $6 billion.

About Flomerics
Founded  in 1988, Flomerics (www.flomerics.com) is a  world-
leading  player  in the rapidly-expanding field  of  virtual
prototyping,  providing software which enables engineers  to
test  virtual models of their equipment on a computer before
building  physical prototypes.  Flomerics' suite of  virtual
prototyping products dramatically reduces the time  required
for  new  product  development, at the  same  time  lowering
production    costs    and   improving   product    quality.
Headquartered  in the UK, Flomerics revenues  in  1999  were
approximately 14 million US dollars (£8.7 million).