Forbes Ranks Ansoft Among 200 Best Small Companies

  
    
  
  
    
      Ansoft Corporation (NASDAQ:ANST), a leading developer of 
      high-performance electronic design automation (EDA) software, today 
      announced that Forbes magazine has ranked the company 82nd on its annual 
      list of the 200 Best Small Companies.
    
    
      “Our list of the 200 Best Small Companies 
      ferrets out the most robust, fundamentally disciplined public outfits 
      with sales between $5 million and $750 million,” 
      wrote Jack Gage in Forbes. “These winners have 
      come through a tough year, contending with suddenly high-energy costs 
      and a string—only recently broken—of 
      17 interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Not surprisingly, 
      most of these 200 scrappy players carry low debt burdens. Twenty-one 
      companies grew too large for our list this year; roughly 30% of last 
      year's members were not invited back, typically because of declining 
      earnings in recent quarters.”
    
    
      Inclusion on the Forbes annual list requires companies to meet a series 
      of financial benchmarks, including annual sales criteria and profit 
      margins of greater than 5 percent with positive sales and profit growth, 
      on average, over both the last five years and last twelve months.
    
    
      "We are pleased to be included on the list of the top financial 
      performers for small companies as defined by Forbes," said Nicholas 
      Csendes, Ansoft's president and CEO. "Our inclusion on the list 
      recognizes Ansoft’s record of continuous 
      profitable growth and is testament to our focus on executing our 
      business model. We are excited about the growth prospects for our 
      innovative simulation software that is used by engineers to design 
      high-performance electronic products and we anticipate continued revenue 
      growth and expanding profit margins."
    
    
      To learn more about the 200 Best Small Companies, visit www.forbes.com/lists/2006/23/biz_06200best_The-200-Best-Small- 
      Companies_land.html (Due to its length, 
      this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's 
      address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.) or see the print 
      edition of Forbes dated Oct. 30, 2006.
    
    
      About Forbes
    
    
      Forbes is a privately held publishing and news media company. Its 
      flagship publication is Forbes, the oldest of the nation's major 
      business magazines, which will celebrate its 90th Anniversary in 2007. 
      In an industry increasingly dominated by public conglomerates, Forbes 
      remains one of the largest and most successful family businesses of its 
      kind. In recent years the company has expanded to include Forbes.com, 
      Forbes Conference Group, Forbes Custom Media, and American Heritage. In 
      August 2006 Elevation Partners, a private equity firm, became a minority 
      shareholder in a newly formed company, Forbes Media LLC. For more 
      information, visit www.forbesinc.com.
    
    
      About Ansoft
    
    
      Ansoft is a leading developer of high-performance electronic design 
      automation (EDA) software. Engineers use Ansoft software to design 
      state-of-the-art electronic products, such as cellular phones, 
      Internet-access devices, broadband networking components and systems, 
      integrated circuits (ICs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), automotive 
      electronic systems and power electronics. Ansoft markets its products 
      worldwide through its own direct sales force and has comprehensive 
      customer-support and training offices throughout North America, Asia and 
      Europe.
    
    
      For more information, please visit www.ansoft.com.
    
  
Ansoft Corporation (NASDAQ:ANST), a leading developer of
high-performance electronic design automation (EDA) software, today
announced that Forbes magazine has ranked the company 82nd on its
annual list of the 200 Best Small Companies.

   "Our list of the 200 Best Small Companies ferrets out the most
robust, fundamentally disciplined public outfits with sales between $5
million and $750 million," wrote Jack Gage in Forbes. "These winners
have come through a tough year, contending with suddenly high-energy
costs and a string--only recently broken--of 17 interest rate hikes by
the U.S. Federal Reserve. Not surprisingly, most of these 200 scrappy
players carry low debt burdens. Twenty-one companies grew too large
for our list this year; roughly 30% of last year's members were not
invited back, typically because of declining earnings in recent
quarters."

   Inclusion on the Forbes annual list requires companies to meet a
series of financial benchmarks, including annual sales criteria and
profit margins of greater than 5 percent with positive sales and
profit growth, on average, over both the last five years and last
twelve months.

   "We are pleased to be included on the list of the top financial
performers for small companies as defined by Forbes," said Nicholas
Csendes, Ansoft's president and CEO. "Our inclusion on the list
recognizes Ansoft's record of continuous profitable growth and is
testament to our focus on executing our business model. We are excited
about the growth prospects for our innovative simulation software that
is used by engineers to design high-performance electronic products
and we anticipate continued revenue growth and expanding profit
margins."

   To learn more about the 200 Best Small Companies, visit
www.forbes.com/lists/2006/23/biz_06200best_The-200-Best-Small-
Companies_land.html (Due to its length, this URL may need to be
copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the
extra space if one exists.) or see the print edition of Forbes dated
Oct. 30, 2006.

   About Forbes

   Forbes is a privately held publishing and news media company. Its
flagship publication is Forbes, the oldest of the nation's major
business magazines, which will celebrate its 90th Anniversary in 2007.
In an industry increasingly dominated by public conglomerates, Forbes
remains one of the largest and most successful family businesses of
its kind. In recent years the company has expanded to include
Forbes.com, Forbes Conference Group, Forbes Custom Media, and American
Heritage. In August 2006 Elevation Partners, a private equity firm,
became a minority shareholder in a newly formed company, Forbes Media
LLC. For more information, visit www.forbesinc.com.

   About Ansoft

   Ansoft is a leading developer of high-performance electronic
design automation (EDA) software. Engineers use Ansoft software to
design state-of-the-art electronic products, such as cellular phones,
Internet-access devices, broadband networking components and systems,
integrated circuits (ICs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), automotive
electronic systems and power electronics. Ansoft markets its products
worldwide through its own direct sales force and has comprehensive
customer-support and training offices throughout North America, Asia
and Europe.

   For more information, please visit www.ansoft.com.