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National Instruments Announces Plans for 'Engineer Barbie'

Career-Oriented Barbie Designed to Promote Interest in Dolls among Engineers, Scientists

MALIBU, Calif. - April 1, 2006 - National Instruments, a global leader in virtual instrumentation, today announced plans to develop a new version of Mattel's wildly successful doll line. Engineer Barbie, the latest incarnation of the 11½-inch fashion icon, will be released during NIWeek as part of the company's continued focus on increasing the productivity, and personality, of engineers and scientists. The company sees this as a natural extension of its widely acclaimed efforts to increase interest in math and science among children to ensure a steady of supply of engineers and scientists in the future.

Engineer Barbie "This is a big step forward for NI in terms of two very important company initiatives," said John Graff, NI vice president of marketing. "Since Microsoft has used our products to test the Xbox 360, as well as our work with LEGO, we felt it made sense to further expand our burgeoning toy division with Engineer Barbie. At the same time, we are motivating engineers and scientists to take up doll play as an alternative to the 'busywork' of science and math."

In a departure from traditional Barbie glamour, Engineer Barbie's wardrobe will reflect her chosen profession. She will be outfitted with a navy blue NI T-shirt, board shorts and a pair of worn out flip-flops. In addition to the casual dress, Engineer Barbie accessories will include a laptop computer, a chewed up #2 pencil and an EE Times Product of the Year trophy.

"I can't wait to see how Engineer Barbie gets along with my Spa Getaway Barbie," said an excited Shelley Gretlein, real-time and embedded group manager at National Instruments. "Wait, that reminds me," she continued. "I hope my Fashion Fever Dream Closet is big enough for both Barbies and my Pirates of the Caribbean Ken!"

National Instruments also announced plans for Engineer Barbie 2.0 that will leverage the LabVIEW Embedded platform and the new distributed intelligence features of LabVIEW 8. Engineer Barbie 2.0 will dramatically simplify the process of designing, prototyping and deploying Barbie social networks.

Pricing, Availability, and More Information
Engineer Barbie is not an actual product, and if you attempt to purchase it from National Instruments or Mattel, you will likely be met with hysterical laughter. Happy April Fool's Day!

About National Instruments
For 30 years, National Instruments (www.ni.com) has been a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation - a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists in industry, government and academia approach measurement and automation. The company is run by people with a well-developed sense of humor who would not punish the content team for a once-per-year bit of tomfoolery - April Fools! Leveraging PCs and commercial technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for test, control and design applications through easy-to-integrate software, such as NI LabVIEW, and modular measurement and control hardware for PXI, PCI, PCI Express, USB and Ethernet. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 3,800 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. For the past seven years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America. Readers can obtain investment information from the company's investor relations department by calling (512) 683-5090, e-mailing nati@ni.com or visiting www.ni.com/nati.

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