Doug Patterson Named VP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing For Aitech

CHATSWORTH, CA -- February 16, 2005 --Douglas H. Patterson has been named Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for Aitech Defense Systems, Inc., a world leader in the development and manufacture of board and system level products for harsh environment defense and aerospace applications. In his new position, Patterson will be responsible for the development and implementation of Aitech's global sales and marketing strategies and programs.

In making the announcement, Aitech CEO Roger Rowe stated that, "Doug is one of the rugged embedded industry's most renowned, experienced and capable professionals. He helped launch the harsh environment open architecture concept that we now call COTS almost two decades ago and has been continually involved in key industry advances since then. With our new emphasis on the North American market, we needed someone with the proven industry, marketing and technical expertise that Doug has demonstrated throughout his career."

Prior to joining Aitech, Patterson served as director of business development for the Government Group of SBS Technologies, Inc., Albuquerque, N.M., a manufacturer of a wide range of standard and customized embedded computer products used in such industries as telecommunications, medical electronics, industrial automation, defense and aerospace. Before joining SBS, Patterson served as director of marketing for VISTA Controls, a Curtiss- Wright company. There he managed the company's IR&D program and developed successful marketing communications and media awareness programs.

Patterson has also served as director of marketing for Ixthos, the DSP center of Dy4 Systems based in Leesburg, VA and as marketing manager for military systems for SBS Embedded Computers division of SBS Technologies, Inc., a designer/manufacturer of standard and custom board- and system-level computer subsystems and subassemblies for defense, industrial, telecommunications and commercial applications. He also served as marketing manager, single-board computers and systems products, for Dy4 Systems Inc., Kanata, Ontario, Canada, a designer and manufacturer of COTS VMEbus board, chassis and system-level products for the rugged and defense markets.

Patterson launched his career in the harsh environment embedded market while serving as marketing manager for Radstone Technology, Montvale, NJ. There he helped to first introduce the concept of off-the-shelf, COTS/NDI (commercial off-the-shelf/non-developmental items) open standard architecture military products with the industry's first technical trade publication article on the subject (published in Electronic Products in 1987). Following that, Patterson became a frequent contributor to the trade press and to technical conferences on this then nascent but emerging technology.

A native of Connecticut, Patterson has been active in VITA (the VMEbus International Trade Association), PICMG (PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group), the IEEE and other ANSI-accredited standard groups. He has been published widely in industry-related trade publications and has participated on many industry-related symposia, panels, and conferences. He has an ASEE from Connecticut State Technical University and a BSEE from Sacred Heart University. Patterson also holds several U.S. and European technical patents.

For more information, please call 866-388-0712 or e-mail sales@rugged.com.

Established in 1983, Aitech offers space-qualified, military and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products for defense and space applications, radiation tolerant and MIL-SPEC solutions, VMEbus and Compact PCI boards, enclosures and systems, and hardware system integration. In addition, Aitech utilizes its broad base of off-the-shelf products and technologies to develop customer specific solutions, deliver superior cost-performance and reliability and expedite time to market. Applications for its products range from mission processors, fire control and mission control subsystems for ground vehicles, surface and subsurface naval platforms, tactical and strategic fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, to low- and high-earth orbit space vehicles.