ERNI APPOINTS E-SMART DISTRIBUTION AS THEIR ADDITIONAL DISTRIBUTOR IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

ERNI today announced the appointment of E-SMART, its new additional distributor in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. As of Q1 2005, E-SMART, with headquarters in Singapore, will distribute the entire line of ERNI's high quality connectors in the region. The partnership with E-SMART enables ERNI to offer a high level of local support that will allow regional customers to maximize the benefits they realize from ERNI interconnect products.

"We are delighted about our new partnership with E-SMART," said Chris Bruhwiler, President and CEO of ERNI Asia. "E-SMART has a proven ability of delivering design and support solutions to the engineering environment in Southeast Asia. Our teaming with E-SMART further strengthens our global leadership as a provider of interconnect solutions."

Mr. KC Lee, CEO of ESMART, emphasizes ERNIs technology solutions as one of the most important reasons for E-SMART to go to market with ERNI interconnect products. "After careful research of the different technology and products available, we believed that ERNI offered the best solutions to meet the needs of the marketplace," said KC Lee.