NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR LAUNCHES BUY.NATIONAL.COM

Company Also Completes Industry's First Internet Content & Exchange (ICE) Transaction to Enable Efficient Catalog Sharing with Customers and Business Partners

March 1, 1999 -National Semiconductor Corporation® today announced that it has opened a new Internet-based sales channel BUY.NATIONAL.COM that makes it easier for customers do business with the company and its distributors online. The site complements the company's existing distribution channel partnerships by helping customers find and buy National products anywhere they exist. From a centralized Web site, any customer worldwide can obtain product availability and pricing from National and its distributors as well as place immediate orders online. National is the first semiconductor manufacturer to provide this capability.

A single "Order Parts" query automatically generates an availability table for the requested device and creates hyperlinks into the order forms for every Web-enabled distributor with stock available to sell. Customers benefit by getting access to National's full distribution channel through one simplified interface. Adoption of this service has been fast, with referral rates reaching approximately 25,000 transfers per month in February.

"BUY.NATIONAL.COM is a move to utilize web technology to expand the customers' sales channel options," said Mike Bereziuk, executive vice president of marketing and sales at National Semiconductor. "Through this 'one-stop-shop' concept, customers receive the benefit of pricing, availability, lead times and direct ordering from National and our distribution partners."

Some of the key features offered on BUY.NATIONAL.COM include:

• A Search/Order Parts function that provides links to partner site order forms and inventory availability status in just two clicks
• Cross Reference Search capability to quickly find equivalent National devices
• A "My Bill of Materials" page to create private Web sites for bill of material tracking
• Pricing and Distribution Inventory functions to rapidly build multi-part price and availability tables
• A Master Selection Guide to view alphabetical links resembling a resale price book
• Obsolete Product Search function to find older device status and replacements

National: A Catalog Publisher?
Using the Internet Content & Exchange (ICE) protocol, National is the first company to syndicate its entire product catalog to business partners and customers. The first site-to-site business relationship is in production with Newark Electronics. Newark is the largest catalog distributor of electronic components in the world, selling over 150,000 electronic parts from over 300 manufacturers through its catalogs, CD-ROM, and Web site.

Before ICE, National distributed its catalog through custom PERL scripts and development-intensive relationships with its partners. This painstaking process required a great deal of management and did not provide the ability to easily duplicate catalog information for numerous targets. With the completion of its first ICE transaction National now has a process that automates the sharing of catalog information, allowing the company to dynamically communicate with hundreds of partner sites worldwide.

"With ICE, it is very easy for Newark Electronics to interact with National over the Internet to integrate its large catalog of product information into our Web site," said Leigh Townley, assistant vice president/general manager in charge of electronic commerce at Newark. "We can personalize our site with National Semiconductor information that fits the needs of our customers without transferring them directly to National's site, saving them a great deal of time."

About ICE
Based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML), ICE 1.0 is the world's first protocol to enable content syndication. The protocol has been designed to significantly reduce the cost of online business by providing the standard to build Internet value or trading networks, such as syndicated publishing networks, Web superstores and online reseller channels. For businesses, ICE will make it easier to build value chains from suppliers to distributors to end-users.

"Syndication relationships will enable customers to find and buy National products on a large number of Web sites beyond our site exclusively," said Phil Gibson, director of interactive marketing at National Semiconductor. "This new reach will help customers save valuable time and could potentially reward National with increased sales in the future."

About National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor 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, Calif., National has annual sales of approximately $2.5 billion and 11,500 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.