Newport Corp. to Market/Distribute Ball Aerospace Products for Semiconductor Equipment Markets

Business Wire, Jan 26, 2001

Business Editors

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 26, 2001

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and Newport Corp. (Nasdaq:NEWP) today announced they have entered into an agreement for Newport to market and distribute a number of Ball Aerospace commercial products to the semiconductor equipment market.

Under the distribution agreement, Ball Aerospace will continue to design and manufacture its commercial fast-steering mirrors, which will then be distributed using Newport's international sales force and catalog marketing group.

"This agreement represents an ideal alignment of two companies whose combined expertise in the commercial arena can better serve our similar customer bases in the semiconductor equipment market," said Steve Shimer, manager of business development for Ball Aerospace's Engineering Technology Products business unit.

"As Ball Aerospace continues to commercialize its technology, it makes sense to position these products more competitively in the marketplace. Newport's marketing and distribution capabilities will allow us to meet this strategic goal. This is only the first of what we hope will be a long line of commercial products Ball Aerospace has developed to meet the needs of Newport's extensive customer base."

"Fast-steering mirror technology will increase the breadth of Newport's product offerings for the semiconductor equipment market as well as enhance Newport's ability to provide its customers with enabling optical systems solutions," said Brad Stephens, Newport's marketing manager for strategic markets.

"By utilizing Ball Aerospace's strong technology background, we are confident that together we will be able to bring other Ball products to the commercial marketplace."

Ball Aerospace designs and produces numerous fast-steering and tip-tilt mirrors for commercial markets requiring the accurate and rapid movement of ultraviolet through infrared light. The commercial mirrors accommodate a broad range of line-of-sight stabilization applications including: image stabilization, laser communication, jitter motion compensation, military targeting systems, optical instrumentation, high-energy laser pointing, astronomy laser light shows and laboratory experimentation. The high-performance mirrors have bandwidths of 500 Hz or greater and are available in clear apertures from 10 to 100 millimeters.

Newport Corp. is a global leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of high-precision components, instruments and integrated systems to the fiber-optic communications, semiconductor equipment, computer peripherals and scientific research markets.

The company's innovative products are designed to enhance productivity and capabilities of test and measurement and automated assembly for precision manufacturing, engineering and research applications. Customers include Fortune 500 corporations, technology companies and research laboratories in commercial, academic and government sectors worldwide.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. provides imaging and communications products for commercial and government customers worldwide and is a subsidiary of Ball Corp. (NYSE:BLL), a Fortune 500 company with sales of $3.7 billion in 2000.

Certain forward-looking statements have been made or implied in this news release. These forward-looking statements represent Newport's and Ball's goals and are based on certain assumptions and estimates that involve a number of risks or uncertainties. Ball Aerospace & Technologies is a subsidiary of Ball Corp. Some factors that could cause Ball's actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include risk factors listed in Ball Corp.'s Form 10-Q filed on Nov. 10, 2000. As discussed in Newport's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2000, assumptions relating to the foregoing involve judgments with respect to, among other things, future economic, competitive and market conditions, and whether its products, particularly those targeting the company's strategic markets, will continue to achieve customer acceptance, and future business decisions, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of which are beyond the control of Newport. Although Newport and Ball believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the results contemplated in forward-looking statements will be realized. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking information included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by Ball or Newport that the objectives or plans will be achieved.