National Technical Systems and Siemens Announce Strategic Alliance to Provide Testing Services in Europe

Business Wire, March 6, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CALABASAS, Calif. & MUNICH, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 2003

Alliance Will Facilitate Access to U.S. Market for International

Telecom, IT Companies

National Technical Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:NTSC)(NTS), a leading provider of quality and conformance testing and managed services and Siemens ICN, Quality Engineering and Testing, jointly announced today that the two companies have signed an exclusive five-year alliance to provide independent, third-party testing services to telecommunications and information technology (IT) equipment manufacturers based in Europe, South America, the Middle East and Africa.

Under the agreement, Siemens ICN, QE shall exclusively use NTS as its U.S. partner for certification and accreditation services and NTS shall exclusively use Siemens ICN, QE as a testing partner in Europe.

NTS President and COO William C. McGinnis said that the signing of this agreement with Siemens ICN, Q&E is a key step in the implementation of the company's strategy to expand its market reach to Europe and provide international telecom and IT equipment manufacturers a range of compliance testing and registration services that will help those companies access markets in the United States and Canada.

"We believe this relationship creates a win-win opportunity for both companies and significantly expands the reach of our services internationally," McGinnis said.

Siemens ICN, Q&E President Jurgen Klein commented, "We are pleased to join forces with NTS to offer European and Middle Eastern vendors all the necessary tests and services for gaining access to the U.S. market by ensuring complete acceptance of the test results by the RBOCs and other U.S. companies.

"Our world-class test facility in Munich has a long history of providing compliance testing services for Siemens' needs and our arrangement with NTS complements both our companies' offerings and is an important addition to our suite of services."

The U.S. telecommunications market requires that devices and systems must comply with NEBS (Network Equipment Building Systems) requirements and proof of this compliance must be furnished by a recognized independent testing laboratory (ITL) in the United States, such as NTS.

The alliance will provide a single source for companies that require testing to be performed on their products by a fully accredited ITL in order to sell their products to Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs).

About Siemens ICN, Quality Engineering and Testing

Siemens ICN, Quality Engineering and Testing is an approved test laboratory complying with IEC 17025 for Siemens I&C products and has many years experience in NEBS testing services. The institute offers high-tech test and simulation equipment on more than 5000 m(2) of connected premises, thus doing away with the need to travel long distances to different laboratories or test engineers.

Siemens ICN, QE provides expert advice on all applicable procedures and standards. Siemens ICN, QE tests, assesses and qualifies products for market approval. Siemens ICN, QE testing and qualification activities are based on international experience and technical facilities whose variety and scope of applications cannot be matched elsewhere in Europe. For additional information about Siemens ICN, QE, visit its Web site at www.pruefinstitut.de.

About National Technical Systems Inc.

National Technical Systems is an outsourcing services company providing organizations in the aerospace, defense, information technology (IT) and high-technology markets integrated testing, certification, quality registration, systems evaluation and IT staffing services. For additional information about National Technical Systems, visit its Web site at www.ntscorp.com.

The statements in this news release that relate to future plans, events or performance, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to operating new facilities, customer orders, demand for services and products, development of markets for the companies' services and products and other risks identified in the companies' SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward- looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The companies undertake no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.