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MSC.Software Corp., the leading global provider of virtual product development (VPD) software and services, today announced that the MSC.MasterKey Licensing system has been made available to universities around the world. The MasterKey Licensing System gives engineering departments the ability to take advantage of the breadth and depth of MSC.Software's portfolio of simulation tools within a flexible licensing system, allowing faculty and students to use the same MSC.Software simulation tools used in industry wherever and whenever they need them. "We have very strong working relationships with universities around the world and we know that three things drive their use of VPD technologies," said Frank Perna, chairman and CEO of MSC.Software. "First, they need professional products at educational prices. Second they need tools to solve a wide range of problems -- from classroom demonstrations and homework to cutting-edge research. Third, they need to prepare their students for professional careers. The MSC.MasterKey System satisfies all three of these requirements." "Our university customers parallel our industrial customers in that many use a select group of our technologies but few are utilizing the entire depth and breadth of our portfolio. This gives us a unique opportunity to grow revenue by increasing our penetration within accounts where we can build upon our existing relationships to help grow usage of all of our products. We have a superior technology offering and the most cost-effective licensing system to offer university customers and we are confident that this will help us increase our penetration within our university accounts," concluded Perna. Today, engineering departments at universities around the world purchase individual software technologies from disparate vendors based upon their classroom curriculum and faculty-led research projects. This requires faculty and university officials to make independent purchasing decisions without taking advantage of both product interoperability and economies of scale. The MasterKey licensing system gives students and faculty the ability to access the entire depth and breadth of the MSC.Software product portfolio from a single flexible, extensible license. This eliminates the need for engineering departments, faculty and students to manage multiple licensing agreements with multiple vendors while simultaneously giving access to the entire range of tools they need to solve complex engineering problems. Today, MSC.Software has more than 10,000 educational customers and in the last year, more than 300 corporations have chosen to use MSC.MasterKey's token-based system to manage their VPD software usage. For more information about the MSC.MasterKey licensing System, please visit http://www.mscsoftware.com/products/products_detail.cfm?PI=556&S=91.