U.S. Leader in Critical System Software Services Joins Elite Group with Highest Possible Rating for Integrated Process Quality

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – August 13, 2007 – AVISTA Incorporated®, an Esterline Technologies Corporation company (NYSE:ESL), has been appraised at Capability Maturity Model® Integration (CMMI) Maturity Level 5, the highest level in process quality assessment. The CMMI model is the internationally recognized standard for measuring the maturity of an organization’s software engineering processes. With this rating, AVISTA leads the critical systems software services market in process improvement initiatives, having achieved both ISO 9001:2000 quality certification and CMMI Level 5—the most advanced of any U.S.-based outsourced service provider.

AVISTA is one of less than 25 companies in the U.S., and only 160 in the world, to have earned CMMI Maturity Level 5. AVISTA provides expert outsourced software development and automated test equipment for leading companies in the aerospace, defense and medical electronics industries where CMMI is the benchmark for measuring the performance and quality of their suppliers.

"We've raised the bar for outsourced software engineering service providers," says James Schneller, president of AVISTA Incorporated. "With the safety-critical and life-critical certification projects we manage for our clients, quality software processes are vital. We’ve developed industry-leading expertise in embedded DO-178B and FDA 510(k) software certification work over the last 20 years. This achievement is further validation of our world-class status. Our highly skilled team of employees has some of the longest tenure in the industry. We’re very proud of their great work and this accomplishment."

CMMI was developed by a coalition of industry and government organizations, along with Carnegie Mellon University, for objective assessment of the full range of an organization's engineering capabilities. Higher maturity levels signify lower risks for successful program execution. The federal government occasionally requires a certain maturity level to compete for development contracts.

About AVISTA
AVISTA Incorporated®, a subsidiary of Esterline Technologies Corporation, is a full-lifecycle software engineering services company specializing in critical systems development projects for commercial and military avionics, medical device and government/military applications. With nearly 2.5 million project hours completed, AVISTA fields the strongest, most stable, and most capable DO-178B experienced software development team in the industry. The company has completed more than 800 client projects over the last 20 years in systems design, requirements capture and analysis, software design and implementation, and software verification and validation. AVISTA, headquartered in Platteville, Wisconsin, is a SEI CMMI Maturity Level 5 rated company and an ISO 9001:2000 certified company.