Hercules is expanding to the audio market

MONTREAL, October 26, 2000 - Hercules is pleased to announce that it will add a brand new line of audio products to its graphics, image and video range. Through its commitment to power and excellence, Hercules will continue making gaming entertainment more exciting for even the most demanding of gamers, now both in the video and audio fields.

"Today the Hercules name is associated with innovative and top-quality 3D products," says Claude Guillemot, President of Hercules Technologies. "Our Hercules and Guillemot R&D teams have joined forces to design and build a new revolutionary line of audio products. Our ambition is to raise the bar ever higher and beat the expectations of the most exacting gaming community. This strategic expansion is perfect for Hercules, which designs products with all the luxuries that our customers, in particular gamers, have come to expect from us."

The first Hercules audio product is Game Theater XP, a revolutionary gaming concept that is guaranteed to appeal to hardcore gamers with its unique features: a sound card and a powerful, extremely convenient external rack including amongst other features, a high-speed 4-port USB hub and game port for easy connection of game peripherals, and Dolby Digital(tm) decoding on up to 6 independent gold-plated RCA outputs. Hercules Game Theater XP will start retailing in December.

Next on the list is Cube, one of the lightest, smallest and most intuitive MP3 players on the market. Cube will be available from mid-November.

About Hercules
Founded in 1982 in the U.S., Hercules developed the industry's first high-resolution graphics board for personal computers. From its roots in establishing the monochrome graphics standard, Hercules proceeded to pioneer advances in color graphics solutions. In November 1999, Hercules was purchased by Guillemot Corporation and the entire video and multimedia ranges are now under the Hercules brand. Guillemot Corporation develops,
manufactures and distributes PC and console peripherals, providing high-quality products for gamers and music enthusiasts worldwide under the Guillemot, Hercules and ThrustMaster brands. The group is also proud to include officially licensed Ferrari, NASCAR, Top Gun and US Air Force products as part of its accessories line. Guillemot Corporation is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, Sicovam code 6672, and is currently present in 13 countries, distributing its products in a total of 45 countries.