zPoint Products: Wireless Lighting Controls at Light Fair 2006

Long Beach, California, USA - November 15, 2006

The following press release describes a new wireless control application that was demonstrated in the ZigBee Alliance booth at EHX.

Temecula, CA, USA; Delta, BC, Canada; and Sheffield, UK
Quiet Cool Fans, a leading provider of patent pending whole house ventilation systems; zPoint Products, developer and marketer of ZPoints, a comprehensive line of flexible I/O devices for HVAC and industrial applications; and Jennic, a leading manufacturer of single chip wireless microcontrollers for ZigBee and IEEE 802.15.4 wireless networking applications jointly announce the availability of a new line of whole house ventilation equipment controlled by ZigBee wireless networking technology. The new product line uses “zPoints” based on Jennic’s ZigBee wireless technology to integrate indoor and outdoor temperature sensors, RH (relative humidity) sensors, and relays along with a TPC-35 single board Linux computer (from zPoint Products’ parent company Technical Solutions Inc.) to provide homeowners with complete control of the system.

Dana Stevenson, president of Quiet Cool Fans said, “Jennic and zPoint Products’s ZigBee wireless technology provide us with the kind of ultra-reliable control technologies our customer’s demand, at a price very competitive with the X-10 products they replace. In addition, they provide an automatic control system that accepts input from the homeowner with regard to temperature targets and outdoor conditions, taking comfort to a whole new level.”

Harry Kelder, Director of business development for zPoint Products added, “We developed the zPoint line of flexible and configurable I/O modules to serve both the independent residential and commercial HVAC and the industrial controls contractor who wish to capitalize on the labor and material savings ZigBee wireless technology offers for OEMs who wish to embed the ZigBee wireless technology in their systems.”

He continued, “We selected the JN5121 wireless microcontroller from Jennic based on the flexibility and performance of the platform as well as the application knowledge in the control and automation arena the Jennic team brings to the table. They’re more a business partner to us than just a silicon supplier.”

The Quiet Cool System with ZigBee technology incorporates the zPoint Products and Jennic technologies into every system delivered. As a result, the application will result in over 4,000 ZigBee enabled homes in 2007.

Bob Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance said, “This is exactly the type of application the Alliance’s members have anticipated at this stage of the adoption curve. It is a solid application with real life cost savings for installers and provides real convenience for consumers of the product. This is what ZigBee is all about.” John Morris, vice president of Americas for Jennic, added, “Jennic entered the ZigBee/IEEE802.15.4 market with the first shipping single-chip IEEE802.15.4 microcontroller in December 2004. It’s not an accident that one of the first commercially available ZigBee-based systems shipping in volume is based on our JN5121 platform. We’re very pleased that Quiet Cool and zPoint Products have been able to deliver a really innovative set of products and this really paves the way for other home automation product vendors to ride the networks which Quiet Cool will deliver over the years.”

Editor's notes:

About Quiet Cool Fans
Quiet Cool Fans is a leading provider of whole house ventilation systems, bringing a cost effective, alternative to traditional air conditioning, and improved indoor air quality to home owners world wide.

About zPoint Products
This division of Techsol was created to deploy robust, wireless technologies into the building automation market, as well as industrial and home automation markets. Techsol's industrial and security customers have been asking for low-cost, quality wireless communications systems for some time. The company’s advanced Java Gateways (designed for building systems monitoring) have seen a wider range of deployments, from monitoring energy consumption in residential homes, to monitoring server farms in large corporations. But they have been mostly deployed to monitor building automation (BA) and factory automation (FA) systems for the operations and maintenance staff, and those customers who want a means to connect more end-points without the cost of cabling.

About Jennic
Jennic is a fabless semiconductor company leading the wireless connectivity revolution by providing wireless microcontrollers for a broad range of applications. Its expertise in systems and software combined with world class RF and digital chip design provides low cost, highly integrated wireless microcontrollers with a focus on the IEEE802.15.4 and ZigBee standards. The company’s products include state-of-the-art low power wireless microcontrollers, modules, development platforms, protocol and application software. Headquartered in Sheffield, UK, Jennic also has offices in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, East and West coast USA. For more information, visit www.jennic.com.

ZigBee: Wireless Control That Simply Works
The ZigBee Alliance is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard. The ZigBee Alliance membership comprises technology providers and original equipment manufacturers worldwide. Membership is open to all. Additional information can be found at www.zigbee.org.

Media contacts:
Fiona Davis, Jennic
Tel: +44 (0) 114 281 2655 Fax: +44 (0) 114 281 2951
Email: press@jennic.com

Harry Kelder, CFO/Director of Business Development
Technical Solutions Inc.
zPoints: www.zpointproducts.com
web: www.medallionsystem.com
corporate: www.techsol.ca
harry@techsol.ca
tel: 604 946 TECH (8324)
fax: 604 946 6445

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