Modern Art Meets Modern Automation in New York City MoMA; Echelon Netw

    Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

    SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 2005--Echelon Corporation (Nasdaq:ELON), the creator of the LonWorks(R) device networking platform for networking everyday devices to each other and the Internet, today announced that The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is using a state-of-the-art building automation system (BAS) based on Echelon's networks to protect its priceless art collection from environmental damage by maintaining perfect environmental conditions. MoMA's permanent collection includes 150,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, design objects and other works of art from such masters as Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, Salvador Dali, and Henri Matisse.
    With more than 1.6 million visitors annually, controlling the climate inside the museum and protecting artwork from ensuing damage is a major concern. Humidity and temperature fluctuations, as well as light, UV radiation, and gaseous pollution, are extremely harmful to sensitive older pieces. The museum temperature must be maintained at precisely 22.2 degrees Centigrade (72 degrees Fahrenheit), and the humidity kept stable at 50 percent, around the clock, even in the face of very heavy visitor traffic.
    MoMA chose T.E.C. Systems, Inc., a LonWorks building automation system specialist, to create a monitoring and control system linking all mechanical and electrical equipment within the museum complex. A single graphics-oriented operator terminal provides facility managers with a comprehensive view of all building systems. The BAS utilizes LonWorks based interoperable products and Echelon's network management software to integrate security, heating, venting and air-conditioning, lighting control, and fire detection/suppression systems.
    According to John Arfman, vice president of TEC Systems Inc., "Reliability and the need to create a BAS that encompassed all the building systems were absolute requirements for this project, making a LonWorks system the logical choice. We created a building automation system that integrates with existing subsystems, has the flexibility to meet MoMA's needs as they arise, and will be easy to expand in the future."
    MoMA is the latest of many museums around the world using LonWorks networks, including Le Musee du Louvre, The London Science Museum, The Robert McDougal Art Gallery in New Zealand, and The Jassen Museum in Germany.
    "The most modern building automation systems require the most capable technology to manage the complex interactions between many systems in an ever-changing environment," said Anders Axelsson, Echelon's senior vice president of sales and marketing. "The MoMA system is a wonderful example of what systems based on Echelon's platform can accomplish."

    About The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

    Founded in 1929 as an educational institution, The Museum of Modern Art is dedicated to being the foremost museum of modern art in the world. The Museum of Modern Art seeks to create a dialogue between the established and the experimental, the past and the present, in an environment that is responsive to the issues of modern and contemporary art, while being accessible to a public that ranges from scholars to young children.
    The newly reopened MoMA complex is part of a four-year, $858 million renovation and expansion project led by the award-winning Japanese architect, Yoshio Taniguchi, noted for his innovative museum designs. The completed project consists of three buildings totaling 630,000 square feet, including a new gallery building with over 125,000 square feet of exhibition space and a new eight-story Education and Research Center.
    Further information about MoMA is available at http://www.moma.org.

    About Echelon Corporation

    Echelon Corporation (Nasdaq:ELON) is a pioneer and world leader in control networking -- networks that connect machines and other electronic devices -- for the purpose of sensing, monitoring and controlling the world around us. Echelon's component and system-level hardware and software products are used by OEMs, VARs, system integrators, utilities -- and virtually every class of institution -- to design, build, deploy and/or operate robust, scaleable, standards-based control networks and devices. Echelon technology can be found in thermostats, light switches and controllers, electricity meters, appliances, heating and air-conditioning systems, traffic signals, trains, aircraft, factories, and buildings -- in more than 40 million "smart" devices made by thousands of manufacturers.
    Echelon is also the creator of the LonWorks platform, an extremely robust, flexible, and expandable standards-based control networking platform upon which manufacturers can build products and applications with unparalleled reliability, security, operational integrity, flexibility, and bottom-line value. The worldwide adoption of the platform prompted the formation of LonMark(R) International, an independent trade organization that certifies LonWorks based products against an interoperability specification that allows devices from differing manufacturers to work together; educates the market about the value of device interoperability and open control networks; and creates awareness programs for potential end-users, OEM manufacturers, and integrators of LonMark certified products and LonMark systems. For planners, system architects, or OEM designers of control network products and families there is no better choice than Echelon.
    Echelon is based in San Jose, California, with international offices in China, France, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Further information regarding Echelon can be found at http://www.echelon.com.

    Echelon, LonWorks, LonMark, and the Echelon logo are registered trademarks of Echelon Corporation registered in the United States and other countries. Other marks belong to their respective holders.

    This press release may contain statements relating to future plans, events or performance. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to the timing and level of customer orders and demand for Echelon products and services, the growth of the LonWorks industry; and other risks identified in Echelon's 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. Echelon undertakes 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.

--30--JR/sf*

CONTACT: Echelon Corporation Julia O'Shaughnessy, 408-938-5357 joshaughnessy@echelon.com or Roeder-Johnson Corporation Abigail Johnson/Paul Michelson, 650-802-1850 http://email.roeder-johnson.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA NEW YORK INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE SOFTWARE ENTERTAINMENT NETWORKING PRODUCT BUILDING/CONSTRUCTION SOURCE: Echelon Corporation

Copyright Business Wire 2005