Echelon Signs Macnica as New Japanese Distributor

(Palo Alto, CA - May 22, 2000) - Echelon (NASDAQ: ELON)and Macnica, one of Japan's leading value-added electronics resellers, announced today that they have signed an agreement for Macnica to distribute Echelon's LonWorks® products and systems in the Japanese market. As Echelon's latest Japanese distributor, Macnica will play a large role in promoting LonWorks for home, building, industrial, and other control networking markets in Japan. Macnica has experience dealing with a wide range of advanced components and equipment, provided by leading U.S. electronics and networking companies including Cisco Systems and Cypress Semiconductor.

"The home networking market, which connects digital consumer appliances at home, is emerging and is expected to grow into a huge business in the future," stated Mr.Chiaki Komiya, Macnica's managing director. "It is essential that home networking be user-friendly and that the communication is invisible so that users are not aware of the existence of the network infrastructure. I believe that Echelon's LonWorks networks have the technology that meets these requirements for home networking. It is my great pleasure that the distributor agreement with Echelon will allow Macnica to help accelerate the adoption of open networks in Japan."

"We couldn't be more pleased to welcome Macnica as our latest distributor," stated Lawrence Chan, Echelon's vice president, Asia Pacific and Japan. "Value-added services, electronically delivered into the home, are the key driver in moving the home networking market forward in Japan and around the world. Macnica's expertise with deploying networks is an ideal match for Echelon's leadership position in developing the infrastructure required for end-to-end networking solutions for consumer and commercial markets."

About Echelon Corporation
Echelon Corporation is the developer of LonWorks networks, recognized internationally as a standard for open, interoperable control networks. With thousands of application developers and millions of devices installed worldwide, LonWorks is the leading cross-industry standard for networking everyday devices in building, home, industrial, transportation, and public utility applications. Echelon offers a full range of off-the-shelf hardware and software products to support the development, installation and management of intelligent, open and interoperable control networks.

Products that have been verified to conform to Echelon's LonMark® interoperability guidelines are eligible to carry the LonMark logo, an indicator that a product has been designed to interoperate over a LonWorks network.

Echelon is based in Palo Alto, California, with international offices in China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Further information can be found at http://www.echelon.com. Further information about the LonMark Interoperability Association can be found at http://www.lonmark.org.

About Macnica
Macnica is one of the leading distributors and representatives in Japan, specializing in advanced electronic components and equipment. Macnica enjoys close business relationships with all the major electronics manufacturers in the world and is widely recognized as the reliable source for electronic products in Japan. Macinica Group consists of several strategic business units and subsidiaries. Altima and NetServe are Macnica's sister companies, established to concentrate on special technologies. Altima specializes in distributing Altera Corp. products. NetServe is a joint venture among Macnica, Sumitomo Corp, and Sumitomo Electronics. They focus on LAN-related hardware and software as well as training and consulting services. First, Second and Third Component Groups in Macnica are three separate teams dealing with semiconductor products, while the Network division specializes in network hardware and software applications. Macnica has established offices in Singapore and Hong Kong to better serve its Japanese customers in these regions. Macnica's office in San Jose, California links Macnica directly to the top engineers and experienced bicultural specialists in the United States, making Macnica one of the best global distributors in the market.

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

Contact Information

Press Contacts:
Lyn Balistreri Echelon Corporation (650) 855-7402 lbalistreri@echelon.com

PDF version of this press release.