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Echelon's Technology Provides Brains for Fleetwood's "Smart" Motor Coach

Companies Collaborate to Create Networked Homes on Wheels

(REDMOND, Oregon -August 13, 2001) - Today Fleetwood Enterprises (NYSE: FLE), the nation's largest manufacturer of recreational vehicles and a leading producer and retailer of manufactured housing, unveiled a "smart" recreational vehicle (RV) that uses Echelon Corporation's (NASDAQ: ELON) LonWorks® technology as the brains in its "Mobile RV Information System." The vehicle will be showcased this week at the Family Motor Coach Association's (FMCA) 38th Annual Summer Grand International Convention. Designed in conjunction with Intel® Solution Services, the pre-production home on wheels networks a variety of devices inside and outside the RV to provide users with enhanced comfort and safety features.

Intel is providing the project design and architecture, an Intel Pentium® 4-based personal computer, and a portable Intel Web Tablet through which a touch pad interface can be used to access these devices. From the Intel Tablet, RV owners have the ability to open and close slide-out living rooms and bedrooms, monitor and/or change set points on their thermostats, turn air conditioning and heating systems on and off, control lighting, and enable predetermined scenes (for example specific light levels, HVAC set points, and slide-out configurations) with the tap of a finger. Smart switches provide an optional user interface to the automated devices in the RV. The portion of the customized Intel Web Tablet Graphical Interface communicating to LonWorks devices is built on top of Echelon's LNS™ network operating system.

The potential benefits of such a system include:

  • Centralized user interface - The ability to monitor and control all automated devices inside and outside the RV.
  • Portable interaction with all automated devices. For example, the ability to stand outside the RV, enable the slide-out living room and bedroom, and prevent potential damage to the slide-outs from extending too far into a large tree or branch.
  • Flexible Scene Control - The ability to customize the interaction of multiple devices to user-definable levels for reading, entertainment, and traveling environments.
  • Standard Network Infrastructure - The network deployed in this RV gives Fleetwood the framework to add additional LonWorks devices such as on-board energy management systems, smart appliances, monitoring of generators, batteries, inverters, and waste water systems, exterior awning control, and more, to production model units.

"The flexibility and power of the LonWorks platform made this a very simple project to put together," said Tom Jones, Fleetwood's project manager. "We were able to create a completely self-contained system that can be scaled up or down and have new types of devices easily added to it to meet the specific needs of a customer. It's important that we be able to offer products that have a unique competitive edge - and a smart infrastructure allows us to do just that."

"Echelon's LNS software proved to be an ideal base for interfacing with our Web Tablet system," said Tim Campion, solutions marketing manager at Intel Solution Services. "We are extremely pleased with the end result, a flexible network operating system that will be very easy for end-users to understand."

Bea Yormark, Echelon's vice president of sales and marketing, added, "We have said many times that the possibilities for LonWorks technology are limited only by the imagination and this is a perfect example of an extremely unique and interesting application, one that has both practical and novel benefits for consumers."

The FMCA's 38th Annual Summer Grand International Convention is taking place at the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center in Redmond, Oregon, from August 14-16th. More information can be found at http://www.fmca.com/redmond/.

About Echelon Corporation
Echelon Corporation is the creator of the LonWorks platform, the world's most widely used standard for connecting everyday devices such as appliances, thermostats, air conditioners, electric meters, and lighting systems to each other and to the Internet. Echelon's hardware and software products enable manufacturers and integrators to create smart devices and systems that lower cost, increase convenience, improve service, and enhance productivity, quality, and safety. Thousands of companies have developed and installed more than 16 million LonWorks based devices into coaches, buildings, factories, trains, and other systems worldwide.

An American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard, the LonWorks platform provides the infrastructure for some of the world's largest active Coach networking and energy management projects. Echelon is also a founding member of the LonMark® Interoperability Association, an open industry forum of hundreds of leading manufacturers, integrators, and users dedicated to promoting the use of interoperable LonWorks devices. Further information can be found at http://www.echelon.com.

From October 23-24, Echelon and Messe Frankfurt GmbH are holding LonWorld™ 2001, the world's premier conference and tradeshow devoted solely to the LonWorks industry, in Frankfurt, Germany. Further information can be found online at http://www.LonWorldexpo.com.

About Intel Solution Services
Intel Solution Services is a worldwide consulting and services R&D organization, specializing in distributed solutions and data center infrastructure. They work with solution providers, independent software vendors (ISVs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Web integrators, and other customers to architect cost-effective, leading-edge solutions to help solve complex business problems. With their world-class resources, state-of-the-art facilities and key industry alliances, they can help design and deploy scalable, manageable, reliable, and available e-Business solutions on Intel technology.

For more information about Intel Solution Services, visit their Web site at http://www.intel.com/internetservices/intelsolutionservices.

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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. Bringing the Internet to Life, LonWorld and LNS are trademarks of Echelon Corporation. 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, demand for products and services, development of markets for Echelon's products and services, 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.

Contact Information

Press Contacts:

 

Lyn Balistreri
Echelon Corporation
408-938-5202
lbalistreri@echelon.com

 

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