McDonald's to Save Energy and Increase Operations Efficiency with Echelon's TechnologyQuestion & Answer Supplemental News Information(San Jose, CA - July 10, 2007) - Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) a leading provider of networking technology that is used to manage and reduce energy consumption, today announced that McDonald's Corporation has chosen its LonWorks® technology to network its restaurant kitchen equipment in order to create the "kitchen of the future," which aims to lower energy consumption and increase operational efficiency. The following Question & Answer document complements a press release entitled "McDonald's to Save Energy and Increase Operations Efficiency with Echelon's Technology" (http://www.echelon.com/press/mcdonalds.htm). This Q&A covers:
What are the advantages of using LonWorks technology over the existing North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) standard? The LonWorks platform is an international standard for control networking (North America, China) and building automation (North America, Europe, and China) and is supported by many of the largest building automation companies in the world. Additionally, the LonWorks platform is designed to enable efficient, highly reliable, and flexible communication among any number of machines or devices. Nearly 100 million LonWorks enabled devices are installed today in everything from commercial buildings to scientific research equipment, hospitals, and mass transit systems around the world. The LonWorks platform, therefore, offers an internationally supported solution in terms of product, service, and integration availability. For McDonald's, the LonWorks platform allows the company to easily integrate its kitchen and building equipment. This lets McDonald's service providers use common tools, infrastructure, and knowledge to manage operations and energy in their restaurants. Why did McDonald's choose Echelon's power line-based communications? The interoperable nature of the LonWorks platform means that McDonald's can buy equipment from multiple manufacturers that will be able to work together on the same network. This lets McDonald's mix and match equipment from different suppliers and allows franchisees with multiple stores to move equipment between locations. The system can be easily changed, moved, or expanded. Power line communication networks are easy to install and offer plug and play networking. The common power plug becomes the network connection, using a building's existing power lines as the communication method. Since no new wires are needed to install the network, installation is fast and inexpensive when compared to other solutions. For McDonald's "Smart Equipment Kitchen," power line communication lets the company configure kitchen equipment in any footprint while maintaining reliable communication. If a store manager needs to relocate a piece of equipment, no additional network configuration is required. The store manager simply unplugs the equipment, moves it, and plugs it into the nearest electrical outlet. The network maintains all knowledge of how that equipment interacts with the other equipment, and the simple act of plugging the equipment into the outlet places it back on the network. Why not use radio frequency (RF) technology since the stores are designed to have flexible footprints? From a market perspective, RF is still an immature technology that fills a niche for a limited number of remote I/O points or sensors, but is not a complete, reliable solution for control networking or building automation. Why not choose BACnet over the LonWorks solution? Therefore, BACnet is unsuitable as a solution upon which to gain operational benefits by integrating kitchen equipment, HVAC, lighting, and potentially other systems. About McDonald's Corporation About Echelon Corporation ### Echelon, LonWorks, and the Echelon logo are registered trademarks of Echelon Corporation registered in the United States and other countries. The McDonald's trademark is owned by the McDonald's Corporation. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. 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 orders and demand for Echelon products and services by McDonald's, its suppliers and other customers in business process and other applications; risks that these products do not perform as designed, and that liability may accrue as a result of the use of Echelon products and services in these functions; risks associated with any changes that may occur in directives regarding demand response, safety or other policies, and acceptance by local, regional or other government agencies of LonWorks based demand response or other solutions; the growth of the LonWorks industry in general; 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
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