Anixter Levels Lab Receives UL Certification.

Business Editors

SKOKIE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2000

The Anixter Levels Lab has successfully completed an independent, third party engineering and management systems audit under UL's (Underwriters Laboratories) Certificate Services.

The audit, performed as an adjunct service under UL's Performance Verification Program, provides certification to research facilities that demonstrate advanced engineering, sound scientific practices and superior product testing capabilities.

The Anixter Levels Lab is the only lab of its type to receive this UL Certification.

According to Steve Galan, UL's Wire and Cable Business Sector Coordinator, the purpose of the Certificate Services' audit is to ensure end-users that companies such as Anixter are committed to the quality of the products and services that they provide.

"UL's audit determines whether or not a company has a documented laboratory quality program, the equipment, personnel and procedures necessary to conduct laboratory testing on an ongoing basis," said Galan. "Essentially, Anixter's Levels Program is based on sound engineering principles and does exactly what it claims to do."

Pete Lockhart, Anixter's Vice President of Product Development and Research, says that UL's prestigious certification differentiates the Anixter Levels Lab for the significant contributions it makes to the entire telecommunications industry.

"Testing to ensure optimal product performance is nothing new at Anixter," Lockhart said. "We randomly test our inventory three times a year. For any product to be in our inventory it must meet every standard available, including all international standards, and only then is it tested using the most stringent requirements in the industry, our Levels purchasing specifications. The UL certification is further proof that the science of Levels is sound and the Levels Lab is doing exactly what we've been saying--providing the highest possible assurance for customers that Levels solutions will perform to the degree that we say they will."

The Anixter Levels Lab, located in Mt. Prospect, IL, analyzes manufacturing quality and performance levels of network cabling and components, such as patch cords, NIC cards and switches. Anixter's Levels Lab contains miles of copper and fiber optic cable, 1,000 different connectors, patch panel ports and patch cords. The equipment allows Anixter to simulate many data cabling systems. Through this recreation and simulation of key network parameters, the Levels Lab can analyze performance expectations and problems. Anixter is the world's leading distributor of communications products.

UL is the world's leading product safety and certification organization with more than 16 billion UL markings applied to more than 17,000 types of products each year. UL is also the leading independent auditor of laboratory and laboratory processes and procedures. Moreover, in the telecommunications industry, UL certifies the vast majority of products to the industry's standards.

For more information contact Anixter at 1-800-ANIXTER or visit Anixter's website at www.anixter.com/ul.