Broadband Energy Networks' New UNI-PLEX Automation Platform for Buildings and Homes Takes Aim at 'More Efficient Use of America's Essential Operating Resources'.

UPPER DARBY, Pa. -- Broadband Energy Networks Inc. today introduced a powerful family of network integration products and services that provide advanced automation of buildings and homes, enabling more efficient use of America's essential operating resources - electricity, water, natural gas and conditioned air.

Designed for use in industrial facilities, commercial buildings, institutions as well as in residences - the locations where critical resources are consumed - Broadband Energy's UNI-PLEX(TM) Universal Network Interface products and services will bring, for the first time, network interoperability and remote access to building and home control systems with heretofore incompatible protocols and communications media. These diverse systems can now be integrated and automated to monitor and better manage resource usage for end users and for providers.

"The systems that provide the essential resources on which our businesses and daily lives depend have become ever more complex and expensive," explained Broadband Energy Networks President Larry Silverman, adding, "The electric system and our national water systems are prime examples. Remote monitoring, real-time metering and automated control of end-use demand are critical necessities if these systems are to keep pace with the growing requirements placed on them.

"More than $350 billion is spent annually in the United States alone for essential operating resources, such as electricity, natural gas, water, heating and cooling, and safety and secure access," noted Silverman. "It has been estimated (McKinsey & Co. White Paper: Benefits of Demand-Side Management, May 2001) that more than $15 billion each year in electricity use alone can be conserved through improved management of consumption.

"Broadband Energy's mission is to enable that savings - through network automation," he added.

"More and more, manufacturers and end users are recognizing the benefits of linking systems together and connecting them to computers," Silverman noted. "The UNI-PLEX automation platform provides immediate access to system-wide data and also enables one system to respond to conditions or signals from another."

The UNI-PLEX platform will link the millions of disparate electronic controls and systems used to track and regulate resource consumption - e.g. thermostats; electric, gas, and water meters; air quality monitors; fire detection and security systems; electric generators; lighting controls; access controls; and a broad range of commercial and industrial machine controls.

"In addition to the benefits it offers end users," Silverman continued, "the ability of UNI-PLEX solutions to measure and control consumption by end-use customers in real time is of great interest to electric and other utilities, because it enables them to optimize their networks, balance customer demand with available supply, and avoid service outages."

--UNI-PLEX Automation Computers enable existing, independent control systems to interoperate, and to be monitored and controlled through a secure global interface, accessed locally or remotely over the Internet.

--UNI-PLEX Software Applications automate the operation of these interoperable products and systems to improve their efficiency, reliability and safety.

--UNI-PLEX On-Line Services leverage Internet communications to deliver an ASP service that continuously and automatically manages the use of such key resources as energy, water, air, gas and secure access, and dispatches timely information to both users and providers, including to utilities.

About Broadband Energy Networks

Based in suburban Philadelphia PA, Broadband Energy Networks develops advanced broadband and Internet-enabled building and home automation technology, including systems and applications for network integration, monitoring and control. The company's LightMedia division developed energy management systems in partnership with Raytheon that were used successfully by utilities for demand-side management, including over 2,500 homes and businesses with CSW (Central and South West Corporation), Southern Co., Detroit Edison Company, and EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute).

In 2003, Broadband Energy Networks acquired the assets of Coactive Networks, developer and manufacturer of innovative networking software and utility gateway technology to connect electrical devices to the Internet, as well as assets from Motorola's PowerCom Utility Services Group for advanced electric metering and communications. Broadband Energy has repurposed and incorporated these technologies into the UNI-PLEX architecture.

Broadband Energy is providing its UNI-PLEX Universal Network Integration solutions for a series of demonstration projects and pilot deployments with selected energy, broadband and communications partners around the U.S.

UNI-PLEX is a trademark of Broadband Energy Networks Inc. (C) 2002-2004