Carroll Touch demonstrates ruggedness of guided wave touch with underwater exhibit.

HANNOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 19, 1996--Carroll Touch, a leader in the design, development and manufacture of touch products, went under water to demonstrate the ruggedness of its new guided wave touch sensors at CeBIT '96 here.

In its booth in the U.S. Pavilion, Carroll Touch demonstrated a 10.4-inch flat-panel guided wave touch sensor completely submerged under water in a tank built specially for the demonstration. Participants could reach into the water to activate the buttons on the touch panel and see the results on a Carroll Touch modular industrial display outside the tank.

"We are so confident of the reliability and ruggedness of these systems that we are showing them underwater to make the point that our systems will work in virtually any environment -- an industrial site, outside in bad weather or where it is exposed to a variety of spills, leaks, splashes and particles," said Bob Christiansen, director of guided wave products. "Guided wave is the only acoustic-wave based touch technology which can be sealed."

While Carroll Touch hasn't sold any guided wave equipment for underwater use, it has sold some of its scanning infrared technology for use in underwater research. In 1994, the EarthWatch research center in Hawaii installed some of the systems for use in its dolphin-training studies. The systems were mounted inside a pool where dolphins were taught to touch different "buttons" on the screen for different effects.

Like guided wave, scanning infrared technology is extremely durable and dependable for remote, public applications. Both technologies operate well in direct sunlight and are impervious to dirt, dust and moisture. Neither infrared nor guided wave touch systems require the routine calibration necessary with other touch technologies.

Guided wave touch sensors, produced exclusively by Carroll Touch, feature z-axis capability, adding a third dimension of touch measurement to traditional, two-dimensional x-y-axis systems. In multimedia and interactive applications, for example, this enables a single touch target to launch a command and to measure variable levels, such as color intensity and sound volumes.

Only one other overlay technology offers a z-axis, but it requires glass sensors three times thicker than those on guided wave systems and cannot be sealed against potentially harsh environments.

Guided wave touch sensors feature the thinnest profile of all overlay touch technologies, giving them unmatched optical clarity and excellent transmissivity. The sensors are completely sealable to NEMA 4 standards, which require that a system be operational after exposure to hose-directed water. As Carroll Touch is demonstrating at CeBIT, they can take much more water than that.

These features make it the ideal touch technology for gaming, medical instrumentation, industrial process control, and a variety of other uses for flat panels and CRTs, such as kiosks, retail systems, interactive video and games -- any application where touch systems can be used.

Because they can be sealed, guided wave systems are particularly useful for video lottery terminals and games installed in casinos, on riverboats, at racetrack sites, and for a variety of other entertainment and tabletop touch applications.

Carroll Touch offers guided wave touch flat panel touch kits to allow the addition of a touchscreen interface to an OEM flat panel system. The kits include the touch sensor, cables, serial controller, and software drivers for OEM flat panels and can be used on flat panels with 6.4-inch, 8.4-inch, 9.4-inch, 10.4-inch, 12.1-inch or 14-inch diagonal screens. The 6.4-inch and 14-inch touch kits are ideally suited for the new Sharp TFT displays.

Carroll Touch products feature a five-year warranty and a 30-day money back guarantee. For more information, call Carroll Touch in North America at [phone]. In Europe, Carroll Touch products are available by calling the European Sales Office in Germany at (49) 266-35177 and through Carroll Touch distributors in most countries.

Carroll Touch, a division of AMP Incorporated, was founded in 1973. Carroll Touch pioneered scanning infrared touch technology in the 1970's and today is also the market leader for guided acoustic wave technology applications. Carroll Touch was the first in its industry to offer a comprehensive five-year warranty on its touch products and was the first major touch vendor to achieve ISO 9001 quality certification.

CONTACT: Carroll Touch Inc., Round Rock, Texas

Mark Austin, 512/388-5615