Crossbow Technology, Inc. Announces ``Smart-Dust-Service'' and Training for Its Mica Family of Wireless Sensors.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 2003

Crossbow Technology announced its new "Smart-Dust-Service" for its Wireless Sensor Network customers. This announcement follows Crossbow's January 24, 2003 announcement regarding an investment by Intel in its Wireless Sensor Network program. Now users of the UC Berkeley-developed Wireless "Motes" can get professional technical support and consulting services for their projects from Crossbow, the commercial company that has been building the popular devices for nearly two years.

"Smart-Dust-Service" Support Program to Help Develop New Sensors and Applications for TinyOS Based Motes

There is a worldwide community in Universities, Government, and Industry that use the "Berkeley Motes" built by Crossbow for Wireless Sensor Networking. This technology was developed at UC Berkeley and manufactured by Crossbow over the last two years. The Motes are available from Crossbow in easily accessible kits for first time users as well as larger networks.

"While Crossbow has been supporting these products in the field for some time now, that message has not gotten out to the community as well as it could," says Mike Horton, Crossbow CEO. "With Smart-Dust-Service, we are letting the community know that they can call or email us for free help in getting started with Motes. In addition, we offer paid consulting services for custom projects. Smart-Dust-Service, coupled with our ISO9001 manufacturing of the Motes and our design innovations, make Crossbow a one-stop destination for many Wireless Sensor Network projects."

For example, Crossbow has worked closely with the NSF-sponsored CENS center at UCLA in the development of a data acquisition board that closely mates with the standard Mote. "Crossbow was a valuable partner in bringing this board to fruition," says Professor Deborah Estrin, Director, Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), UCLA. "We needed a board like this to expand the array of environmental sensors for our biological and contaminant monitoring applications. We supplied the basic design and Crossbow has helped refine the design and is commercializing the board."

"Smart Dust Boot Camp" Training Seminars

Crossbow will conduct a series of training seminars to introduce new users to the Mote technology. The first all-day seminar will be conducted jointly with UC Berkeley at the upcoming USENIX Mobisys conference in San Francisco on May 5th. Crossbow will then offer two-day intensive workshops on July 17th-18th and October 16th-17th. These seminars will include a complete hands-on lab and will introduce the hardware and TinyOS software, as well as Crossbow's MoteView(TM) Demo software. Participants bring their own laptops (and Mote Kits if they have them) and walk away with loaded TinyOS Mote software and the training and experience they need to build and deploy simple wireless sensor networks using Motes. Information on the Mobisys seminar is available at http://www.usenix.org/events/mobisys03 under tutorials. Contact Crossbow at www.xbow.com for more information about this or future seminars.

Crossbow Committed to Open Architecture

Crossbow remains committed to the Open-Source approach to supporting the research and design community in Wireless Sensor Networks. Even though the new MICA2 and MICA2 DOT Motes were primarily designed by Crossbow and feature several significant improvements over the older Berkeley designs, Crossbow has made this technology fully available. "Philosophically, we think this is the right way to go," says Horton. "The temptation is to keep some of this proprietary in an attempt to lock customers in. However we think our support of the community generates business for us and keeps us in the loop."

Crossbow Already Supporting Key Wireless Sensor Networking Applications

Crossbow has supported projects in environmental monitoring, seismic structural monitoring, personnel detection, and other custom applications, as well as helping dozens of research groups get started with technology. Working with such diverse groups as the USGS, DARPA, and automotive companies, among others, Crossbow has developed software, custom packaging, custom radio configurations and contributed to most facets of these programs.

Crossbow's Brings Experience in Sensor Applications to the Wireless World

While Crossbow-supplied sensor boards use sensors from a wide variety of sources, its own experience in the industry has given its technical support engineers detailed knowledge of issues involved in such wide ranging applications as Warehouse Automation, Robotics, Unmanned Vehicles (air, land, and sea), Automotive Testing, and many others.

Crossbow Technology, Inc. is the leading supplier of low-cost, intelligent digital sensor solutions. Crossbow's sensors integrate silicon micromachined (MEMS) technology with digital signal processing and wireless technology. The sensors incorporate the company's proprietary SoftSensor(TM) embedded firmware, which includes algorithms for stabilization and navigation applications coupled with internal compensation and communication functions. Crossbow is certified ISO9001/2000. Crossbow is located at 41 Daggett Drive, San Jose, CA 95134. Telephone: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. Email: [e-mail]. Visit Crossbow at www.xbow.com.