Odetics Broadcast Architects Automation Solutions for a Digital Age; New Alliances and Enhancements to AIRO Deliver End-to-End Broadcast Facility Management.

Business Editors

NAB2001

Booth No. L11138

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2001

Architecting broadcast automation solutions for a digital age in broadcasting -- with an eye toward cost containment and optimizing resources -- is the theme for Odetics Broadcast (booth No. L11138), a subsidiary of Odetics Inc. (Nasdaq:ODETA) (Nasdaq:ODETB), during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show at the Las Vegas Convention Center this week, April 23-26.

Strengthened and newly forged alliances with strategic partners such as Quantum/ATL, Grass Valley Group, SeaChange, Pinnacle Systems and Wink Communications, along with the experiences of forward-thinking customers will show that Odetics is a company on the move behind its flagship product, the AIRO Automation System.

"We are a company that develops software products and packages our partner's hardware to create complete solutions for our customer's most pressing operational needs," explained Steve L'Heureux, president, Odetics Broadcast. "With the understanding that each of our customers is unique, we believe our `best of breed' solutions approach, while offering a single point of contact for customers from initial system design to ongoing support over the life of the system, allows Odetics to provide the best customer value in the industry with respect to broadcast automation."

At NAB, visitors to the Odetics Broadcast booth will see the AIRO Automation System, a comprehensive end-to-end facility management solution with the industry's most proven set of applications. Odetics will demonstrate how AIRO can optimize their facility in the areas of:

-- Archive management

-- Multi-path distribution

-- Central casting opportunities

L'Heureux explained that the rules are quickly changing in the broadcast industry and customers need integrated media content management and delivery systems that put them in control of that change. Advances in media technology, growth of alternative media delivery mechanisms and the urge for advertisers to reach viewers in exciting new ways are forcing broadcasters to open up their once closed systems to a variety of other outside businesses, applications and service providers.

"The beauty of the AIRO system is its ability to grow to fit the needs of virtually every kind of station regardless of size -- that is what we will be demonstrating to visitors stopping by our booth at NAB," L'Heureux commented. "What that means for stations evaluating the wide variety of uses for existing content is the AIRO system maximizes the efficiency of video servers, videotape libraries and DLTtape(TM) libraries through proactive material inventory management. AIRO controls all external devices needed for full station automation such as VTRs, digital disk recorders, routers, master control switchers and streaming encoders -- all of which are essential for full station automation."

Odetics views the broadcaster as the critical centerpiece in what the company labels as the digital media supply chain -- whereby all departments within the broadcast facility are linked to take advantage of opportunities afforded by new media. L'Heureux explained that the AIRO Automation System, by virtue of its all-in-one seamless and cost- effective content management and delivery configuration, enables broadcasters to provide any advertiser the ability to connect directly and meaningfully with the right viewers.

"That is the crux of TV media broadcasting today. For broadcasters, the successful business models are borne out of the understanding that broadcasters are in the media business, not the TV business. At the same time, profitable ventures will focus on achieving and maintaining efficient operations by leveraging their existing infrastructure, their existing content and their well-established relationship with their viewers," L'Heureux added.

Along with the AIRO product, at its booth, No. L11138, Odetics' staff will demonstrate capabilities of Bowser, their desktop video asset manager, and Data Library Manager, their asset management archive solution. Odetics' staff will lead visitors through scenarios that demonstrate how their products, especially AIRO, can meet any of their broadcast automation needs including:

-- Content Management - Flexible, Scalable, Integrated Media

Asset Management,

-- Digital Delivery - Reliable, Automated, Highest-Quality

Multi-Path Distribution,

-- Central Casting - Extensible, Economical Multi-Channel Station

Management.

Sneak Peeks - Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 2000 server support, enhanced graphical user interfaces, Metadata Management, DLT storage devices, desktop video encoding, cost-effective HD solutions

As part of its push to continue to deliver for customers, Odetics will offer booth visitors a sneak preview of the future of the AIRO Automation System, including Windows(R) 2000 support, advanced multifunction user interfaces, a new timeline application and automated ingestion of satellite feeds tightly integrated with AIRO's metadata management capability. Additionally auto-archiving to the latest generation DLTtape storage devices powered by Quantum/ATL and simultaneous encoding for streaming Web distribution to any desktop via standard TCP/IP networks will also be shown. Finally, an exciting introduction of a tape-based HDTV automation solution, which can be far more cost-effective than expensive disk-based alternatives.

"Our commitment of continued investment in delivering industry-leading automation technology is how Odetics has historically done business -- by recognizing the needs of our customers and in some cases responding proactively to the changing face of the industry, such as the introduction of a redesigned user interface geared for a new generation of master control operators who often lack the broadcast engineering experience of their predecessors," explained L'Heureux. "We view AIRO, with its current rich set of features as well as what we've got coming up, as perfectly positioned for stations looking to optimize their end-to-end facility management system."

More About AIRO

Since its introduction, the AIRO Automation System, the first to operate on Microsoft Windows NT, has had a history of success. More than 200 installed systems are currently on the air, most of them 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. The supported applications range from playlist management, to spot insertion to complete program and interstitial automation, including rich media management, browse and archive capabilities.

Customers seeking more overall station automation control will appreciate Odetics' state-of-the-art digital system that includes the ability to promote local IDs and links to station news crawls. These core advantages place stations, more than ever before, in a better position to brand themselves and localize their content and activities. Key feature sets include satellite record control, Saturn(TM) Master Control Switcher enhancements, which allow for control of keys and A-B roll, and the ability to control all new classes of devices such as character generators, logo generators and subtitlers.

Odetics has added the GVG Series 7000(TM) router interface and the GVG 2100 Master Control Switcher to this new version that operates on Microsoft(R) Windows(R) NT version 4.0.

About Odetics Broadcast Inc.

For more than 17 years, the Anaheim, Calif.-based Odetics Broadcast has been a market leader in developing content management and delivery solutions with systems installed at more than 600 broadcast stations in 40 countries. Its Emmy Award-winning product design and de facto industry-standard technologies enable reliable on-air presentation and complete facility automation while reducing administration costs.

About Odetics Inc.

Odetics is engaged in the development of communication and technology companies that may be spun-off to its shareholders. Odetics' companies develop software and hardware-based solutions for the intelligent transportation systems, telecommunications, video security, and television broadcast markets. Odetics headquarters are located in Anaheim, Calif. with additional operations in Europe and Asia.

Important Notice:

This news release contains statements that may be deemed to be forward-looking. These forward-looking statements may include statements about revenue growth, profit margins, the effect of cost reduction measures, and other statements relating to the operating results of Odetics or its subsidiaries. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors such as short product lives, technological shifts, current technical issues that cannot be resolved on a timely basis, component availability, competition (including new and directly competitive products from others), pricing pressures, incorrect assumptions regarding market demand, the significant uncertainty of market acceptance of new products by both distributors and end-user customers, unanticipated capital requirements, retention of key personnel, general economic conditions, the inability of the company to execute its strategy including the completion of both private and public equity financings of its subsidiaries, and other factors identified in the Odetics' Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Investors are strongly encouraged to review the risk factors set forth in the Odetics most recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings.