FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tim Archdeacon - email: info@alliedworld.com   - www.alliedworld.com

HOME AUTOMATION SYSTEMS MARKET TO GROW 19% ANNUALLY THROUGH 2008, ACCORDING TO ALLIED BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, INC.

Oyster Bay, New York

Home automation - long envisioned in science fiction tales - is becoming a reality. The development of non-proprietary stan- dards such as CEBus and SWAP, as well as the participation in such standards by heavyweights like Lucent Technologies, foretell a dynamic marketplace where components and architectures are standardized rather than jerrybuilt by installers. Called "home controls" by some, home automation is actually a collection of subsystems which can, but do not have to, interact.

The US home automation market, in aggregate, will continue its slow rise through 2002, with real growth realized from 2002 to 2008. This growth will be driven by the home security systems market. From 1997 to 2002, annual revenues will grow by $1.6 billion, a doubling of the market. Growth from 1997 through 2008 will be 19%, with growth rapidly increasing in the 2002 to 2008 time period.

In 2002 to 2003, the slope of the market curve will increase as growth escalates, and ABI believes the market will triple, growing from $3.2 billion in 2002 to $10.5 billion in 2008 - an increase of $7.3 billion over a five-year period. Over the period from 2002 to 2008, compound average annual growth will be 22.1% - 6.7% more than the period from 1997 to 2002.

Complete details on this marketplace are about to be released in a new report titled, "Home Automation Systems & Residential Wiring: US Markets, Technologies & Vendor Assessment". The report is about to be released by Allied Business Intelligence, Inc., an Oyster Bay, New York high technology strategy consulting firm.

The primary home automation subsystems are security systems; distributed audio/video systems; heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control systems; and lighting control systems.

However, the "keeping up with the Jones'" spending mentality in the 1990's has helped other sub-systems gain mass appeal. Home owning consumers see new systems in the homes of their friends and neighbors and become aware of the products and the possibilities within their own homes. Demand for audio/video systems, especially, are resembling the hi-fi craze of the seventies, as the availability of premium entertainment through cable and wireless makes the home a primary source of entertainment.

And as more builders pre-install wiring for home networks during construction of homes, it becomes easier and cheaper for a homeowner to take that first step into home automation. As in all technology-adoption curves, once this critical mass is reached, the slopes of the curves for both penetration and revenue increase and the curves grow substantially steeper.

Companies which formerly specialized in corporate networks will now adapt their wireless and wireline delivery technologies for home networks. The competition among manufacturers for non-proprietary networks will lower prices and thus the cost of trying home automation, and will decrease the fear of being tied to an obsolete product or a single supplier.

While there are not likely to be robot housekeepers or cooks anytime soon - though some have long been working on this - home automation systems stand to make life easier for homeowners in the near future. At the very least, they will give homeowners peace-of-mind through greater security and control over their environment.

For further information, contact Tim Archdeacon at ABI at 516.624.3113 (Fax: 516.624.3115 or www.alliedworld.com/ ) ABI reports are also available on CD-ROM.

202 Townsend Square - Oyster Bay NY 11771 USA ¥ 516 624-3113 fax: 516 624-3115 - www.alliedworld.com