WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ambient Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: ABTG) today announced that its President and CEO, John J. Joyce, participated in a leadership meeting hosted by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and FCC Acting Chairman Michael Copps to start the creation of a set of national standards that will allow the smart grid to become a near term reality.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090311/AMBIENTLOGO)
Following the meeting, and expanding on his comments addressed to his industry colleagues, state commissioners from CA, D.C., NY and OH, as well as the host Chairmen, Mr. Joyce issued the following statement:
Industry leaders must support the standards development process and encourage smart grid standards based on Internet Protocol (IP), while remaining wary of other "standards" that will attempt to find their way into the initial language of what is to come out of the early meetings convened to initiate the process for establishing smart grid standards.
In developing smart grid standards, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other standard setting bodies must take a comprehensive approach that fosters implementation today, and will allow for open development in the future.
Perhaps reflecting on how the open standards for the Internet were created is an important first step in the process. The growth of the Internet has been successful because all developers, regardless of size and market presence, have been able to use open standards and free access to develop industry wide applications and services that became de facto standards. To develop a best in class long term solution, the smart grid must be based on open standards available today, not standards selected by a group of self-interested parties attempting to promote proprietary technology guised in the words "standard based."
Ambient applauds the Secretaries' efforts and full-heartedly endorses the standard setting process as well as today's announcement of the increase in smart grid investment grants from the ARRA, which will allow utilities to deploy more comprehensive smart grid projects.
This meeting kicks-off the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Interim Roadmap Workshop hosted by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and NIST on May 19th and 20th. Ambient supports this meeting and is participating in the workshops.
Ambient is actively involved with developing smart grid standards by engaging with, and participating in groups such as NIST, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the GridWise Alliance and the Demand Response and Smart Grid (DRSG) Coalition. Ambient's engineers have also played a significant role in the standard setting process of the IEEE working groups, and will continue to actively participate in the future standard setting bodies.
About Ambient Corporation
Ambient designs, develops and markets Ambient Smart Grid(TM) communications technologies and equipment. Using open standards-based technologies along with in-depth industry experience, Ambient provides utilities with solutions for creating smart grid communication platforms and technologies. Headquartered in Newton, MA, Ambient is a publicly traded company (BULLETIN BOARD: ABTG) . More information on Ambient is available at http://www.ambientcorp.com/.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial uncertainties and risks. These forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations, estimates and projections about our business and our industry, and that reflect our beliefs and assumptions based upon information available to us at the date of this release. We caution readers that forward-looking statements are predictions based on our current expectations about future events. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including but not limited to, changes in economic conditions generally and our market specifically, market acceptance of new products, changes in economic conditions generally and the smart grid market specifically, changes in technology, legislative or regulatory changes that affect us, the availability and sufficiency of working capital, introduction of competing products and the risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading "RISK FACTORS" in Item 1 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement for any reason.
Ambient, Ambient Smart Grid, It's Time to Teach an Old Grid New Tricks and AmbientNMS are registered trademarks of Ambient Corporation with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Ambient Corporation
CONTACT: Anna E. Croop, Director of Corporate Communications of Ambient
Corporation, +1-617-614-6739, acroop@ambientcorp.com
Web Site: http://www.ambientcorp.com/
