B&B Electronics Acquires Wireless Leader Advanced Embedded Systems


Ottawa, IL - SEPTEMBER 14, 2006 -B&B Electronics, a leading provider of automation and communications products, today announced its acquisition of Phoenix Arizona based, Advanced Embedded Systems (AES), a designer and developer of wireless solutions for the industrial market. AES will become part of B&B Electronics' engineering and technical group in Ottawa, Illinois. The acquisition provides B&B Electronics with in-house wireless design expertise, enhancing the company's research and development capabilities.

"The industrial wireless market is experiencing significant growth and we are committed to being a leader in this space," comments B&B Electronics President, Don Wiencek. "In addition to providing B&B Electronics with a broader range of wireless solutions, the AES purchase brings a tremendous amount of customer and market knowledge. It's a well run company with superior products and we couldn't be happier to welcome them to our team."

As the technology continues to evolve in tandem with decreasing costs, wireless technologies are increasingly compelling for a broad range of monitoring and supervisory control applications. Since its inception in 2000, AES has been an innovator in the wireless I/O industrial market. Its offering includes the award-winning wireless I/O product line, RT12 series, which was especially attractive to B&B Electronics because of its ability to wirelessly enable a broad range of existing systems. Using the AES solution in either in peer-to-peer mode or Modbus mode, the majority of PLCs, HMIs, and PCs can be equipped for wireless sensor I/O.

"This investment positions B&B Electronics to continue its aggressive growth in the industrial wireless market," states Richard McGrail, President of Avtek, Inc., the parent company of B&B Electronics. "The products and engineering expertise we are acquiring with Advanced Embedded Systems, immediately expands B&B Electronics' product portfolio and will accelerate the development of wireless products for a wide range of industrial applications."

About B&B Electronics
Founded in 1981, Ottawa, Illinois-based B&B Electronics designs, manufactures, and sells industrial connectivity products such as communications protocol converters and Ethernet infrastructure products. With offices in the US and Europe, the company sells its products worldwide. In addition to manufacturing products, B&B Electronics is also a value-added distributor for many quality vendors, allowing the company to serve as a single source for comprehensive data communications solutions. For more information, visit www.bb-elec.com.

About AES
Advanced Embedded Systems, a Microchip and MaxStream Certified engineering company, has been serving the sensor, controller, and embedded community and designing and manufacturing award winning wireless I/O solutions for the industrial market for the last six years. For more information, visit advancedembedded.com.

About PRODUCT LINE
The RT12-series combines traditional Remote analog and discrete I/O functions of a Modbus RTU with built-in wireless connectivity, reducing cost and simplifying installation and support. The Wireless RTU can serve as a "standard" Modbus Slave RTU in a radio based SCADA system or as an Analog to analog/peer to peer, transceiver. The RT12-series I/O components are "plug-and-play" compatible with all popular SCADA/DCS Modbus software packages including WonderWare®, FactoryLink®, Labview®, PLCs and process controllers.

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