EXHIBIT 99.1
[LOGO] ECHELON(R)
550 Meridian Avenue
San Jose, CA 95126
Phone: 408-938-5200
Fax: 408-790-3800
lonworks@echelon.com
www.echelon.com
News Information For Immediate Release
Press Contact Investor Relations Contact
Steve Nguyen Chris Stanfield
Echelon Corporation Echelon Corporation
408-938-5272 408-938-5243
qnguyen@echelon.com cstanfield@echelon.com
Echelon Corporation to Acquire BeAtHome
San Jose, CA - January 8, 2002 -- Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) today
announced that it has signed a definitive agreement, subject to certain closing
conditions, to acquire privately held BeAtHome.com, Inc. of Fargo, North Dakota.
BeAtHome offers an award-winning, innovative, and intuitive software
solution and value-added services platform for web-based monitoring and control
applications to the home, commercial and utility markets. In addition to winning
an Innovations award at the Consumer Electronics Show and a Product of the Year
Award from Electronic House Magazine in 2001, BeAtHome's Energy Management
System application was recently named 2002 Best of Innovations by the Consumer
Electronics Association.
"BeAtHome provides service operators, such as utilities, energy services
companies, and manufacturers, a flexible, scalable infrastructure to manage,
control, and gather information from devices in homes, buildings, and remote
sites," said Ken Oshman, Echelon's chairman and
Echelon Corporation to Acquire BeAtHome 2 of 3
chief executive officer. "And, as has been recognized by many industry leaders,
they do this while providing the end-user, who may be a home owner, building
manager, or maintenance technician, with an extremely easy-to-use and intuitive
interface. Combined with Echelon's industry-leading networking products, we
believe that the BeAtHome platform could, in time, speed the adoption and
deployment of LONWORKS(R) based monitoring and control solutions by utilities,
businesses, and factories worldwide and, at the same time, create new on-going
revenue opportunities for Echelon."
According to Thor Iverson, BeAtHome's president and one of its founders,
"Echelon is recognized as a world-leader in networking everyday devices -- not
just in homes and not just in the United States, where we have primarily focused
- -- but in many industries and around the world. We look forward to becoming part
of Echelon and to expanding the reach of our offerings. We believe the
combination of Echelon's device network infrastructure and our services
management platform could create an unmatched end-to-end offering. We expect the
result to be that a wide range of applications -- from utility demand side
management and energy optimization services, remote equipment maintenance and
diagnostics services from device manufacturers, and remote facility or factory
management -- would be easier to deploy and less costly to implement than
previously possible."
The acquisition is subject to customary conditions, including approval of
the transaction by BeAtHome's shareholders. The acquisition is expected to be
completed prior to the end of February 2002, if at all. Under the terms of the
agreement, Echelon will purchase all the outstanding capital stock of BeAtHome,
pay off certain of BeAtHome's debts, and assume certain other of BeAtHome's
liabilities. This acquisition will be accounted for as a purchase. Taking into
account the amortization of non-goodwill related intangibles as well as all
other acquisition related costs required to be expensed under GAAP, the Company
expects the acquisition to reduce Echelon's first quarter earnings by 2 to 3
cents per share and to reduce full year earnings by 8 to 10 cents per share.
About Echelon Corporation
Echelon Corporation is the creator of the LONWORKS platform, the world's
most widely used standard for connecting everyday devices such as appliances,
thermostats, air conditioners,
Echelon Corporation to Acquire BeAtHome 3 of 3
electric meters, and lighting systems to each other and to the Internet.
Echelon's hardware and software products enable manufacturers and integrators to
create smart devices and systems that lower cost, increase convenience, improve
service, and enhance productivity, quality, and safety. Thousands of companies
have developed and installed more than 16 million LONWORKS based devices into
homes, buildings, factories, trains, and other systems worldwide.
The protocol underlying LONWORKS networks and the signaling used by
Echelon's power line and free topology transceivers have both been adopted as
standards by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Echelon is also a
founding member of the LONMARK(R) Interoperability Association, an open industry
forum of hundreds of leading manufacturers, integrators, and users dedicated to
promoting the use of interoperable LONWORKS devices. More information is
available at http://www.lonmark.org. Further information regarding Echelon can
be found at http://www.echelon.com.
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Echelon, LONWORKS, LONMARK, the LONMARK logo, and the Echelon logo are
trademarks of Echelon Corporation registered in the United States and other
countries. Bringing the Internet to Life is a trademark of Echelon Corporation.
Other marks belong to their respective holders.
This press release may contain statements relating to future plans, events
or performance. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, including
risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to obtaining approvals for and
satisfying conditions to the consummation of the acquisition of BeAtHome, the
successful integration of Echelon and BeAtHome's technology, products and
services, the timing and level of customer orders, demand for products and
services, development of markets for Echelon's products and services, and other
risks identified in Echelon's SEC filings. Actual results, effect on earnings,
events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
date hereof. Echelon undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of
any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect
events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.