Enable IPC Corporation (PINKSHEETS: EIPC) today issued an update to
shareholders and interested parties on the Company's recent
announcements of a $4.5 million deal for ultracapacitors for radio
frequency identification (RFID) tags, the Company's upgrade to the
Pink OTC Markets 'Current Information' status, the potentiostat
product and the relationship between the Company's subsidiary
SolRayo, Inc. (http://www.solrayo.com) and National Instruments,
and on the application of the Company's ultracapacitor technology
in solar energy storage.
Enable IPC Reaches $4.5 Million Three-Year Deal
for RFID Application in Livestock
On Monday, August 30 2010, Enable IPC announced that the Company
has reached an agreement with a major manufacturer of RFID tags and
readers to provide ultracapacitor-based products to improve the
range in which the tags can be read. The customer has committed,
subject to successful product development and testing, to purchase
a total of $4.5 million in customized ultracapacitor devices from
Enable IPC over the next three years to incorporate into the
customer's RFID tags. Both parties anticipate that, given the fact
that a significantly longer read range will provide much needed
traction in the RFID tag market, the total dollar amount of tags
sold by the customer will likely be much higher than currently
forecasted.
The customer primarily sells RFID systems for livestock
applications where the increased read range provided by the Enable
IPC ultracapacitor should prove beneficial for both farm management
and food safety.
In farm management, RFID systems can be used along with software
systems to allow for easier tracking of various animal
characteristics depending upon the type of farm (e.g., milk
production in a diary farm), which allows for increased efficiency
and decreased labor costs. As an example, one report states that
using RFID systems in such a way to track individual cattle rather
than in groups has allowed one farmer to estimate he is saving
$35-60 per head of cattle.
Concerns over food safety have led some countries including
Canada, Australia and New Zealand to begin mandating RFID use in
tracking livestock all the way from birth to retail sales. In the
instance of a food safety issue (for example, E. Coli found in
hamburger), tainted meats can be more accurately, quickly and
easily tracked back to the originating ranches, and in some
instances to the animal itself, as well as any other animals or
products they may have come into contact with along the way. This
would facilitate more efficient and less costly recalls and quicker
resolutions of any crisis. As these mandates spread to other
countries and other animal types, livestock tracking is expected to
become the dominant market in the RFID industry -- British Research
firm IDTechEx expects livestock tracking to be the largest RFID
market by 2017 at nearly $6.5 billion worldwide, largely propelled
by government mandates. According to the US Department of
Agriculture, in the US alone there are over 100 million cattle and
over 35 million born each year.
The RFID tag industry overall is expected to see heavy growth in
the coming years; one third-party market research report forecasts
a 14% Compound Annual Growth Rate and a total market value of $8
billion by 2014.
RFID Systems
RFID tags are widely used across many industries. Consisting of
a microchip and radio antenna, they transmit information using
radio waves. A reader is used to intercept the waves and interpret
the information. They are used in dozens of applications including
inventory, pet, livestock and asset tracking, tires, anti-theft
devices, toll roads, passports, patient identification and much
more.
There are three basic types of RFID tags: passive,
battery-assisted passive (BAP) and active.
- Passive RFID tags are comprised of two components: a chip and a
radio antenna. A piece of equipment called a "reader" is used to
send out a signal that "wakes up" the chip. The tag sends back the
signal ("backscatters") to the reader, transmitting the information
on the chip. Passive chips backscatter 10-15% of the energy they
receive and, therefore, can usually be read from about 35 feet
away.
- Battery-assisted passive (BAP) RFID tags contain an embedded
power source, a thin film battery or a printed energy storage
device. The power source enables the tag to backscatter much more
of the energy it receives (some claim as much as 90%) and has been
shown to be read from over 150 feet away.
- Active RFID tags utilize a power source, are typically "always
on," and emit the energy from the battery rather than through
backscatter. They are needed in electromagnetically unfriendly
environments and can be read from readers over 100 feet away.
There have been three major issues with BAP and active energy
storage components: cost, reliability and maintenance. Up until
recently, active and BAP technologies added significant bulk and
therefore cost to RFID tags. With recent thin film battery
technologies bulk is less of an issue, however the thin film
batteries can be less reliable and more costly. In addition,
detection ranges can drop significantly with the age of the tag and
battery with some dropping from 150 feet to a 12 foot detection
range.
Enable IPC's solution would enable an active RFID tag to be read
over 100 feet away while providing the low cost, maintenance free
reliability of a passive RFID tag. Expect to hear more about this
agreement and Enable's plans in the coming weeks.
Enable IPC Meets Pink Sheets Current Information
Status
Enable IPC has been designated as 'Pink Sheets Current
Information' status on the Pink OTC (over-the-counter) Market. The
Pink OTC Markets are organized into tiers based on the depth and
quality of financial reporting. The Pink Sheets segment represents
the bulk of OTC companies and is further arranged into tiers:
- Pink Sheets Current Information -- Companies designated as Pink
Sheets Current Information have publicly released financial
information according to Pink OTC Guidelines found here:
http://www.otcmarkets.com/content/doc/ps/Disclosure/Guidelines/2.pdf.
The designation is based on level of disclosure and is not an
indication of the quality or risk of the investment.
- Pink Sheets Limited Information -- Represents companies that
have provided financial information as recent as the last six
months.
- Pink Sheets No Information -- Companies under this designation
either do not provide Current Information, or if they do it, has
been at least six months since the most recent filing.
- More information on OTC Markets and Pink Sheets Tiers can be
found here:
http://www.otcmarkets.com/otcguide/investors_market_tiers.jsp
Why seek "Pink Sheets Current Information" Status?
Enable IPC is committed to assisting its investors in making
informed investment decisions about the Company. Current
Information reports provide investors with tools to make informed
investment decisions and Pink Sheets Current Information status
signals to investors that the depth of information provided has met
the OTC Market requirements pursuant to the designation. This tier
also allows companies to provide current information to investors
at a much lower cost than is required to be SEC reporting. As a
development stage company, Enable's board voted to stop SEC
reporting expenses so that funds could be put to better use
developing the Company's leading-edge technologies. By reporting
current information under the Pink OTC Market's standards for 'Pink
Sheets Current Information,' the Company feels it has optimized its
resources while continuing to provide current information to
investors.
SolRayo's Potentiostat Featured On National
Instruments' Website
National Instruments is a large (net sales $676 million in 2009)
public company with over 5,000 employees operating in 41 countries
worldwide. National Instruments is a provider of measurement and
automation products to a wide range of industries. Enable IPC's
subsidiary SolRayo Inc.'s potentiostat uses National Instrument
products for some of its key components. In effect, the more
potentiostats that SolRayo sells, the more components SolRayo will
purchase from National Instruments. National Instruments has
created a case study feature on SolRayo's Potentiostat found on the
National Instruments corporate website at http://www.ni.com/solrayo
written by Dr. Mark Daugherty, CEO of SolRayo.
In addition to this, National Instruments featured SolRayo's
potentiostat in an IEEE Spectrum webinar and we were also mentioned
in their second quarter earnings call (the transcript can be found
here:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/216852-national-instruments-corp-q2-2010-earnings-call-transcript?source=yahoo)
Enable IPC's Ultracapacitor Technology Can
Provide Solar Energy Storage Solutions
Enable IPC's ultracapacitor technology is flexible and can be
used in a variety of applications. The Company has frequently
discussed the concept of using ultracapacitors for energy storage,
such as in solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. Some of these
discussions and presentations can be found on the Company's website
at: http://www.enableipc.com/papers_ucaps.html.
PV is an emerging industry expected to see heavy growth in the
coming years (Forecasted Compound Annual Growth Rate of 26.3%
through 2014, according to third party market research
reports).
Solar Energy Storage
The worldwide emphasis on "clean" and renewable energy
production has many drivers. Energy costs make up an
ever-increasing portion of the average consumer's expenditures and
the volatility of oil prices as well as concerns over dependence
upon foreign oil sources have led many countries to seek
alternative means of energy production. An increased awareness of
the real and potential environmental dangers posed by the use of
fossil fuels has helped foster interest specifically in geothermal,
wind and solar energy as clean and abundant alternatives. Also, as
R&D continues and technologies advance, costs are continually
driven down making renewable sources more and more
cost-competitive. Utility-scale wind power, for example, has seen
an 80% reduction in costs over the last 20 years.
"Clean" energy sources are typically intermittent, i.e., they do
not provide constant energy (the classic examples are a wind
turbine on a still day, or a solar panel at night or on a cloudy
day). Especially in off-grid applications, batteries or similar
devices allow electricity storage during times of "excess energy"
for use during times of need.
In "grid-tied" solar photovoltaic installations, energy storage
devices are not typically utilized due to required maintenance,
poor performance and high costs.
- Maintenance -- Many lead acid batteries, which are typically
used in solar applications, require periodic maintenance from the
homeowner (checking and replacing fluid levels, etc). Others such
as gel and Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) are considered maintenance free
but are expensive.
- Poor Performance -- Batteries operating in grid-tied
applications may need to be replaced anywhere from once every 6
months to once every 7 years. Some may last longer but few
manufacturers guarantee it.
- High costs -- In a market where customers must consider
long-term breakeven (or "buy-back") periods, the fact that energy
storage devices can add anywhere from 15% to 40% (depending on the
level of tax credits) to the costs for the entire installation
pushes the customers long-term breakeven date back even
further.
Enable IPC's design is aimed at producing a competitively
priced, maintenance free product lasting as long as the PV
installation itself (20-25 years), which will severely cut the
investment required by the end-user.
About SolRayo, Inc.
SolRayo, Inc. (www.solrayo.com) is a Madison, Wisconsin-based
company set up to commercialize an ultracapacitor technology
licensed from the University of Wisconsin. In addition, the Company
introduced its potentiostat/galvanostat equipment products in
January 2010. SolRayo is a subsidiary of Enable IPC
Corporation.
About Enable IPC Corp. (Intellectual Property
Commercialization)
Enable IPC provides efficient, streamlined strategies for
turning technologies into products and bringing them to market.
Though not limited to nanotechnology or the energy industries,
Enable IPC's growing portfolio currently includes the exclusive
rights to two break-through energy technologies a microbattery and
an ultracapacitor. The company seeks to turn technologies into
products and is a transparent, fair turnkey partner for
sub-licensing and joint development with other companies.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements, such as
"expects," "projected," "should" and similar terminology that are
made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve
known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause a
company's actual results in the future to differ materially from
forecasted results. These risks and uncertainties include, among
other things, the ability to secure additional financing for the
company, changing economic conditions, business conditions, and the
risks inherent in the operations of a company.
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Contacts Product Inquiries: Kevin Leonard SolRayo, Inc.
(608) 244-2799 kevin_leonard@solrayo.com Investor Relations: Rich
Kaiser (888) 391-1196, ext. 106 or (800) 631-8127
ir@enableipc.com
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