February12, 1999

CELERITY SYSTEMS, BATTELLE ANNOUNCE HOME AUTOMATION SYSTEM

The future of managing your household energy may be as close as your fingertips. Those same fingers also may soon monitor home security systems and health care systems with a new system developed by Celerity Systems and Battelle.

The home energy system will enable the user - utilizing a television and a remote control or wireless keyboard - to monitor home energy use, compare it to past periods, and control virtually any electrical device in the home. As the system develops, a user will be able to perform other automation tasks, including the monitoring of security and health care systems.

The monitoring and control is conducted with software developed by Celerity (Nasdaq: CLRT) and Battelle, along with a T 6000 digital set top box, designed by Celerity and standardized home automation components.

The monitoring system uses regular household wiring and requires little or no modifications to existing wiring systems.

The first commercial application of the new system is scheduled to take place this spring in Hopkinsville, Ky., for the Hopkinsville Electric Service.

The new capabilities can potentially save the average homeowner $15 to $25 a month on their electric bill. The system also offers significant benefits for energy companies. The utilities will be able to remotely read meters, as well as send and receive messages from and provide control signals to the household.

This provides opportunities to the utility and the customer to save money and energy by shifting usage from peak to off-peak periods for such items as water heaters, heat pumps, and air conditioners. This is critical since power usage during peak periods often approaches 100 percent of the power generation capabilities in many regions of the country.

"We are very excited to have our software product introduced to the market," says Henry Cialone, Vice President and General Manager of Battelle's Energy Products Division. "We have been looking for a hardware platform that could economically support this software application for some time, and we are delighted with the T 6000 digital set top box. Compared to the other alternatives available in our industry today, Celerity's T 6000 platform seems to be the most functional at an affordable cost."

Cialone emphasized that this technology is part of his organization's focus on helping energy companies deliver value-added products and services to their customers.

"We think Battelle is a world leader in energy research and development, and we are honored to be strategically aligned with them in this market," said Ken Van Meter, President and CEO of Celerity Systems. "We believe that Battelle has a unique understanding of the energy industry, not only for end users but also energy companies. The software that they bring to the system will not only provide good solutions now, but will become more robust and more valuable as we jointly develop this system."

The companies intend to cooperate in the marketing of the system, and to continue to work on technical developments that add new features and functions in a phased implementation.

Battelle, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and operating at more than 60 locations worldwide, develops and commercializes technology. Battelle has 7,000 scientists, engineers, and support specialists who conduct research and development. Revenues are $1 billion annually. Battelle has developed technologies and products for some of the most successful companies in the world. Battelle serves a variety of industrial and governmental clients in developing solutions and products for the marketplace.

Celerity Systems, Inc., headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., designs and manufactures interactive digital video servers and digital set top boxes, and markets complete end-to-end systems through its strategic relationships with major companies including Nortel, Minerva, FORE Systems, and Cisco.

For more information contact Media Relations Manager Katy Delaney at (614) 424-5544, or e-mail delaneyk@battelle.org.