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Bullhorn™, American Innovations' New Low-Cost Wireless Solution, Ideal For Water/Waste Water Industries

May 16, 2001

Bullhorn, American Innovations' new low-cost wireless monitoring system, checks inputs from equipment remotely and provides automatic notification of alarm events by fax, page and/or email. Bullhorn can monitor water/waste water-related equipment including lift station pump status, lift station power, effluent overflow, pressure, temperature and reads electronic flow meters & more.

"One of the best things about Bullhorn is that it's always there to let you know when something is wrong at a site, no matter how far away it is," said Lee Blankenstein, AI's Director of Sales and Marketing. "For instance, if there's a problem with one of your lift stations in a remote location, you'll know about it. Bullhorn makes remote monitoring available in many situations where, in the past, it has been highly desirable but cost prohibitive."

The Bullhorn system uses the MicroBurst™ wireless network from Aeris.net to transfer information from remote equipment to a central database. Because it uses the control channels of the existing cellular telephone networks, MicroBurst™ data transfer is low-cost, robust and available nationwide. In seconds, data packets are transferred from the Bullhorn unit over the cellular network to the Aeris.net operating center and on to AI's secure web site. Once received at the Bullhorn site, packets are decoded and the data is posted for customers to view or to download.

"Because Bullhorn is web-based, it is easy use and very effective at making information available to everyone you want to have it. With its point and click operation, users require little or no training and you don't have to worry about expensive access fees," AI President Rich Smalling explained. "You just hook it up, log on, and get information 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."

A key benefit of the Bullhorn system is automated alarm notification. Users configure the alarm triggers and choose from a variety of notification options using fax, pager and/or e-mail. Automatic notifications can be sent to prompt service calls with informational copies forwarded to dispatchers, management or system operators.

Bullhorn units are being used by many water utilities and service companies including: Fern Bluff Municipal Utility District (Round Rock, TX) to monitor lift station pumps, Premier Chemicals at the City of Brownsville, TX's water treatment plant to monitor the level and operation of wastewater treatment chemicals and by Eco Resources, a company which provides monitoring service for water companies throughout the U.S.

About American Innovations
Based in Austin Texas, American Innovations is a fast growing provider of products and services for web-based remote monitoring, including automatic meter reading, alarm point monitoring and remote equipment control. Since 1987, the company's AIMetering System® has been a leader in telephone-based automated utility metering. Its AIM SkyBox™ product is a pioneering wireless apartment metering system based on the MicroBurst™ network. The company's skills include the design and development of scalable network operating systems, secure web servers and reliable microelectronic communications devices for use in rugged environments.

American Innovations Ltd., 12112 Technology Blvd., Suite 100, Austin, TX 78727. Tel: 512-249-3400; Fax: 512-249-3444.

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