This is not either of the top 2 reasons I'm excited about COXT, but it's nice anyway:
COX Technologies & Shape Global
Technology Form Joint Venture to Produce Innovative
'Home Comfort Control" Units
BELMONT, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 2000--COX Technologies
Inc. (OTCBB:COXT) and Shape Global Technology Inc. Thursday
announced a joint venture agreement to develop, manufacture, and
market a more efficient, innovative line of "home comfort control"
temperature units.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The units, designed with leading-edge technology used to control
heating and cooling in home environments, are expected to be less than
half the cost of currently available units. Providing the most
efficient home temperature control, the units will display information
on a large LCD screen and provide easily programmable settings using a
home computer.
They also may be programmed without a personal computer.
The joint venture between COX Technologies and Shape Global
Technology will take advantage of specific strengths provided by the
two companies. COX will provide the units' internal electronics using
advanced technologies, and Shape Global will engineer the external
casings and handle nationwide sales and marketing.
"We are very excited about our partnership with Cox
Technologies," said Peter Ciriello, chief executive officer of Shape
Global Technology, "because it will enable us to deliver to our market
vastly superior temperature control products in the shortest time
possible."
Ciriello continued, "This joint venture is a powerful combination
of electronics with mechanical and plastics engineering and design
skills that will allow us to commercialize a unique new technology for
the control of home heating and cooling systems."
Shape Global has a long history of developing and marketing
proprietary precision molded plastic products.
The initial product will be a stationary unit attached to a wall.
Subsequent products will be cordless, allowing the homeowner to move
the comfort control unit to different areas of the home to ensure
maximum accuracy and operating cost efficiency.
"By teaming up with Shape Global Technologies, COX is able to
quickly move into the consumer products market offering a very
inexpensive unit that eliminates the usual confusion of programming
temperature in the home," explained Uri M. Dahan, senior vice
president of engineering for COX Technologies.
"Typically, programming a home comfort control unit for heating
and cooling is more difficult than programming your VCR. Our new
easy-to-use product will be very beneficial to the consumer."
The home comfort control units will be sold through
do-it-yourself hardware retail outlets and through contractors in the
construction industry. The initial market for the new product will be
the replacement market for existing home comfort control units.
Ultimately, homeowners will be able to purchase original units bundled
with software.
Based in Belmont, COX Technologies has been providing
time-temperature management solutions for perishable commodities since
1976. It is an industry leader in food safety technology and quality
assurance systems for all facets of the food industry. For more
information about COX Technologies, visit its Web site at
www.coxtechnologies.com.
Since 1973, Shape Global Technology Inc., with headquarters in
Kennebunk, Maine, has been a leading manufacturer of media and data
storage components for the computer and entertainment industry. They
have manufacturing and distribution facilities in Maine, Alabama and
Washington. For more information about Shape Global Technology Inc.,
visit its Web site at www.Shapenet.com.
Statements in this release about future results are preliminary
and based on partial information and assumptions, and actual results
may differ. Except for historical information presented, the matters
discussed in this announcement contain forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties, including the development and growth
of markets targeted by COX Technologies, the acceptance of
time-temperature monitoring recorders by customers, the impact of
competition, government regulations, general economic conditions in
the United States and abroad and other risks detailed from time to
time in the company's public disclosure filings with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission.
--30--EZ/np* JS/np
CONTACT: Hilary Kaye Associates
Nancy Koprowski, 714/426-0444 (PST)
or
Strategic Equity Marketing/Rusty Page & Co.
Neal Kaplan, 704/333-3305 (EST)
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