To: Dan Bane who wrote (419 ) 1/26/2000 9:15:00 PM From: Jon Khymn Respond to of 648
Wednesday January 26, 9:42 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Eagle Wireless Receives $12.5 Million Set-Top Box Purchase Order From Urbana.ca Eagle Receives Initial Order On $125 Million Contract LEAGUE CITY, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 26, 2000--Eagle Wireless (OTC BB:EGLW - news) announced today that it has received a purchase order for set-top box units, totaling $12.5 million from Urbana.ca Enterprises, a wholly owned subsidiary of Urbana.ca (OTC BB:URBA - news). This initial order for $12.5 million worth of Eagle convergent set-top boxes was received on December 12, 1999, and is part of a $125 million contract between Eagle and Urbana.ca to deliver 500,000 set-top box units. The set-top box configuration incorporates both the Linux operating system and Wavelet technology. The set-top box units are being installed in a pilot project conducted by Urbana.ca in Ontario, Canada. The box provides the vehicle to deliver local Internet access and enhanced services, such as monitored smoke detection, via a television set and has many residential and commercial applications. An initial shipment of 115 test units was initiated on December 15, 1999 against the order to begin Urbana.ca's pilot project. Full production units are scheduled to begin shipping over the next ninety days from Eagle's manufacturing partner in Singapore. As a part of an overall agreement between Eagle and Urbana.ca, Eagle will customize certain features of its set-top box for Urbana.ca in exchange for the right to be the exclusive supplier of all set-top box products to Urbana.ca. In addition, Eagle has granted Urbana.ca the exclusive Canadian distributorship for their set-top box products in return for a commitment from Urbana.ca to purchase a minimum of 500,000 set-top box units over a 21-month period of time. ``We are extremely pleased with our contract with Urbana.ca Enterprises to supply set-top box products for their projects worldwide. Urbana.ca's projects are exactly the type of set-top box applications that Eagle is targeting,' stated Dr. H. Dean Cubley, president and chief executive officer of Eagle Wireless International. Cubley continued, ``The Wavelet compression technology further expands the number of available marketing areas and thus potential customers. We estimate the demand for this type of set-top box will be phenomenal, representing a potential market in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year.' Urbana.ca, Inc. President Jason Cassis commented, ``The contract with Eagle gives Urbana.ca the perfect product to meet the needs of our Canadian consumer applications and other projects outside of Canada. Utilizing a Linux platform coupled with USA Video Interactive's Wavelet compression technology, the set-top box provides the necessary flexibility and high reliability that will appeal to our consumers. In addition, the leading-edge features of Eagle's set-top box should enable Urbana.ca to rapidly penetrate the consumer market with a wide range of applications.' Eagle Wireless International, Inc., and subsidiaries, is a leading supplier of broadband wired and wireless equipment and services for the Internet, Multimedia Set-Top-Box, one- and two-way wireless messaging, specialized mobile radio (SMR), remote data acquisition and meter reading, and Integrated Wired and Wireless Convergence product markets. The Company is headquartered in League City, Texas, near the NASA Johnson Space Center south of Houston. Further news updates on Eagle and its products are available at www.eglw.com, www.otcfn.com/eglw and www.charterbridge.com. Urbana.ca Inc. is an e-commerce, transaction and content company that creates Intranet and Internet-based systems in conjunction with local area governments and high profile corporations. Delivered through a set-top-box, local communities can be provided with community-based entertainment and information services widely used in all facets of everyday life. The Company's headquarters are located in Ontario, Canada.