American Technology Corp. Announces Expansion of Military Business; Carl
Gruenler Appointed Vice
President of Military Operations
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 30, 2003--American Technology
Corp. (NASDAQ:ATCO) today announced the appointment of Carl Gruenler
as vice president of military operations to oversee ATC's rapidly
expanding military business. The company expects to realize more than
$1 million in military sales in calendar year 2003, a 400 percent gain
over calendar year 2002.
Gruenler is a member of the United States Naval Reserve, has a
strong business background, and has earned both undergraduate and
masters degrees in business administration. In his seventeen years of
business experience, Gruenler has served as president of Thomas D.
Mangelsen Inc., a national retail, manufacturing and distribution
company; chief financial officer of Automated Monitoring and Control
International Inc., a railroad systems technology company; and a
project manager/financial analyst at Union Pacific Railroad. He
returned to active duty in 1999 for special work as the Smart Wing
program manager tasked with identifying and developing new "tip of the
spear" integrated systems for physical security/access control,
waterside force protection and mobile computing. He is stepping out of
active duty to accept this position with ATC.
"After working on the military side with these unique and
revolutionary sound technologies, I am very excited to be heading
ATC's rapidly expanding military business," said Gruenler. "With the
invaluable assistance of General Dynamics, approximately 60% of ATC's
military business this year is proprietary LRAD(TM) high intensity
hailing and warning systems. LRAD makes possible intelligible
long-distance audio communication with minimal distraction to persons
near the system in a lightweight, hardened, all-inclusive design."
Gruenler continued, "LRAD changes the dynamics of force protection
against threats posed by small boats, vehicles and crowds by
positively determining intent. When intent is known, our armed
services can confidently act to protect U.S. assets and lives. LRAD is
an exciting new tool for both the warrior and the peacekeeper, for all
services, and many government agencies. Other ATC sound technologies
also show significant promise for resolving force protection and
emergency response communication challenges."
"Three naval vessels and two fleet concentration areas are now
outfitted with at least one LRAD system each. Applications are
expected to expand to wheeled and tracked vehicles throughout the
military. Eventually, I expect all the military branches as well as
many government agencies and allied forces to employ LRAD systems for
long range hailing and warning. Our aim is nothing less than having
LRAD identified as The Sound of Force Protection(TM) worldwide,"
concluded Gruenler.
Along with the appointment of Gruenler, Terry Conrad has accepted
the newly created position of director of military sales -- Western
region with shared account responsibility with national accounts
reporting to Gruenler.
"This month, we received our first NeoPlanar(R) order for large
land-based hangar use," announced Conrad. "NeoPlanar provides high
intelligibility in poor acoustic environments and should become the
standard for large-venue military sound installations. In addition to
our rapidly growing sales to Department of Defense agencies, interest
is growing in our LRAD systems among law enforcement agencies as a
tool in situations involving barricaded suspects, hostages, mob
control, and emergency announcements to distant crowds."
James Irish, CEO of ATC, commented, "Mr. Gruenler will continue to
lead the significant revenue growth we are experiencing in our
Military Operations division. His rich military background and support
of our patented sound technologies for multiple Navy applications will
provide substantial insight and direction to our forward-looking
strategies across all market channels. Mr. Conrad will expand our
drive for revenue and open new markets for our military operations.
Mr. Croft's oversight of R&D and Engineering will streamline
operations and speed new products to multiple markets."
James Croft is taking on an expanded role heading both Research
and Development (R&D) and Engineering. Under this new structure, R&D
and Engineering will work more closely in the product flow and project
process of bringing to market products based on HSS(R) Generation II,
NeoPlanar, PureBass(R), LRAD, HIDA(TM) and other proprietary sound
technologies and products currently under development.
Speaking on the company's HSS technology progress, Croft said,
"Our HSS(R) Generation II offers significant improvements in
performance and packaging by combining the sonic performance
advancements of our next generation Modulation Amplifier, monolithic
film emitter, and improved signal processing into a highly flexible,
miniaturized package for a wide variety of applications. Sound quality
is dramatically improved as a result of more than a 60 percent
reduction in distortion, and the electronics package is 1/4 the size
of our first generation devices."
James Irish added, "HSS Generation II products are expected to
debut later this summer with in-wall and in-ceiling mounting for
commercial, industrial and retail applications. HSS Generation II
provides improved sound quality and cost efficiencies broadening the
portfolio of HSS-enabled products. Later this year, we will begin a
major campaign to introduce HSS to all branches of the military and
key government agencies."
About American Technology Corp.
American Technology Corp. is Shaping the Future of Sound(R) by
developing and licensing its technology and intellectual property
portfolio which includes: the award-winning HSS(R) (HyperSonic(R)
Sound Technology); NeoPlanar(R) Technology; PureBass(R) Sub-Woofer
Technology; HIDA(TM) (High Intensity Directed Acoustics), LRAD(TM)
(Long Range Acoustic Device) and Stratified Field(R) Technology. The
company is establishing a strong portfolio of patents, trademarks, and
know-how including over 138 U.S. and Foreign patents and patent
filings to date. For more information on the company and its
technologies and products visit our Web site at www.atcsd.com.
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: This document contains forward-looking statements
relating to future transactions, performance, technology and product
development which may affect future results and the future viability
of the company. Actual results could be affected or differ materially
from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of
risks and uncertainties, including the ability of the company to
continue as a going concern, development of future products,
technological shifts, potential technical or manufacturing
difficulties that could delay new products, competition, general
economic factors, pricing pressures, the uncertainty of market
acceptance of new products and services by OEMs and end-user
customers, and other factors identified and discussed in the company's
most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These
forward-looking statements are based on information and management's
expectations as of the date hereof. Future results may differ
materially from the company's current expectations. American
Technology Corp. disclaims any intent or obligation to update those
forward-looking statements, except as otherwise specifically stated by
it.
--30--JS/sd*
CONTACT: American Technology Corp., San Diego
Investor Relations:
Robert Putnam, 858/679-3168
robert@atcsd.com
or
Media Inquiries:
Don Mathias, 949/855-4520
dwmath@aol.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE HARDWARE GOVERNMENT
AEROSPACE/DEFENSE
SOURCE: American Technology Corp.
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Jun-30-2003 13:02 GMT
Symbols:
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