Topro Signs Agreement with RW Beck and Announces Additional Year 2000 Solution Engagements
PR Newswire - January 29, 1998 10:29
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Topro, Inc., d.b.a. TAVA
Technologies, Inc., (Nasdaq: TPRO) a leading provider of automation and
information technology solutions to industry, today announced that it has
signed an agreement with RW Beck to form a joint venture to address the market
for year 2000 (Y2K) compliance in the process control and embedded system
layer in the electric utility industry. This is an extension of TAVA's Plant
Y2K One(TM) product and service offering already provided to manufacturing and
process industries.
The venture will operate under an exclusive license to apply TAVA's Plant
Y2K One(TM) product to the electric utility industry and will modify the
product to meet the particular requirements of the industry. Modifications
will include extension of TAVA's compliance database to include process
automation components commonly applied in power generation, transmission and
distribution. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The venture already has secured engagements with CMS and PacifiCorp and
has proposals outstanding to several other clients that are expected to close
in the next 30 days. The venture presented, on January 28, as a designated
solution provider to a conference on the Y2K embedded system problem sponsored
by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). More than 35 utilities will
be represented at the conference. In February, the venture will be presenting
on the same topic to the Western Power Producers Conference where another 20
utilities will be present.
RW Beck is a consulting engineering firm with 500 employees operating from
10 offices across the U.S. The firm specializes in providing engineering
services to electric utilities, particularly in the area of risk assessment
and planning. Beck's utility client list numbers more than 1,000.
John Jenkins, CEO, said, "We know the utility industry is just now getting
started on a major Y2K compliance task that presents significant opportunity.
The resources, subject matter expertise, and client base that RW Beck brings
to the Venture, will accelerate significantly our success in this market."
He added, "We believe this venture model may have ready application to
some other vertical markets outside the company's immediate experience base,
one that we are currently considering is that of Y2K embedded system
compliance in hospitals and bio-medical systems."
Jenkins added as a general update on the company's overall business
activity:
The company's Y2K business continues to grow broadly. The present client
base stands at more than 30 with new additions including General Motors,
Medeva Pharmaceuticals, Kraft Foods, TRW, Pillsbury, Occidental Petroleum,
UNOCAL, Cargill, The U.S. Mint and others. The scope of these engagements
ranges from early, single plant pilots to multi-plant programs. The company
expects the scope of these projects to grow as is consistent with its
experience with its existing Y2K client base.
The company recently has completed the inventory and assessment phase of
two multi-plant, multi-national engagements that are now expected to move
quickly into the conversion planning and remediation stages. The company has
completed a proposal for the first of these that includes a total program
estimate of more than $6,500,000.
The company recently opened an office in Birmingham, Alabama, with a staff
of five senior system engineers, all with recent Y2K compliance program
experience. The company expects this office to grow significantly and
quickly. The Birmingham operations have been chartered to lead the company's
Y2K compliance business in the automotive industry.
In addition to current engagements at General Motors, TAVA has several
other initiatives directed at the automotive industry. As one example, the
company has just put a number of its personnel though a Y2K accreditation
process managed by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG). This
accreditation process is designed by AIAG as part of a program to address the
automotive industry supply chain Y2K compliance issues.
John Jenkins noted, "In general, awareness of, and action on the Y2K issue
in the process control and embedded device layer is still generally lagging
with some sectors now beginning to accelerate. The industrial press is now
beginning to address the issue. TAVA recently has been interviewed on the
topic, and is scheduled to address several Y2K industry forums in the next two
months, including The Year 2000 Symposium Series and The Automation
Technologies Forum."
SOURCE Topro, Inc.
/CONTACT: John Jenkins of Topro, Inc., 303-771-9794; or Scott Liolios of
Pacific Consulting Group, Inc., 714-574-3860/
(TPRO)
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