IRVINE, Calif., April 6, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- The top three winners of Lantronix, Inc. (Nasdaq:LTRX) first wireless design contest were announced yesterday at the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose, Calif. In August 2005, Lantronix challenged designers in North America and Europe to exercise their imagination and wirelessly network-enable a machine or device utilizing Lantronix WiPort embedded 802.11 networking module. Grabbing first place was mechanical engineer Keith Emery from San Diego, Calif. with his eLAWN(tm) programmable sprinkler controller. Second place went to hardware architect Don Davis from Austin, TX with his WDC130 pool monitor and third place was garnered by president David Hicks from Fairfax Station, Virginia with his LAN*Minder(tm) RPC100WX network accessible power controller. Winners were awarded not only innovative recognition, but also cash prizes -- $5,000 for first place, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place.
Contest entries were judged with the following criteria: technical merit, originality, usefulness, cost-effectiveness and design optimization. With several hundred registered entries, a team of Lantronix engineers narrowed down the playing field and Electronic Design magazine and Machine Design magazine editors determined first, second and third prizes.
"I had the idea for my patent-pending eLAWN for some time now and really believe including embedded web server capabilities into the home is the way of the future," said Keith Emery, mechanical engineer for D&K Engineering and winner of the design contest. "I noticed this contest online and thought it was a pretty cool idea. After taking a closer look at the WiPort development kit I realized I had everything I needed to easily make this happen."
Lantronix WiPort is a compact, highly-integrated hardware and software module that enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to quickly and easily build secure 802.11 wireless capabilities into virtually any electronic device with a serial or Ethernet port. The WiPort includes a robust, real time operating system, a full-featured network protocol stack, and a proven, ready-to-use serial-to-wireless application. The product also includes a built-in web server for remote device communication and a web manager for configuration via a standard browser.
"This contest was a great way to illustrate the endless possibilities of wireless networking," said Bob Cross, senior vice president of development for Lantronix. "With the WiPort development kit, engineers were able to take advantage of a complete, integrated solution leaving only their imagination as a limit. We were delighted with the creativity of the submissions we received and congratulate our top three winners."
About Contest Winners' Designs
First Place -- eLAWN is a programmable sprinkler controller. This automated system allows a home owner to define its watering schedule by using the current ground moisture level. With its built-in web-enabled interface, users can access their sprinkler control, receive notification of water line breaks or sprinkler head failures, and receive local weather conditions from anywhere via the Internet.
Second Place -- The WDC130 Pool Monitor allows users to monitor a pool's chemistry, water temperature and pump pressure. With its built-in web server, personnel can receive current process variable readings along with historical graphs, and can be notified via email if any corrective action is required. Wireless connectivity is ideal in this situation where a cable run is prohibited.
Third Place -- The RPC100WX is a self-contained, network accessible power controller, which allows network administrators to identify and fix network related problems. The solution can also be used to diagnose end-to-end network communications, it supports automatic reboot of attached devices, and maintains performance data that can be accessed via Telnet for interactivity or via the built-in web browser.
Keep your eye out for similar design contests from Lantronix in the future. For more information on Lantronix WiPort, please visit: http://www.lantronix.com/device-networking/embedded-device-servers/wiport.html.
About Lantronix
Lantronix, Inc. (Nasdaq:LTRX) develops hardware and software solutions to help businesses and government agencies remotely access and manage network infrastructure equipment and rapidly network-enable their physical electronic devices. With nearly two decades of networking experience and more than 22 million ports network-enabled, the company is a leader in secure, remote device and data center management. With a family of products ranging from embedded device servers, to external box device servers to data center management, Lantronix is a one-stop shop for technologists who design, manage and configure servers, electronic devices and network infrastructure equipment. The company's worldwide headquarters are located in Irvine, Calif. For more information, visit www.lantronix.com.
Lantronix is a registered trademark, and WiPort is a trademark of Lantronix, Inc. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
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