NEWS RELEASE              

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Simple Com Tools and Conservation Resource Solutions Team Up to Enable Energy Demand Response Programs
Joint Solution Enables Energy Industry to Manage Grid Reliability and Prevent Blackouts

Tampa, FL – March 25, 2006
Simple Com Tools, LLC – creator of the award-winning COM1000TM Industrial Internet ApplianceTM, and leader in the M2M hardware market, and Conservation Resource Solutions, Inc. (CRS), a nationwide application provider specializing in energy usage information and management tools, are teaming up to help both electric utility and competitive electricity providers manage electric power grid reliability by enabling Real Time Demand Response Program management.

Demand Response programs are one method that an Independent System Operator (ISO) may use to provide independent energy utilities with access to power on a fair and balanced basis. Demand Response programs are where local utilities and their enrolled customers can be called upon to reduce their electricity consumption in response to either system reliability problems or high wholesale market prices. These programs provide a lower cost, reduced risk, and more environmentally sound solution to managing capacity demands, helping to manage electric power grid reliability and prevent blackouts.

Under their partner relationship, CRS will utilize SCT’s COM1000 as their preferred customer premise hardware enabling data collection and usage reporting to the CRS supplied iEMS energy usage information and management system. CRS selected the COM1000 from Simple Com Tools as its preferred data collection hardware because of its ability to help CRS meet the near real-time customer reporting interval and communications requirements of the New England bulk power system operator, ISO-NE. ISO-NE is recognized as the industry leader in the successful implementation of Real Time Demand Response Programs.  With the capability to interface to a wide variety of meters, capture and totalize usage data, and transport the data to the iEMS server over any network architecture, the COM1000 enabled CRS with a customer premise solution that would work with all potential network options, a factor crucial to simplifying customer installation, turn-up, and troubleshooting.

"Simple Com Tools has enabled CRS to improve our service offering to our diverse utility and non-utility customer base and ensure a compelling ROI,” states Todd Moran, Managing Partner, Operations for CRS.  Demand-side response is an excellent example of this. We look forward to continuing to provide quality, value added solutions to our customers using the COM1000.”  

“The COM1000 is designed to provide solution providers and end-users with the maximum amount of flexibility in terms of network communications and data transport options,” states Bill Farley, VP of Sales for Simple Com Tools. “Our mission to simplify the collection and integration of machine data, and CRS has been able to prove the power of leveraging our technology to a real world advantage. With the COM1000 and iEMS as a combined solution, electric utility energy management just took a giant leap forward”.

Power System Operators, electric utilities and competitive electricity providers and customers interested in enabling a turn-key Demand Response program can contact either Simple Com Tools or CRS for more details. A detailed case study is also available online at: http://ww.simplecomtools.com/downloads/casestudy/casestudy_electric_crs.pdf.

About Simple Com Tools
Simple Com Tools, LLC provides software tools and hardware appliances that access and distribute remote asset logic across the M2M, Security, and Telematics value chains. SimpleComTools products are designed for network integrators and application service providers who need real-world solutions for machine-to-machine communications, telemetry and remote data collection, wireless connectivity, access control, and asset management. Their flagship product, the COM1000TM Industrial Internet ApplianceTM, combines elements of serial data, digital and analog inputs, TCP/IP, and embedded applications all packaged in a rugged, pre-integrated device that can be seamlessly integrated into any LAN, WAN, or wireless project.
For additional information on SimpleComTools, visit them online at www.simplecomtools.com.

About CRS
Based in Cumming, Georgia, Conservation Resource Solutions, Inc. (CRS) is a technology integrator and service provider specializing in Internet-enabled meter data collection, management, and application solutions for multiple resource usage sectors (electricity, natural gas, water, and steam). CRS is also an ISO-NE certified Internet-Based Communication System (IBCS) provider, and as such, also provides demand response event communication services to certain market participants and their enrolled customer assets.  Their flagship product is iEMS, a web-enabled, highly cost-effective data management system hosted by CRS and accessible through virtually any Internet browser. For additional information on CRS or iEMS, please visit the company's website at www.crsolutions.us.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Simple Com Tools, LLC
Brian McKeon
VP Marketing & Business Development
(813) 864-7382
bmckeon@simplecomtools.com
 
Conservation Resource Solutions, Inc.
Leo Desjardins
Managing Partner, Business Development
(978) 463-6695
ldesjardins@crsolutions.us