Frost & Sullivan Awards XCI’s Remarkable Foresight and Entrepreneurial Talent in the Thermostat Market

Palo Alto, Calif. —XX— Frost & Sullivan recently selected XCI Corporation (XCI) as the recipient of the 2006 Frost & Sullivan Award for Entrepreneurial Company of the Year in the North American thermostats market for its success in a competitive market. The Award recognizes the company’s initiative and calculated risk-taking in succeeding in the market despite its small size.

XCI’s keen market insight enabled it to recognize the promise held by networked or communicating thermostats at a time when few had an inkling of its potential. This early-mover advantage allowed XCI to expand its business and even out-position larger competitors in winning new construction contracts.

Today, despite its small size, XCI is a leading supplier of networked thermostats in North America.

A large part of XCI’s success is directly tied to its core product offering – the networked thermostat. Networked thermostats offer advantages such as unparalleled levels of customization and energy savings. These attributes are especially popular considering the volatility and continued escalation of energy prices.

XCI has relentlessly worked on improving its product portfolio. It has shown good judgment in its choice of product improvements and features additions. It offers the most easy-to-use products by providing PC-based, user-friendly programming interfaces. This is one of the major reasons that XCI appeals to light commercial and institutional facilities such as schools and small offices.

“Moreover, XCI has made installation so easy and simple that it does not even require a specialized technician,” says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst David Lee. “This further increases the attractiveness of XCI’s products as it offers all the advantages and energy cost savings of networked thermostats without the initial cost-prohibitive investment.”

The company has also developed a robust network platform that offers unmatched reliability and hassle-free operation. To optimally leverage these product advantages, XCI has formed a number of strategic global partnerships that are expected to expand its sales pipeline.

“XCI has not only displayed agility by developing key capabilities and features in its products, but also sound business strategy, indicating a genuine understanding of customer needs and desires,” notes Lee.

Each year Frost & Sullivan presents this Award to the small company that demonstrates superior entrepreneurial ability in its industry. The Award signifies the company's identification of a unique and revolutionary product solution with significant market potential. Additionally, it certifies that the company's marketing strategy is sound and poised for success.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About XCI Corporation

Founded in Dallas, Texas in 1995, XCI Corporation’s core business has been built around products that allow customers to take control of the HVAC equipment in their facility from anywhere in the world. This approach has been proven to be a superior alternative to programmable thermostats, which are cumbersome to program and manage. Today, XCI Corporation continues to design and manufacture cost-effective network thermostats and associated software products meeting the needs for on-site and Internet-based control for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) market. XCI’s products place simple, user-friendly tools in the hands of residential, institutional, commercial, and light industrial customers. XCI’s products are distributed through a wide range of customers, including traditional HVAC contractors, OEM controls manufacturers, HVAC building automation contractors and custom integration installers.

The company designs and develops its own hardware and software products, partnering with various multi-billion dollar global controls manufacturers for volume manufacturing. XCI’s proven technology and “it’s gotta be simple…” approach is conquering both the inadequacies of standard thermostats, and the complexity of expensive and cumbersome building automation systems. XCI’s strong market presence has also lead to the successful launch of a separate company, XCI Controls, which manufacturers innovative residential and light commercial zoning systems for the HVAC industry.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit www.awards.frost.com or www.buildingtechnologies.frost.com.