Vancouver, British Columbia, September 4, 2003 – Icron Technologies Corporation (TSX.V:IT) today announced it will receive funding from the Government of Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) through its Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP).
Icron is to receive a grant of $100,000 from the NRC. This funding forms a significant part of Icron’s investment in research on a breakthrough in Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectivity technology. As results are made available from the NRC supported program, Icron will complete product development that will greatly expand markets for the company.
“The National Research Council’s funding is a strong endorsement of Icron’s strategy and future product plans,” said Suresh Singh, Icron’s President and CEO.. “We are thankful for this strong support and with it in place we are able to accelerate our work on next-generation USB 2.0 technology and deliver new competitive advantages to our customers,” added Singh.
Resulting new products will have a significant effect on Icron’s future revenues. The industry has begun shipping computer products based on the USB 2.0 standard and these will add to the estimated (for 2003) 15 billion-dollar size of the USB peripheral device market.
The new USB 2.0 standard provides exciting new benefits that include operation at 40 times the speed of the existing USB protocol. Icron foresees that its extended range USB 2.0 technology will enable the use of the most popular USB-based products such as mass-storage devices and digital cameras in industrial and commercial markets. Additionally, this major enhancement of the USB connectivity standard will present Icron with large new market opportunities.
Icron has invented ExtremeUSB™ technology that extends the range of USB connections from the conventional limit of 5 meters up to 2 kilometers. The technology is patented, complies with all industry standards and is certified for distribution internationally. To date, the company has shipped over 15,000 systems based on ExtremeUSB.
About Icron Technologies Corporation
Icron Technologies Corporation is a leading provider of high-performance connectivity technologies for the computer marketplace. Icron’s patented ExtremeUSB technology is compliant with USB Implementers Forum requirements and touches several large worldwide markets from industrial automation to multimedia production and computer networking. The company provides packaged products, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) modules, developer kits, and engineering and development services.
Icron is a publicly traded corporation and trades under the symbol “IT” on the TSX Venture Exchange.
Contacts
For further information, please contact the following:
| Icron Technologies Corporation | |
| Suresh Singh, President & CEO suresh.singh@icron.com |
Phone: 604-638-3929 Fax: 604-638-3930 |
| Cavalcanti Hume Funfer Inc. | |
| Cathy Hume, CEO cathy@chfir.com |
Phone: (403) 541-1225 Fax: (403) 410-7217 |
| Linda Armstrong linda@chfir.com |
Phone: (416) 868-1079 Fax: (416) 868-6198 |
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: Except for statements of historical fact, all statements in this news release – including, without limitation, statements regarding production estimates and future plans and objectives of Icron – are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.