National Technical Systems Selected as First Independent Testing Lab for New ISA Wireless Networking Standard Certification

CALABASAS, Calif., June 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- National Technical Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTSC) (NTS), a leading provider of engineering services, announced today that it had been selected by the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute (WCI) as the first independent laboratory to perform conformance testing for the new ISA-100.11a standard certifications. The certification testing, which will start this month, covers a variety of wireless products, devices and networks to ensure they are conformant to the ISA-100.11a standard and support interoperability among vendors.  

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"WCI selected NTS as the first independent provider of ISA-100.11a conformance testing based on its depth of capabilities in wireless protocol testing, quality of operations and geographic support," said Andre Ristaino, managing director of WCI.

NTS is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited test lab and provides companies and government organizations throughout the world with process and product compliance services, managed engineering services, design engineering services and program management support.

"The ISA-100.11a standard will greatly enhance the implementation of wireless systems in the automation and control environment," said NTS CEO William McGinnis. "We are pleased to be selected as the first lab to provide this conformance testing, which we believe is another indication of the recognition of our value and dependability as an independent engineering services and testing company. This standard is currently a new and important standard, especially in the petroleum and oil and gas industries. Its usefulness is expected to expand to other industries comprising our nation's critical infrastructure including water treatment, energy production/distribution, transportation and aerospace."

The ISA-100.11a industrial wireless networking standard is the first in the ISA100 family of standards. This wireless mesh network standard protocol helps supplier companies build interoperable wireless automation control products. As a result, manufacturing and processing plants are able to create, modify, optimize and scale a wireless network quickly, cost-effectively and seamlessly.

Webcast to Detail Step-by-Step Certification Process

The WCI has scheduled a webinar which provides guidance to suppliers seeking to certify devices to the ISA-100.11a standard. The webinar will include a step-by-step description of the conformance process, including whom to contact first, and how to get support during the product development process.

About the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute

The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute (WCI) is a non-profit industry consortium providing users and developers with market awareness, educational information, technical support, and compliance for the ISA100 family of universal industrial wireless standards. The WCI provides real world feedback from deployment of ISA100 devices and systems to ISA Standards Committees in order to foster rapid refinement and development of open industry standards for wireless applications. Institute members include end users, technology suppliers, research and development professionals, academia, and other industry consortia and standards bodies. Early members include Apprion, BP, Chevron, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, ExxonMobil, Fuji Electric, Gastronics, GE, Honeywell, Nivis, Procter & Gamble, R3 Sensors, Shell, Shengyang Institute of Automation, Yamatake and Yokogawa. More information about the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute can be found online at www.isa100wci.org.  

About National Technical Systems

National Technical Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of engineering and testing services to the defense, aerospace, telecommunications, automotive and high technology markets. Through a world-wide network of resources, NTS provides full life-cycle product integrity support, offering world class design engineering, compliance, testing, certification, quality registration and program management. For additional information about NTS, visit our website at www.ntscorp.com or call 800-270-2516.

Forward Looking Statements

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"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding National Technical Systems' business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.

SOURCE National Technical Systems, Inc.