Ambient Corp`s CEO Applauds the Secretaries of Commerce and Energy's Efforts to Create National Standards Allowing Smart Grid to Become a Reality

WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ambient Corporation (OTCBulletinBoard: ABTG) today announced that its President and CEO, John J. Joyce, participated in a leadership meeting hosted by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and FCC Acting Chairman Michael Copps to start the creation of a set of national standards that will allow the smart grid to become a near term reality.

Following the meeting, and expanding on his comments addressed to his industry colleagues, state commissioners from CA, D.C., NY and OH, as well as the host Chairmen, Mr. Joyce issued the following statement:

Industry leaders must support the standards development process and encourage smart grid standards based on Internet Protocol (IP), while remaining wary of other "standards" that will attempt to find their way into the initial language of what is to come out of the early meetings convened to initiate the process for establishing smart grid standards.

In developing smart grid standards, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other standard setting bodies must take a comprehensive approach that fosters implementation today, and will allow for open development in the future.

Perhaps reflecting on how the open standards for the Internet were created is an important first step in the process. The growth of the Internet has been successful because all developers, regardless of size and market presence, have been able to use open standards and free access to develop industry wide applications and services that became de facto standards. To develop a best in class long term solution, the smart grid must be based on open standards available today, not standards selected by a group of self-interested parties attempting to promote proprietary technology guised in the words "standard based."

Ambient applauds the Secretaries' efforts and full-heartedly endorses the standard setting process as well as today's announcement of the increase in smart grid investment grants from the ARRA, which will allow utilities to deploy more comprehensive smart grid projects.

This meeting kicks-off the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Interim Roadmap Workshop hosted by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and NIST on May 19th and 20th. Ambient supports this meeting and is participating in the workshops.

Ambient is actively involved with developing smart grid standards by engaging with, and participating in groups such as NIST, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the GridWise Alliance and the Demand Response and Smart Grid (DRSG) Coalition. Ambient's engineers have also played a significant role in the standard setting process of the IEEE working groups, and will continue to actively participate in the future standard setting bodies.