Minneapolis, MN—February 6, 2008—Banner Engineering Corp. announces that their SureCross™ FlexPower™ Wireless Nodes have won Control Engineering's 2008 Engineers' Choice Award under the "Wireless Solutions" subcategory. Banner's SureCross Wireless Network was introduced last summer to provide a robust monitoring and control solution purpose-built for industry. FlexPower Wireless Nodes can operate using 10 to 30V dc line power, solar panels, or a FlexPower battery module for applications where DC power is not readily available. A single FlexPower battery module can power both a SureCross Node and connected sensors for up to five years. Long-lasting operation, reliable communications and easy installation made the FlexPower Wireless Nodes a popular choice with Control Engineering readers. Amidst the numerous new technologies covered by Control Engineering each year, SureCross FlexPower Nodes stood out in the crowd.

"Each year, Control Engineering receives hundreds of new product announcements detailing the latest technologies available to automation professionals," said Marc Moschetto, Control Engineering's editorial director. "The Engineers' Choice Awards empower our readers to identify those solutions which will have the greatest positive impact on their business, and we congratulate Banner Engineering for this achievement."

The publication's annual competition began as the Editor's Choice Award, for which the editorial team determined the winning products among the many exceptional submissions received through the year. In 2007, Control Engineering left the decision-making up to their readers, who work with these products on a regular basis. Now dubbed the Engineers' Choice Award, the honor is granted to the product receiving the most votes in one of several categories—this year, selected from more than 150 product nominations divided into seven categories. Control Engineering received responses from over 870 individuals responsible for purchasing, implementing or operating the technologies in these respective industrial areas. The products chosen indicated the solutions determined to be the most noteworthy and to provide the greatest advantage in day-to-day production.

"We are thrilled to have received the Engineers' Choice Award for our new wireless network—developed with these very engineers in mind," said Darvin Kaelberer, Wireless Business Development Manager at Banner. "Our FlexPower Wireless Nodes combine secure communications, deterministic response capabilities and innovative power management to deliver a dependable solution for challenging applications never before possible."

FlexPower Wireless Nodes use efficient power management technology that enables the Node to briefly step up the switch power voltage to activate a sensor for a fraction of a second. After the input reads the sensing status, the switch power returns to its standby status, prolonging battery life. All SureCross devices are also conveniently sized and easily mounted for simple integration into existing manufacturing systems, all with the robust communications and rugged construction required for reliably monitoring and controlling rotating or remote equipment to solve the most challenging applications.

About Banner. Banner Engineering is the world's leading manufacturer of wireless networks, vision sensors, photoelectric and ultrasonic sensors, electronic machine guarding systems, precision measurement systems and fiber optic assemblies.