Paragon Innovations

Mission Control: Paragon Innovations centralizes control of Genlyte Thomas lighting system

Central processor panel automates and controls dimmers in homes, hotels and restaurants

PLANO, Texas – Jan. 8, 2002 – Paragon Innovations Inc., a Plano, Texas-based technology design services company, announced today that it has teamed with Louisville, Ky.-based Genlyte Thomas Group L.L.C. to develop the latest version of Genlyte’s LyteMode™, a lighting system ideal for hotels, restaurants and large homes that uses a centralized processor control board to automate and adjust thousands of light bulbs at once.

LyteMode uses controller area network (CAN) protocol, typically used to control lighting systems in automobiles, to integrate light dimmers throughout a building to the central control panel. The system operates a variety of light bulbs, including incandescent, fluorescent and sodium vapor lights.

“Previous lighting systems used switches in each room of a building, making control and adjustment a tedious task,” said Michael Wilkinson, founder and chief executive officer of Paragon. “Now, using CAN protocol and a centralized control board developed by Paragon, a building’s light settings can be programmed more easily to reflect a mood or occasion. It’s similar to programming the auto-dial buttons on a car stereo.”

“We outsourced our LyteMode project to Paragon because we wanted to progress our line of luxury lighting systems and we needed technology design expertise that was above our in-house capabilities,” said Steve Carson, vice president and general manager at Genlyte. “Paragon’s high-level professionalism and extensive technology design expertise resulted in a lighting design that will benefit Genlyte and its clients, and their good attitude made them a great team to work with.”

LyteMode will be premiered at the LightFair International 2002 Trade Show and Conference, June 3-5, 2002, in San Francisco. Prices vary depending on the size of the system.

The Genlyte Thomas Group L.L.C. (Nasdaq: GLYT) is a Louisville, Ky-based, leading manufacturer of lighting fixtures and controls for the commercial, industrial and residential markets. Genlyte Thomas sells products under the major brand names of Capri, Chloride Systems, Crescent, Day-Brite, Gardco, Hadco, Ledalite, Lightolier, Lightolier Controls, Lumec, Stonco, Thomas, Wide-Lite, in the United States and Canlyte and Thomas in Canada.

Paragon Innovations Inc., based in Plano, Texas, is a national services provider specializing in the design, development and documentation of embedded systems in commercial and consumer technology products. Using a proven, 22-step quality methodology, Paragon’s technology experts leverage more than a decade of experience in rapid product development to deliver superior products such as miniaturized insulin pumps, semiconductor reference platforms and Internet appliances for companies in the Internet, medical, semiconductor, telephony, robotics and wireless industries, among others. Customers include 3M, AMD, Hitachi, Motorola and Ubicom/Scenix. Paragon is a privately held company that was founded in 1990 by founder and Chief Executive Officer Michael Wilkinson. The company is located in the heart of the Telecom Corridor®.