FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALPHA WORKS WITH SCTE TO DEVELOP NEW STANDARD

Bellingham, Wash., October 5, 2001 - Power system manufacturer Alpha Technologies, in conjunction with the Hybrid Management Sub-layer committee (HMS) of the SCTE, is developing a new Power Supply to Transponder Interface Specification standard.

Alpha has been an active contributor to the HMS sub-committee over the last year and has been instrumental in helping develop this new industry standard. The HMS sub-committee is charged with creating robust protocol standards to support cost-effective interoperability of management systems for HFC networks.

"Alpha has worked closely with other industry technology leaders on this project, believing that combined expertise and cooperation will yield the best, most effective solution," commented officials at Alpha close to the project.

Alpha offers two products that utilize and support the new protocol, the Digital Status Monitoring (DSM) and the Serial System Controller (SSC) communication cards. These cards used in Alpha's XM Series 2 power supply, report through a HMS transponder the full range of reports and measurements specified by the new HMS protocol. The benefit of using the HMS transponder with the DSM and SSC cards is they allow operators to view more data from their power supplies and provide improved accuracy when compared to other technologies.

Alpha Technologies Inc. develops power conversion, protection and standby products for telecommunications and cable television industries, including custom, application-specific power solutions. In addition to product development, Alpha Technologies provides a comprehensive range of installation and maintenance services to support its global customer base. Alpha Technologies is a member of The Alpha Group of companies.

The Alpha Group represents a global alliance of independent companies that share a common philosophy - create world-class powering solutions for communication, commercial, industrial and renewable energy markets.

For this and/or additional information in electronic form, go to www.alpha.com.