Alset Shields Electronic Equipment at Rural Sites from Lightning Damage

Online, March 17, 2010 (Newswire.com) - SEATTLE, March 17, 2010 - Just in time for this spring's "lightning season," Alset Corp. today introduced its Lightning Shield product line. Lightning Shield protects telecommunications equipment installed at rural sites from the harmful ground currents caused by nearby lightning strikes.

"Essentially, what Lightning Shield does is keep the lightning in the ground and off your circuits," said Gary Fox, president of Alset Corp. "It protects your equipment from harm and assures that your services aren't interrupted. Your investments in broadband equipment are protected and your network is secure, even in the toughest weather conditions."

Telecommunications companies must be able to reliably deliver high-bandwidth Internet or video services to customers without interruption. Airports, railroads, and utilities, who rely on their equipment for customer safety or status monitoring, also place a high priority on uninterrupted equipment performance.

Lightning Shield helps ensure uninterrupted service for telecommunications service providers and other companies with valuable equipment located in rural areas that are vulnerable to lightning damage. For these companies, the services they provide require constant uptime and high reliability.

Lightning Shield protects against lightning damage that conventional surge protection and grounding do not address. The danger from a nearby lightning ground strike is that its high frequency energy travels through the earth to the remote equipment site, saturates its grounding system, and forces fault current through the electronics equipment onto the bonded power circuits. Eliminating this fault path through the electronics, by temporarily isolating the equipment from the power connection, protects the equipment for the duration of the lightning threat.

Conventional surge protection is designed to protect equipment from lightning-induced current on telecom or power conductors. A grounding system is designed to dissipate low frequency energy to the earth, so long as soil conditions permit. Neither will protect the equipment at a site from lightning ground currents, especially in areas where soil conditions make it difficult to achieve a low-resistance ground.

"Alset's Lightning Shield provides the only proven protection against these ground currents, the high-energy pulses that can cause a lot of damage in rural electronic sites," Fox explained. "Our technology detects imminent lightning and pre-emptively eliminates the potential fault path. By improving site reliability and significantly reducing repair expenses, Lightning Shield can pay for itself in just one thunderstorm."

Lightning Shield is available in 50-amp (LS-50) and 200-amp (LS-200) versions small and large remote sites. LS-ATS provides customized protection for larger facilities, such as remote switches or MTSOs. Remote Manager rounds out the product line, offering control and test capabilities that enhance site management.

Lightning Shield has been accepted by the USDA's Rural Utilities Service for use on RUS-funded projects.

About Alset Corp.
Seattle-based Alset Corp. designs and manufactures equipment designed to protect against damage from lightning ground currents, also known as lightning ground potential rise. Alset sells its equipment both directly and through a network of manufacturer's representatives. For more information about Alset and its lightning protection technology, visit www.alsetcorp.com.

Contacts:
Gary Fox, Alset Corp.
888-344-3707
[email protected]

Kevin Tanzillo, Dux Public Relations
903-865-1078
[email protected]