Bluechiip Signs Micronic America as its First Distributor for North America

MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Bluechiip Limited [ASX: BCT] today announced it has signed a Distribution Agreement with Micronic America LLC.  The agreement gives Micronic America and its network of distributors, including E&K Scientific, USA Scientific, Nova Biostorage Plus (formerly Micronic North America), MJS Biolynx and D-Mark Biosciences, the rights to distribute Bluechiip's products throughout the United States and Canada.

Micronic America is the supporting entity for Micronic's traceable product portfolio in the U.S. and Canada. Micronic America operates in conjunction with Micronic Manufacturing USA, Micronic's U.S.-based Class 7 cleanroom and production facility, to efficiently produce and provide its distributor network with industry-leading sample storage solutions.  Micronic has more than 25 years of leadership in the industry.

Bluechiip Limited CEO Brett Schwarz said the signing of the agreement was a significant step for Bluechiip. "Micronic has a great track record in manufacturing and supplying solutions for the life sciences storage market into the large North American market, so we saw them as ideal distribution partners for Bluechiip. Signing this agreement is a major milestone for us."

Gerrit van der Gaag, CEO at Micronic Holding BV, said his company was excited to be Bluechiip's distribution partner. "We have many years of experience in these markets and we see great potential for Bluechiip's tracking solution, especially for the high growth area of samples stored in temperatures as low as those found in liquid nitrogen storage. Bluechiip's temperature-sensing capability is a clear differentiator in tracking and monitoring high-value samples where sample integrity is critical. The Bluechiip solution clearly fits into our product portfolio and supports Micronic's vision to be a leader in driving high potential growth markets, providing tailored sample storage solutions to our customer base."

Micronic America and its network of distributors will launch Bluechiip's product at SLAS 2013 in Orlando, Florida, USA from 13-15 January 2013.  SLAS is an annual conference and exhibition organized by the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) which brings together around 4,500 people from the global laboratory science and technology community, including scientists, engineers, researchers and technologists from academic, government and corporate laboratories.

About Bluechiip Limited:

Bluechiip has developed a wireless tracking solution for the healthcare and life science, security, defence and manufacturing industries which represents a generational change from current methods such as labels (hand-written and pre-printed), barcodes (linear and 2D) and microelectronic integrated circuit (IC)-based RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). 

The unique tag is based on MEMS technology and contains no electronics. The tag can either be embedded or manufactured into a storage product, such as vials or bags. Easy identification, along with any associated information from the tag such as temperature can be detected by a reader, which can also sense the temperature of the tagged items.  The traditional identification technologies have significant limitations. Whereas a barcode requires a visible tag or line-of-sight optical scan, bluechiip® technology does not.  Unlike labels, barcodes and RFID, the bluechiip^® technology can sense the temperature of each item a tag is attached to, or embedded in.

The bluechiip® technology has initial applications in the healthcare industry particularly those businesses which require cryogenic storage facilities (biobanks and biorepositories). bluechiip® offers the only technology that enables accurate and reliable tracking of products including stem cells, cord blood, and other biospecimens.  In addition to functioning in extreme temperatures, the bluechiip® tracking solution can survive autoclaving, gamma irradiation sterilization, humidification, centrifuging, cryogenic storage and frosting.

The bluechiip® technology has other healthcare applications in pathology, clinical trials and forensics. Several other key markets outside of healthcare include cold-chain logistics/supply chain, security/defence, industrial/manufacturing and aerospace/aviation.

Further information is available at www.bluechiip.com

About Micronic America:

Located in the Philadelphia, PA region, Micronic America is a U.S. subsidiary of Micronic Holding BV in Lelystad, The Netherlands. Micronic America is a leader in the sample storage industry, providing a full range of innovative sample collection, storage, traceability, automation and measurement solutions. Its offerings include non-coded, alphanumeric and two-dimensional barcoded tubes, caps and racks; sealing mats; barcode and tube readers; and manual and automated (de)cappers. For more information, visit www.Micronic.com.

About Micronic Holding BV:

Micronic Holding BV is an independent organization with its headquarters located in Lelystad, The Netherlands. Micronic's Class 7 cleanroom is also located here, in which all the company's products can be produced RNase-, DNase- and Pyrogene-free. Micronic is an ISO 9001- and 14001- certified company. The Micronic sales, marketing and product support is organized at two sales offices: Micronic Europe BV and Micronic America, LLC. Micronic's products are applied worldwide in the (research) laboratories of university medical schools, forensics, agricultural, veterinary and governmental institutes as well as companies in the biotech, food, chemical and pharmaceutical areas. For more information, visit www.Micronic.com.

For more information:

Brett Schwarz
Managing Director, Bluechiip Limited
Ph: +61 419 367 590                                                      
[email protected]                             

Richard Allen
Oxygen Financial Public Relations
Ph: +61 3 9915 6341
[email protected]

SOURCE Bluechiip Limited