National Technical Systems Selected as Exclusive Test Lab for Tendril Connect™ Certification Program

CALABASAS, Calif., May 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- National Technical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTSC) (NTS), a leading provider of testing and engineering services, announced today that it has signed a two-year agreement with Boulder–based Tendril that makes NTS the exclusive certification test lab for the Tendril Connect Certified program. In this role, NTS will execute testing of smart energy devices from various third-party manufacturers to verify they function correctly with the Tendril Connect platform.

Tendril, a leading energy platform company, is focused on driving the large-scale deployment of the Smart Grid. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) estimates that implementing Smart Grid technologies could reduce electricity use by more than 4 percent annually by 2030.

"Tendril Connect provides manufacturers with an open, scalable, standards-based program to give their customers options, while insuring their products will work seamlessly with the utilities' infrastructure," said Adrian Tuck, CEO at Tendril. "Tendril has worked with NTS for many years, and selected NTS due to its leadership in ZigBee certification testing, as well as its strong focus on customer service. NTS is an ideal fit to execute this certification program on our behalf."

Tendril Connect provides an open, secure platform enabling energy service providers, consumers, and product and service providers to communicate and share control of smart energy devices in the home. Through this platform, everyone benefits – energy service providers can encourage consumer engagement and direct load management through energy efficiency and demand response programs. Consumers benefit from the ability to see and control their energy usage in real time, while third-party vendors of software and products have an open platform to develop products while insuring interoperability and usability. Based on the ZigBee standard, Tendril Connect testing and certification will be performed by NTS verifying whether the hardware devices built on this standard meet compliance requirements.

"The selection of NTS to perform Tendril Connect Certified testing further strengthens our leadership position in the testing of Smart Energy and Smart Grid devices focused on the consumer market," said NTS President and CEO William C. McGinnis. "Tendril's certification program helps to further standardize the industry, offering consumers choices of smart energy devices to use while insuring interoperability and ease of acceptance by consumers. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Tendril as it enhances the Tendril Connect Certified program and introduces new features and functions in the future."

The Tendril Connect testing covers robust network behavior and ZigBee Smart Energy profile compatibility with the Tendril platform. Areas, such as, joining, service discovery, and network connectivity, will be covered during certification testing. All Tendril Connect Certified products will require prior certification to the ZigBee Smart Energy standard.

About Tendril

Tendril is changing the way the world uses energy with its groundbreaking consumer engagement applications and services. Energy providers, product manufacturers and consumer channel partners use Tendril's solutions to foster deeper consumer relationships, differentiate their products, achieve business objectives and drive increased value over the lifetime of the consumer.  The company's flagship application suite, Tendril Energize™ delivers the insight, choice and control utilities and consumers need to meet their energy management goals.  All of its solutions are built on Tendril Connect™, a software platform that integrates an ecosystem of product and service providers, enabling them to engage consumers and seamlessly engage, extend and evolve their offerings. For more information, visit www.tendrilinc.com.

About National Technical Systems

National Technical Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of engineering services to the aerospace, defense, telecommunications, automotive and high technology markets. Through a world-wide network of resources, NTS provides full product life-cycle support, offering world class design engineering, compliance, testing, certification, quality registration and program management. For additional information about NTS, visit our website at www.nts.com or call 800-270-2516.

Forward-Looking Statements
The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to customer orders, demand for services and products, development of markets for the companies' services and products and other risks identified in the companies' SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The companies undertake no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding National Technical Systems' business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.

www.nts.com

SOURCE National Technical Systems, Inc.