Statement re Industrial IT

ABB Ltd
31 January 2003


ABB certifies more than 35,000 products to Industrial IT standard

Group meets 2002 target for creating compatible product 'building blocks'

Zurich, Switzerland, January 31, 2003 - ABB, the leading power and automation
technology group, said today it has met its 2002 target of certifying all
relevant products - more than 35,000 -to its Industrial IT standard.

Industrial IT is the company's patented concept for linking products and
services together with the information needed to install, operate, and maintain
them. ABB has achieved base level Industrial IT certification for its full range
of products, including instrumentation, motors, drives, robotics, transformers,
switchgear and low-voltage products.

'ABB's single information framework is transforming our product portfolio into a
system of integrated building blocks,' said Markus Bayegan, ABB's chief
technology officer. 'By linking power and automation products and services this
way, we can sharply increase our customers' competitiveness and speed up
deployment of integrated product and service solutions.'

ABB's Industrial IT is an information framework based on open industry
standards. It links ABB's automation and power technology products so they are
easier to configure, install, operate and maintain in real time. The company has
commissioned about 600 automation systems, which use the new product information
standard, and is rolling out about 40 new systems per month. Leading Industrial
IT customers include The Dow Chemical Company, Visy Industries, Bechtel National
and ExxonMobil.

Uniform electronic tools in all Industrial IT Enabled products mean they can be
more easily documented, configured and connected than previous devices. The
tools are bundled in a patented software shell called an Aspect Object. When
this software is copied and pasted into a customer's power or automation system,
a 'virtual' replica of the real product is deployed for use. Arranged in
hierarchical fashion, these replicas allow the operator of an electrical grid,
power plant or factory to retrieve product instructions, drawings, maintenance
records and other asset management information with a simple mouse click.

ABB tests and certifies technologies for Industrial IT compliance at one of four
levels, ranging from presentation of base product information in common
electronic formats, to extended aspect data that may be exchanged between
components to optimize the system in which they are working.

For more information, please see the 'frequently asked questions' document about
Industrial IT on www.abb.com.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable
utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering
environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in more than 100
countries and employs about 146,000 people.


                      This information is provided by RNS
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