SAN JOSE, CA /BUSINESS WIRE/ -- Crossbow Technology's ēKo wireless crop monitoring system made a significant impact at the 2009 Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento last week. The solution attracted the attention of vintners, growers, vineyard managers, owners, and dealers worldwide. The breakthrough solution introduced last April is being quickly adopted, with 30 new vineyard deployments confirmed at the 2009 Symposium.
The ēKo solution revolutionizes the agriculture industry's ability to quickly and easily gather and interpret weather, soil and plant health data vital for intelligent irrigation, frost protection, and disease prevention. Crossbow's ēKo Pro Series allows users to easily monitor multiple points within a vineyard, providing a level of knowledge regarding the various microclimates and zones "previously unavailable in a cost-effective manner." Complete multipoint systems start at under $2995 and require no monitoring or service fees, yet deliver data to any Web browser and enable alerts via email or phone.
The symposium, which has long been considered the preeminent forum for showcasing advancements in development affecting the wine growing industry, cemented Crossbow's ēKo system as the "solution for precision crop monitoring." At the symposium, Crossbow confirmed new deployments in major growing areas, including the Napa Valley, the Pacific Northwest, Mexico, and Canada. Attendees stated that cost-effective, multi-point data collection and monitoring will materially improve yields and prevent surprises, especially in water constrained or disease prone regions. With the ēKo system, growers will no longer rely on data from a single point or last season's experience to make decisions, but they will be able to collect targeted real-time data of the varying crop conditions across their entire location.
"The idea of using technology to not only save resources but enable growers to yield higher quality crops is of utmost importance," said Mike Horton, CEO of Crossbow Technology. "By empowering growers with the knowledge and data needed to understand their environment, ēKo provides a tool unrivaled."
Crossbow Technology will finalize regional distributor and service channels for the eKo product line by June 2009. This revolutionary solar-powered system has miniaturized and expanded the idea of weather data collection, enabling users to take nature's pulse and gain a competitive advantage in a resource constrained world.
Pricing and Availability
The ēKo Pro Series Starter Kit is priced competitively and is immediately available for purchase from select distributors and online directly from the company's Web site. Sales and dealer inquiries may be directed to [email protected].
About Crossbow
Founded in 1995, Crossbow Technology Inc. is the leading end-to-end solutions supplier of wireless sensor networks and inertial sensor systems. Crossbow has shipped over 500,000 sensors to over 1000 customers worldwide, including select Fortune 100 companies, for applications as diverse as industrial automation, building monitoring, home automation, environmental control, defense, security, and asset tracking.
Crossbow is "leading the revolution in connecting the physical world with the digital world through wireless sensor networks and leading-edge inertial navigation systems." Headquartered in San Jose, CA, Crossbow has offices in China and Japan and distributors in 24 countries worldwide. The company is privately held. Its major investors include Cisco Systems, Intel Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures, and Paladin Capital. Crossbow Technology is a registered trademark of Crossbow Technology Inc.