London, Ontario, May 18, 2003 - NETCON a leading supplier of integrated wireless messaging solutions, today announced that Ford Motor Company has selected FirstPAGE, FirstPAGE Alarm Manager and Marquee Manager as the corporate standard messaging platforms for all assembly plants worldwide. Utilizing both the EMT VisualPlant integration, as well as a custom product, ANS Gateway, to provide support for messaging from Ford legacy applications, the NETCON product lines will take care of all messaging in assembly plants around the globe.

Implementation of these products began in 2003 with the installation of the complete product line at the  Ford DTP plant. Further plant rollouts to occur over 2004 and 2005.

SeQent (formerly Plantwatch, Inc. and NETCON Technologies) drives cost savings and productivity improvements to enterprises by enabling real-time communication across the entire facility. SeQent bridges automation to people, empowering them to react immediately thereby preventing costly downtime and improving quality. SeQent is currently installed in over 350 facilities and is being used by all of the major automotive manufacturers as well as bottling and consumer products manufacturers and healthcare organizations. The company is privately held and is based in London, Ontario.