Palo Alto, Calif. - February 15, 2006 - Frost & Sullivan recently selected Canesta, Inc. as the recipient of the 2006 Automotive Vision System Technology Innovation of the Year Award for developing a high-functionality, affordable 3-D camera-based sensing system that enhances vehicle safety.

"The 3-D camera system measures distance by sending out pulses of infrared light and timing their return to each pixel of the sensor module," said Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Joerg Dittmer. "Canesta's unique technology enables three-dimensional images to be generated from this information with much less processing power than is needed to interpret images from stereoscopic cameras."

Canesta's technology (on which the company holds many fundamental patents and calls "electronic perception technology") has the potential to combine recognition ability, ranging, and robustness with affordability.

This system uses just one sensor module, as opposed to two needed for a stereoscopic approach. Potential uses of this technology include a variety of advanced active safety applications. Inside the vehicle, applications include occupant detection for smart airbag systems, anti-theft systems, driver drowsiness recognition, identification of a child or pet left in a parked vehicle, obstacle recognition when closing power doors, windows, and sunroofs. Exterior applications include adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, collision avoidance, lane departure warning, parking assist systems, and pedestrian detection. Some of these applications could share a sensor, reducing total cost.

Canesta's first automotive implementation is for smart airbag systems, which use the information on the size and position of seat occupants to deploy airbags. An airbag might be deployed with less force for a smaller individual, or not at all if a seat occupant is out of position, since in such cases deployment could do more harm than good.

To gain an edge over the competition, Canesta hopes to avoid demand inhibitors such as high cost, large size, limited range, and inefficiencies in determining distance and recognizing objects. Some reasons for this technology's cost effectiveness include single-chip design, fabrication with conventional CMOS technology, less hardware and processing power needed, easier integration into vehicles, and the ability to serve multiple functions - which has the potential to amortize costs across several demanding sensor-based applications.

"Over 50 million vehicles are manufactured per year worldwide, and each vehicle creates potential demand for several sensors," notes Dittmer. "As a provider of a key enabling technology, Canesta may hasten the implementation of advanced safety technologies from upscale vehicles to mid-market and even economy vehicles."

Frost & Award presents its Technology Innovation of the Year Award to a company that has demonstrated excellence in technology innovation within its industry. The recipient has demonstrated innovation by excelling in all stages of the technology life cycle-incubation, adaptation, take-up, and maturity-to ensure a continuous flow of improvements. By innovating leading-edge concepts, the company enables its clients to pioneer equally innovative applications.

About Canesta, Inc.

Canesta is the inventor of a revolutionary, low-cost electronic perception technology that enables machines and ordinary electronic devices to perceive and react to objects or individuals in real time.

When sight-enabled with Canesta's unique CanestaVisionâ„¢ electronic perception chips and software, consumer, automotive, industrial, military, and medical products can gain functionality and ease of use not possible in an era when such devices were blind.

Canesta believes future applications of electronic perception technology are virtually as broad as the imagination. They may include intelligent automobile airbag systems that can sense the size and position of an occupant to control deployment and avoid injury, a low-false-alarm security system that could detect the difference between an intruder and normal activity, such as a pet moving or child visiting the bathroom at night, or robotic tools that can successfully operate in a dynamic, rather than static environment.

Canesta was founded in April 1999, and is located in San Jose, CA. The company has filed in excess of forty patents, 15 of which have been granted so far. Investment to date exceeds $44 million, from Carlyle Venture Partners, JP Morgan Partners, Korea Global IT Fund (KGIF), Venrock Associates and others.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit www.frost.com.

Contact:
Stacie Jones
210.247.2450
stacie.jones@frost.com