SAN DIEGO, Dec. 13, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Culligan International Company and PurePulse Technologies, a subsidiary of Maxwell Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:MXWL), announced today that Culligan and PurePulse have entered into an agreement to collaboratively develop water purification systems that employ PurePulse's proprietary PureBright(r) pulsed light technology to eliminate microbial contamination. PurePulse initially will receive license fees based in part on certain development milestones, and ultimately would receive royalties based on product sales.
The PureBright process, which also is used in bioprocessing and medical product sterilization applications, employs brief flashes of broad spectrum pulsed light 90,000 times more intense than sunlight at sea level to kill bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa and other microorganisms that can transmit disease.
"Culligan is the acknowledged leader in the water treatment industry," said Ted Toch, President and Chief Executive Officer of PurePulse Technologies. "Its unmatched brand recognition, development capabilities and global marketing and distribution network make it the ideal collaboration partner for PurePulse."
Greg Norgaard, Culligan's Executive Vice President, said that the development agreement is consistent with the company's strategy of aggressively pursuing new technology to maintain its leading-edge position in the water treatment industry.
"The PureBright technology has demonstrated its ability to reduce microbial contamination, and we are very interested in applying it broadly in water purification, to include both consumer and commercial markets," Norgaard said.
Toch said that, in addition to working with Culligan to develop water purification systems, PurePulse is collaborating with several other companies to apply the PureBright technology for pathogen inactivation in the production of blood products, vaccines and biopharmaceuticals.
Culligan manufactures and distributes bottled water and water treatment products for retail, household and commercial applications worldwide. Culligan is among the most widely recognized brand names in the world, having been in business since 1936. It is a division of USFilter, a Vivendi Water company, the leading global provider of commercial, industrial, municipal and residential water and wastewater treatment systems, products and services, with operations in more than 100 countries. Together, Vivendi Water, Onyx (solid waste and industrial services), Dalkia (energy management), and Connex (transportation and logistics) comprise Vivendi Environnement, the largest environmental services company in the world with annual revenues of more than $23 billion.
For more information, Culligan invites you to visit its Website at www.culligan.com as well as those of USFilter (www.usfilter.com) and Vivendi (www.vivendi.com).
PurePulse develops and markets pathogen inactivation systems based on its proprietary PureBright broad spectrum pulsed light technology. For more information, please visit www.purepulse.com. Maxwell Technologies applies industry-leading capabilities in power and computing to develop and market electronic components and power and computing systems for customers in multiple industries, including transportation, telecommunications, consumer and industrial electronics, medical and aerospace. For more information, please visit www.maxwell.com.