CLEARWATER, FL, USA, January 9, 2013– Hitachi Critical Facilities Protection Pte. Ltd. (Hitachi-CFP), (a subsidiary of Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd, Japan) and Advanced Protection Technologies, Inc. (APT) announce the signing of an agreement that marks the beginning of a strategic partnership between them. The Agreement provides that APT will manufacture Hitachi-CFP’s new line of UL-listed Surge Protective Devices (SPDs) and Hitachi-CFP shall have exclusive reseller rights of those UL SPDs in 20 Asian and Oceania countries, including Australia, New Zealand and India. The business relationship between Hitachi-CFP and APT is envisioned to be a strategic, dynamic and progressive relationship and both parties’ foresee future areas of further collaboration to jointly exploit Asian infrastructure development.

The official signing ceremony between Hitachi-CFP and APT took place today in APT’s global headquarters in Clearwater, Florida.

APT is a long time global leader in the development and manufacture of Surge Protective Devices. The Agreement extends to Hitachi-CFP a new series of UL SPDs that expands the current range of Hitachi-CFP’s existing products and services which focuses primarily on natural disaster risk reduction for mission critical facilities.

Having provided protection services to multiple facilities across Asia, Hitachi-CFP, views this as a big step forward. Andrew Mui, CEO of Hitachi-CFP is of the belief that “this new series of UL SPDs is in line with Hitachi-CFP’s mission to become a global base for the risk reduction business and will further enhance Hitachi-CFP's reputation as a world leader in the field of critical facility protection. With the inclusion of these UL listed SPDs, Hitachi-CFP will be able to provide even better protection to its clients, many of whom are in the vital industries of Oil and Gas and Telecommunication sectors.”

APT, based here in Clearwater, Florida, has been supplying many notable companies with SPDs since 1985. The single largest private label manufacturer of SPDs in North America, APT has earned the respect of various major companies and is also actively involved with the testing and evaluation of UL standards.

“We view this agreement as the first step in an exciting marriage of American quality and Japanese standards.” Says Andy Malcolm, President of APT. “We have high expectations of this strategic business relationship with Hitachi and we look forward to developing even better products together in the future.”

This initial contract, valued at over a million dollars, would supply Hitachi-CFP with UL listed SPDs that will be marketed worldwide, will also ensure bright prospects for the APT team right here in Florida and is a demonstration of the value of American-made quality in the surge protection market. Along with Hitachi’s widespread presence throughout Asia, both parties see this as a mutually beneficial agreement and will be working closely with each other in the Asia Pacific region. There are also plans for future joint research and development projects in the pipeline.

Clearwater, Florida October 29, 2012 – Advanced Protection Technologies, Inc. (APT), a global leader in the development and the manufacturing of Surge Protective Devices (SPDs), announces the S-Kit Series, an accessory for the SPDee series surge protector. It is a Surge Protective Device (SPD) for in-line, series connected DIN rail applications.

The S-Kit is a Type 1, 50kA service entrance rated surge protector, suitable for UL 96A Lightning Protection Systems. This accessory is ordered separately from the SPDee. The S-Kit works in high surge environments, including outdoor, pole-mount, traffic and ITS. Its applications include: switchgear, transportation cabinets, CNC machines, pumps, motors, control panels, LED signs, HVAC (chillers) equipment, data centers, audio/video equipment, lighting poles, fire alarm control panels, motor control centers, automatic transfer switches, generators and medical equipment/facilities.

APT is committed to developing industry leading AC and DC Surge Protective Devices (SPDs) that meet the latest industry standards and solve customer needs. The S-Kit accessory is made in the USA, which is a continuation of APT's commitment to reviving our nation's economy by manufacturing American Made products.

About Advanced Protection Technologies, Inc.

APT’s world headquarters has been located in Clearwater, Florida, USA since 1985. Our customer service and support have earned the respect of their clients and partners, and accolades from leading industry market research companies. APT is the largest private label manufacturer of SPDs in North America. Past and present OEM partners include Siemens, Square D/Schneider Electric and APC in addition to branded product sales to major distribution equipment manufacturers such as ABB, Allen-Bradley/Rockwell, GE and Eaton Corp. APT’s manufacturing processes are ISO 9001:2008 certified and they participate in UL’s Client Test Data Program. APT’s participation in industry standards organizations keeps us at the forefront of a rapidly evolving industry.

Complete product specifications are available at www.aptsurge.com in Products.

For more information about Advanced Protection Technologies, visit www.aptsurge.com or call 800.237.4567 in the US and Canada or +1 727.535.6339 International.

Media Contact:

Julie Brookins

Marketing & Communications Manager

Advanced Protection Technologies, Inc.

Tel: 800.237.4567 (US & Canada)     +1 727.535.6339 x243

email: jbrookins@apttvss.com

As surge protection experts, we understand here at Advanced Protection Technologies that your electronics and control systems are important. It's our mission to protect them from damaging surges with our Surge Protective Devices (SPDs).  Please read the below article on surge protection that was recently published in "Electronics News."

"Surge Protection for Measurement and Control Systems"

September 19, 2012 | By Phoenix Contact, Electronics News 

Measurement and control systems are vulnerable to transient surges and therefore require robust lightning and surge protection to avoid plant outages. In addition to providing high-performance protection circuits and equipment status monitoring, it is especially important to ensure that surge protection systems are easily installable and expandable.

Ensuring production plant availability is becoming increasingly important. Plant outages in any industrial sector generally entail substantial financial loss. Many demands are placed on surge protection devices (SPDs) in measurement and control systems.

Lightning and surge protection requirements

In order for lightning and surge protection equipment to do its part in ensuring production facility availability, the SPDs must have high-performance protection circuits. Moreover, the protection systems also have to be monitored. It is not sufficient just to report an outage after it has already occurred; preventive information about the status of the installed SPDs is also required.

The facilities to be protected are typically widely distributed. It is thus advantageous to be able to report and monitor the status of SPDs remotely to avoid having to perform constant on-site inspections of the protection systems. The additional effort required to install remote monitoring systems should incur as little time and cost as possible.