Poma-Otis to Install People Movers in Alabama and Minnesota In Contracts Valued at $25 Million

FARMINGTON, Conn. (PROTEXT) - Otis Elevator Company's Poma-Otis Transportation Systems unit announced today it has signedagreements totaling $25 million to build and install peoplemovers at Huntsville Hospital in Alabama and the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport. Poma-Otis is a joint venture ofPomagalski of France and Otis Elevator Company. "These awards extend Poma-Otis' leadership of the airportpeople-moving market, and open up exciting possibilities in thehealth care industry," said Michael Wilson, general manager ofPoma-Otis Transportation Systems. "Our shuttles are proving theirworth in a growing array of challenging customer environments." The $7 million Huntsville Hospital shuttle system willultimately connect several hospital buildings stretched across acampus complex nearly one-quarter mile in length. The system willinclude four stations and will be capable of moving up to 900people per hour in each direction. The system will be fullyautomated and will run around the clock. An express service will connect the Huntsville Hospital MainBuilding and the East Building, and will be capable oftransporting patients in their hospital beds in a totallycontrolled environment. Outside temperatures in Huntsville canrange from below 32 degrees to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Groundbreaking on the Poma-Otis system is scheduled forFebruary, 2000, and the system opens in May, 2001. The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport shuttle is thesecond system that Poma-Otis has been awarded at that site. Thefirst, which opens next year, connects the main terminal to a newparking area now under construction. The $18 million new system will serve the extended GreenConcourse area and will open in 2002. The new system will havethree stops, and can move up to 1,700 people per hour in eachdirection operating at speeds up to 26 miles per hour. Because the system will operate outdoors, it will run on steelwheels to ensure reliable operation throughout Minnesota's winterweather. These awards extend a successful string of achievements forPoma-Otis, Wilson said. In the past two years, Poma-Otis hascaptured contracts for the new Northwest Airlines airportterminal in Detroit, and the Midfield Concourse at ZurichInternational Airport in Switzerland. Poma-Otis shuttles are already installed and providing safe,reliable service at the Getty Center museum in Los Angeles, atNarita International Airport near Tokyo, Japan, and at the DeltaAirlines airport terminal in Cincinnati. Pomagalski, with headquarters in Grenoble, France, is theworld's leading supplier of ski-area transportation equipment,with extensive experience also in APMs, funiculars and inclinedelevators. Farmington-based Otis Elevator Company is the world'sleading provider of elevators, escalators and people-movingsystems. Otis is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation(NYSE: UTX). ots Original Text Service: Otis Elevator CompanyInternet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Matthew Broder,Director, International Public Relations of Otis ElevatorCompany, 860-676-5402, or home, 203-281-7602, ormatt.broder@otis.com

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