Business Wire

Jaco Electronics Awarded Multi-Million Dollar Electronic Flat Panel Display Voting Machine Manufacturing Order

9/14/2005 6:30:01 AM

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. & OAKLAND, Calif., Sep 14, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Jaco Electronics, Inc. (JACO), a distributor and integrator of electronic components and flat panel solutions, today announced that Sequoia Voting Systems (www.sequoiavote.com), a unit of Smartmatic, has awarded Jaco with a 3,000 unit order to manufacture EDGE 2, 15-inch flat panel touch-screen voting machines for Chicago and the surrounding Cook County, Illinois regions. Jaco believes the opportunity also exists for add-on business pursuant to the balance of the order.

Additionally, Sequoia has awarded Jaco with a contract to design and manufacture ten pre-production "full face" voting machines. Each of these units includes four, 19-inch touch- screen displays. These voting machines will be offered in jurisdictions where the complete ballot needs to be presented on a single page.

"Having successfully ordered voting machine sub-assembly quantities from Jaco in the past, we were confident that they could bring the design and quality control disciplines required for this agreement. We are pleased that Jaco's new integration center has the talent that now allows them to complete the entire design and manufacturing process, providing us with one-stop shopping for voting machines that meet our customers' demanding specifications," stated Jack Blaine, President of Sequoia Voting Systems.

Jaco Chairman and CEO Joel Girsky stated, "We are delighted that Sequoia has again selected Jaco as their voting machine partner. With our display solutions group's new, in-house 20,000 square foot engineering and integration center we have the capacity to deliver leading-edge FPD solutions such as voting machines to a broad range of customers and for myriad applications."

The City of Chicago contains approximately 1.4 million registered voters and Cook County includes approximately 1.38 million registered voters. Combined, the region represents the second largest voting jurisdiction in the U.S.

The City and County are both replacing their punch card voting technology with new systems that will comply with the Help America Vote Act by providing voters with notification of errors, an opportunity to correct their ballot before it is cast and accessibility features to ensure that voters with disabilities can cast their ballot privately and independently.

Accordingly, the electronic voting machines are equipped with voter verifiable paper records, pioneered by Sequoia in the 2004 primary and general elections in Nevada, that will accurately and securely record each individual voter's selections. During the last presidential election, Nevada posted the lowest voter falloff rate in the country at .237%, which was just a fraction of the national average fall-off rate of 1.1%.

About Sequoia Voting Systems

Sequoia Voting Systems has provided election services and support to state and local government for more than 100 years - dating back to the nation's first lever-based mechanical voting equipment in the 1890s. Sequoia products and services include election management software, voter registration database management systems, precinct-based optical scan ballot readers, high-speed central count optical scan ballot readers, electronic voting technology and ballot layout and printing services. In 2005, Sequoia combined with Smartmatic Corporation of Boca Raton, Florida, to create the largest international provider of voter-verifiable electronic voting technology.

About JACO Electronics, Inc.

Jaco is a leading distributor of electronic components to industrial OEMs and contract manufacturers. Jaco distributes products such as semiconductors, capacitors, resistors, electromechanical devices, flat panel displays (FPD) and power supplies, which are used in the manufacture and assembly of electronic products, including: telecommunications equipment, computers and office equipment, medical devices and instrumentation, industrial equipment and controls, military/aerospace systems and automotive and consumer electronics.

Jaco has two distribution centers and 16 strategically located sales offices throughout the United States, and one in Beijing, China. The Company recently completed a new, in-house 20,000 square foot FPD integration center housing its FPD engineering and manufacturing staff and operations. The integration center enhances Jaco's ability to provide customers with unique value-added display solutions and a "one-stop" source for their FPD supply and integration requirements. The integration center efficiently accommodates small and large custom projects, with production capacity of over 50,000 displays per year. In addition to customized FPD solutions, Jaco provides a variety of value-added services including automated inventory management services and assembling stock items for customers into pre-packaged kits. The Company's core customer base consists primarily of small and medium-sized manufacturers that produce electronic equipment used in a wide variety of industries.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release provides historical information and includes forward-looking statements that are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, our dependence on a limited number of distributors for our products, that most of our distributor agreements are cancelable upon short notice, the impact of downturns in our industry and the general economy, the market for our products is very competitive, the impact of disruptions in air or sea transportation and possible future legislative or regulatory changes on our business, volatility in electronic components' pricing may reduce our profit margins, the level of costs or difficulties incurred in connection with integrating the operations of businesses we acquire, the financial strength of our customers and suppliers, and other risks disclosed from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The forward-looking statements in this press release involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results or performance, including margins, SG&A expenses as a percentage of revenues and earnings per diluted share, to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We believe that all forward-looking statements made by us have a reasonable basis, but we cannot assure you that management's expectations, beliefs or projections as expressed in the forward-looking statements will actually occur or prove to be correct. As a result, our actual results may differ materially from the information set forth herein.

SOURCE: Jaco Electronics, Inc.

Jaco

Robert Savacchio, 631/273-5500

rsavacchio@jacoelect.com

or

Investors:

Jaffoni & Collins Incorporated

Joseph Jaffoni or Robert Rinderman, 212/835-8500

jaco@jcir.com

Copyright Business Wire 2005

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