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MDI's ONE Unified Technology Receives Frost & Sullivan's 2006 Technology Leadership Award for Systems Innovation in the Security Market

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - MDI, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDII), the leading manufacturer of Unified Technology™ solutions for the security industry and Frost & Sullivan, a leading global growth consulting company to the Global 1000 for over 40 years today announced that MDI Security Systems’ ONE™ Unified Technology™ platform has received the 2006 Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Leadership of the Year in the security systems market.  The award is based on an annual evaluation of key players that provide integrated systems for the security industry.  The recipient company has demonstrated technology leadership by excelling in all stages of the technology lifecycle including incubation, adaptation, take-up and maturity, to ensure a continuous flow of innovation.  ONE was chosen for delivering the highest level of both functionality and flexibility in regards to integration in an open architecture security environment.To choose the recipient of this Award, the Frost & Sullivan Analyst team tracks all products, ongoing technology research and product development projects within the industry.  This process includes in-depth interviews and extensive technology research.  This research is then compared to information received from customers, IT and Security Leaders from leading companies across various industries including government, finance, healthcare and telecommunications.  Competing products are then compared and ranked for relative position.  The company chosen to receive the award has received the number one industry ranking.MDI Security Systems has excelled based on the following criteria:
  • Significance of the technology in the industry
  • Number of competitors having similar industry technology (competitive factor)
  • The technology refinement process meets changing end-user needs (addresses research and development efforts by vendors)
  • Value-added technology and comprehensive services to the customers
  • Adoption rate by each of the industry participants (denotes responsiveness of the vendors)
  • New product innovation
  • Time to market
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development.  Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order toentify best practices in the industry.  Many of the industry’s most recognized names have been the recipients of the Frost & Sullivan award.  “MDI Security Systems is committed to delivering to the market the highest-quality security operating systems,” says Frost & Sullivan research analyst Jason Halverson.  “MDI has been developing IP-based open architecture security systems before most other manufacturers and, because of this foresight, the company leads the industry in all encompassing unified control and operating systems.”For over two decades, MDI Security Systems has been delivering custom-tailored security solutions for many of the top U.S. security organizations and largest corporate enterprises.  “With its extensive background in providing comprehensive security solutions, MDI is positioned to deliver the ONE™ security system to global 1000 companies and governments worldwide, many of which are also Frost & Sullivan customers looking for proven integrated solutions,” notes Halverson.  ONE™ has the flexibility to provide highly customized solutions for end-user needs.  By providing both a standardized modular platform and a truly open architecture environment for advanced integration capabilities, ONE™ satisfies the full spectrum of security system requirements. Its revolutionary open architecture functionality goes far beyond the integration capabilities of some of the best security software offered by industry competitors. MDI Security Systems felt that describing ONE™ as a security integration technology did not sufficiently differentiate its optimized interoperability from other security systems which only have limited integration capabilities. What sets the ONE platform apart from other integrated security management software on the market is the ability to deliver an open architecture environment that adapts individual applications and devices to its operations.  This truly open architecture platform enables the ultimate dimension of global collaboration within a single unified system. The platform’s Auto Adaptive™ driver technology is able to unify necessary technology into the ONE platform seamlessly and with less customization than competitor’s systems. Complex high-security integration environments often challenge the capabilities of some of the best integrated security systems; however, ONE’s truly unified platform adapts to the security infrastructure that it is hosting and has the scalability to add modules that scale to the requirements of end-users. “The Frost & Sullivan Award is the pinnacle of technical success in the security industry and we are proud that our ONE Unified Technology platform has been recognized as the top integrated security system,” stated J. Collier Sparks, President and CEO of MDI, Inc.  “With the mass consolidation that has happened in the security industry, MDI is the only independent integrated systems manufacturer left on the block. This award is proof that you do not have to be the biggest to be the best and we look forward to promoting our award-winning technology to the Global 1000 and World Homeland Security market together with Frost & Sullivan,” he added.In addition to its ability to unify systems, the ONE™ has unprecedented situational awareness, visualization, analytics, motion detection, and storage capabilities that give security personnel the tools to prioritize and manage critical events in real-time.  In today’s highly complex security environments, there is a tremendous need to quickly analyze situations and determine the proper response.  The ONE management system provides both the omniscience and ability to efficiently prioritize the query of events and immediately determine the best response for critical events. MDI will accept the Award at Frost & Sullivan's 2006 Growth Excellence Awards banquet in San Antonio, Texas on September 26th.  Earlier that day, MDI Chief Executive Officer J. Collier Sparks will be a featured panelist on the Growth Excellence Best Practices Panel taking place during Frost & Sullivan's Industry Outlooks and Growth Strategies Executive Congress on Corporate Growth, 2006.  The distinguished panel is comprised of CEOs and senior level executives, representing companies recognized by Frost & Sullivan for best practices in their industries, who will discuss the strategies that have enabled them to proactivelyentify, evaluate, and capitalize on growth opportunities in the market.  To view other recipients of Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices Awards, visit http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/meawards-hall-of-fame.pag.About Frost & SullivanFrost & 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 toentify 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.About MDI, Inc. MDI (NASDAQ: MDII) manufactures security technology solutions designed to protect people, facilities and assets.  These solutions are united by ONE Technology.  ONE Technology unifies security point products, systems and subsystems into a common management platform.  Far beyond the Integrated Security Management software promoted by industry competitors, ONE delivers an open architecture environment that adapts each individual application and device into its platform - promoting global collaboration as ONE system.  The MDI product family currently protects over 8 million alarm points across the globe for many of the world’s most recognized organizations including Microsoft, MBNA Worldwide, John Deere, Pepsi, FBI, TSA, Fidelity Investments, Bureau of Engraving & Printing, American Express, Department of Defense, IRS, Disney, Smithsonian Institution and MIT to name a few. For more information on MDI or its diversified line of security products, please visit www.mdisecure.com Forward-Looking and Cautionary StatementsExcept for historical information and discussions contained herein, certain statements included in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These statements include a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, as discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. MDI Investor Relations Contact: Richard A. Larsen, MDI, IncorporatedEmail: Richard.Larsen@mdisecure.comPhone: (210)-582-2664 MDI Media Contact:Michael M. Garcia, MDI, IncorporatedEmail: Mike.Garcia@mdisecure.comPhone: (210)-477-5400Frost & Sullivan Contact: Stacie JonesEmail: Stacie.jones@frost.comPhone: (210) 247-2450