Jan 16 2006

BADGER AND TANTALUS STRIKE TECHNOLOGY ALLIANCE
Agreement to Develop Unified Communications Infrastructure
for Water, Gas, and Electricity

Vancouver, BC Canada – January 17, 2006 – Badger Meter, Inc. and Tantalus Systems Corp. announce an agreement to develop and provide wireless water and gas advanced metering solutions to the utility sector. The alliance will enable utilities to implement a wireless two-way, real-time communications network that automates meter reading as well as enables them to remotely manage other water, gas, or electric equipment in a distribution network. The result is a single, consolidated communications system that meets the specific data and operational needs of each utility type, provides a secure communications infrastructure to protect and deliver data, and serves as the basis for outage management, demand response, load shedding and other progressive smart metering initiatives.

Under the agreement, Tantalus’ transceivers connect with Badger’s ORION® water and gas metering products, allowing them to communicate over TUNet® (the Tantalus Utility Network) back to a common network server or other host computer. This creates a practical, cost-effective system for utilities that manage multiple services or want to partner with other utilities in their service area in order to operate a common communications infrastructure. Essential consumption and operational data will be automatically channeled directly to appropriate functions within each respective utility for integration into billing, customer service, operations, or other relevant applications.

"A single fixed network is the goal for many utilities,” says Rich Meeusen, Badger Meter’s Chairman, President & CEO. “ORION integration to the TUNet network by Tantalus offers multi-service utilities a proven radio frequency network technology to automatically read water, gas and electric meters. This can help a utility achieve a new level of resource management and unprecedented operational efficiency. The truly compelling business benefit is that utilities can share the infrastructure and related costs, yet surgically deploy the network and applications to as few or as many consumers as makes sense to optimize the return on investment. Single commodity utilities also benefit from this strategy since they can deploy ORION water or gas metering products now, with the prospect of having TUNet provide fixed network functions at a later date. Or, vice versa, easily add ORION products in areas where TUNet is already deployed.”

“We are proud to be aligned with Badger Meter, whose technology leadership and best-in-class products are shaping the future of water and gas metering,” says Glen Brownlee, Tantalus’ Chair & CEO. “A united utility communications infrastructure makes total sense both operationally and financially, whether the utility manages a single resource or is responsible for all three. Our customers can now implement a single network to collect, store, and communicate with a variety of metering endpoints that requires minimal infrastructure, overhead, and maintenance. Since deployments don’t have to happen simultaneously, different utilities have the freedom to work together as their schedules and needs dictate."

Both Badger and Tantalus will be exhibiting at DistribuTECH in Tampa, Florida from February 7–9, 2006.

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About Badger Meter, Inc.
Badger Meter is a leading marketer and manufacturer of flow measurement and control technology, developed internally and with other companies, as well as the leader in providing digital connectivity to leading AMR technologies. Founded in 1905, Badger’s products are used to measure and control the flow of liquids in a variety of applications for the utility and industrial markets. Badger Meter is listed on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol BMI. Company news is available 24 hours a day, on-line at: www.badgermeter.com.

About Tantalus
Founded in 1989, Tantalus designs, manufactures, and markets two-way, real-time data communications networks to monitor and control electric, gas, and water utilities. The Tantalus Utility Network is a single, multi-purpose communications backbone specifically designed to help utilities extend the capacity of their distribution infrastructure. Tantalus’ long-range wireless networks unite a utility’s applications, making advanced metering, outage management, power quality monitoring, load management, and distribution automation cost-effective and practical throughout both urban and rural service areas.