Contact: Marantec America Corporation
5705 Centerpoint Court
Gurnee, IL 60021
847-478-1500
George Annino
g.annino@marantecamerica.com

Contact: Fahrenheit Marketing Communications
411 Washington Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Bob Trench
612-342-2400
trench@32f.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gurnee, Illinois, May 17, 2005 - Marantec introduces an innovative locking device that works with Marantec garage door openers (GDOs) to automatically lock a sectional overhead garage door every time it is closed and automatically unlock it when it is opened.

"For years door dealers have told us that many of their customers secure their automated garage doors with manually operated locks, as their home insurance carriers typically recommend they do," says Marantec America Corporation’s Hugo Francisco, Director of Engineering. "This is obviously a concern to our industry because it interferes with as well as diminishes consumers’ GDO convenience, considering the automated garage door must be manually unlocked before it is opened and manually locked after it is closed."

Francisco also, points out, "...this leads to a widespread and common problem for door dealers and their customers when the automated garage door is activated while the door is still manually locked, frequently resulting in damage to the door and/or the GDO."

"Last year, Marantec and Automated Security Technologies, Inc. (AST) began working together to develop a practical and economic solution to this need that would also make good business sense for Marantec’s dealers," says Francisco.

AST is the patent holder and manufacturer of first and second generations of the automated lock, which is known as Gaplock. "The first generation of Gaplock was designed to provide a universal solution using a sophisticated (and expensive) control system," explains Rodney Shoemaker, AST’s President and inventor of Gaplock. "By Marantec modifying its residential GDOs to make them Gaplockcompatible, we were able to reduce Gaplock’s uninstalled MSRP by almost 60%, from $120 for the universal version to $49 MSRP for this new Maranteccompatible version," says Shoemaker.

The Marantec-Gaplock combination represents an opportunity for dealers to significantly increase their per-job-profits, considering Gaplock’s $49 MSRP includes a healthy margin for the dealer on top of the $20 to $50 (or more) they will charge for installation, which typically requires less than ten minutes. With the winning combination of Marantec and Gaplock, dealers who sell automated sectional roll-up garage doors can now profitably provide their customers with convenience and security, so they no longer have to sacrifice one for the other.

Of related interest to dealers, the Marantec-compatible version of Gaplock:

• Can be mounted on either side of a sectional rollup garage door (requires only 2” of clearance between door track and first obstruction – such as wall or cabinet)

• Is installer-friendly and easy to connect (simply plug in a harness and connect 2 wires)

• Is operated by the same controls (remotes, wall switch/console, wireless keypad, etc.) used for the Marantec GDO

• Mounts inside the garage to avoid being visible (and therefore vulnerable to tampering) from outside the garage

• Can be manually operated

Acerca de Marantec America Corporation

Marantec America ofrece una amplia variedad de abrepuertas para garage y accesorios incluyendo los siguientes: MLine 4500 and 4700, QLine 7500 y 7700, Aztec 4500 and 4700, y los operadores de la línea QLine 7900. Los productos de Marantec America se pueden adquirir en todo el continente americano.