Compaq To Co-develop Chinese 64-bit UNIX

Compaq Computer Corp.(NYSE: CPQ) today signed a landmark agreement with the China National Computer Software and Technology Service Corp. (CS&S) to co-develop an enhanced and localized 64-bit UNIX for the PRC market.


Compaq will provide CS&S with the source code of its Tru64 UNIX, the new
name for Digital UNIX, to develop COSIX64.


According to Compaq, the new Chinese UNIX will be fully binary compatible with Compaq’s Tru64 UNIX meaning all applications running on Tru64 UNIX can be easily ported to run on the COSIX64 platform.

Eckhard Pfeiffer, president and CEO of Compaq who is currently on a
four-day visit in China, participated in the signing with Wang Zhigang, president of CS&S, and Lu Xinkui, vice minister of the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), in Beijing.

The agreement is
the result of a memorandum of understanding that Compaq and CS&S signed in
September last year.

“Today is a very important day for Compaq,” said Pfeiffer. “We are
committed to China’s long-term development. We are also committed to
strengthening our relationships with the Ministry of Information Industry
and CS&S.”

“The growing popularity of networking and e-commerce in the market is
driving greater demand for 64-bit UNIX systems,” added Pfeiffer.

Wang said, “We’re pleased to enter into this agreement with Compaq to
develop COSIX64, bringing a Chinese-branded 64-bit UNIX operating system to
China. It will be the most technologically advanced, reliable and mature
64-bit UNIX available in China.”

“For many years, CS&S lacked partners committed to a long-term relationship
to develop operating systems. Our co-operation with Compaq is built on the
basis of a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship.”

Compaq will also offer CS&S full technical support in the development of
COSIX64 and both organizations will engage in joint marketing efforts to promote
the new 64-bit Chinese UNIX in the PRC market.

“CS&S and Compaq share a common strategic vision and the co-operation
between them will have a positive effect on the local information industry
as well as on China’s society and economy,” said Lu. “MII will actively
support the collaboration of the two companies.”

CS&S is a software enterprise under the administration of the
MII, and, with more than 40 subsidiaries in China and overseas, CS&S is the
largest systems integrator in China.

CS&S devotes its R&D to open systems-based operating systems, software
tools and applications software. It is a vendor of Chinese
operating platforms and applications for commerce, finance, office
automation, machine translation, insurance, taxation, telecommunications
and hotel management.

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