Bitstream Receives Chinese Government Approval for GB18030 Font.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Government agencies certify Bitstream Hei font for licensing in the People's Republic of China

Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) announced today that it has received certification of its GB18030 font, Bitstream Hei, from both the SLC (State Language Committee) and CITS/CESI (Committee on Information Technology Standards / China Electronics Standardization Institute).

The SLC and CITS/CESI are Chinese standards groups that approve multilingual fonts for distribution within the People's Republic of China (PRC). This includes the GB18030 font, which is the PRC's approved Chinese character set. The GB18030 font currently includes over 30,000 characters and supports Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Yi, and Uyghur.

"We are pleased to report that Bitstream Hei, our GB18030 font, has been approved by the PRC government. Bitstream Hei provides the best solution for manufacturers introducing their language-related products into China," said Anna Chagnon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bitstream Inc. "The Chinese government requires that fonts be certified before they can be licensed to software and hardware developers entering the Chinese marketplace. For Bitstream, this represents a great opportunity for licensing the Bitstream Hei font in China."

Ms. Chagnon continued: "Bitstream has been working with the PRC government for several years in order to comply with the GB18030 standard. We have a good working relationship with the SLC and CITS; with Jin Feng, our local partner in Beijing; and with IT United, our consultants in Beijing. We look forward to continuing our relationship with these organizations in China and to expanding our product offerings for our international partners."

"Multinational corporations need to work with a partner that understands the China market. I.T. UNITED is a leading technology outsourcing services provider in China, and a firm that consistently delivers a China advantage," said Mr. Cyrill Eltschinger, Chief Executive Officer of I.T. UNITED. "It was a pleasure for us to provide the interface between Bitstream and the Chinese government, including face-to-face meetings. Receiving certification for its GB18030 font is a great achievement for Bitstream and will give Bitstream the opportunity to sell its font for use in China."

GB18030 is officially referred to as "Chinese National Standard GB18030-2000: Information Technology - Chinese Ideograms Coded Character Set for Information Interchange - Extension for the Basic Set." GB18030-2000 encodes characters in sequences of one, two, or four bytes, and can contain up to 1.6 million characters. It is a government-mandated conformance requirement for all products sold in China, effective as of September 1, 2001.

About I.T. UNITED

I.T. UNITED (Information Technology United Corporation, ITUC) is a leading IT and business process services provider, delivering world-class business solutions at globally competitive rates. Established in 1998, I.T. UNITED now has development centers in Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai and a growing network of offices in Europe and North America. I.T. UNITED consistently delivers high-performance business results as a supplier to global technology companies, as a partner to mid-market regional IT companies, and directly to governmental and corporate clients.

About Bitstream

Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) is a software development company that makes communications compelling. Bitstream enables customers worldwide to render high-quality text, browse the Web on wireless devices, select from the largest collection of fonts online, and customize documents over the Internet. Its core competencies include font technology, browsing technology, e-commerce technology, and publishing technology. For more information, please visit Bitstream at www.bitstream.com.

Bitstream is a registered trademark and the Bitstream logo is a trademark of Bitstream Inc. Other technologies and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.