Compaq Lands Agreement With China's CS&S to Develop COSIX64, Chinese 64-Bit UNIX for PRC.

HOUSTON and BEIJING, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 1999-- Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ) today signed a landmark agreement with the China National Computer Software and Technology Service Corporation (CS&S) to co-develop an enhanced and localized 64-bit UNIX for the PRC market.

The agreement is a breakthrough venture between CS&S, China's most successful software developer and largest systems integrator, and Compaq - the world's largest global supplier of computers and leader in 64-bit computing. The agreement also firmly demonstrates Compaq's long-term determination and commitment to China's IT industry.

Compaq will provide CS&S with the source code of its Tru64 UNIX - the new name for Digital UNIX - to develop COSIX64. The new Chinese UNIX will be fully binary compatible with Compaq's Tru64 UNIX. 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 China visit, Wang Zhi-gang, president of CS&S, and Lu Xin-kui, deputy director of the Ministry of Information Industries (MII) were at today's agreement signing ceremony held at Diao Yu Tai, Bejing. 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 long-term. We are also committed to strengthening our relationships with the Ministry of Information Industries and CS&S. This agreement demonstrates Compaq's leadership in the 64-bit UNIX operating system arena and our determination to develop industry-standard 64-bit UNIX.

"The growing popularity of networking and e-commerce in the market is driving greater demand for 64-bit UNIX systems," Pfeiffer continued. "Today, Compaq not only leads in the Windows NT and 64-bit UNIX platforms, but also in advanced 64-bit hardware to provide total solutions for heterogeneous computing environments."

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.

"Delivered initially on Compaq's Alpha computer systems, COSIX64 will also be available on the IA-64 platform. CS&S will actively promote COSIX64 in key computing and application environments. Through our close co-operation and joint endeavours, we intend to make COSIX64 the most widely adopted operating system in China," Wang said. "For many years, CS&S lacked partners committed to a long-term relationship to develop operating systems. Our cooperation 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. Compaq and CS&S will engage in joint marketing efforts to promote the new 64-bit Chinese UNIX in the PRC market, a move that will position Compaq as the UNIX vendor of choice in China.

"CS&S and Compaq share the common strategic vision and the cooperation between them will have a positive effect on the local information industry as well as on China's society and economy," said Lu from the MII. "MII will provide support actively to the collaboration of the two companies."

CS&S is the leading software enterprise under the administration of the MII. With more than 40 subsidiaries in China and overseas, CS&S is the largest systems integrator in China and one of the strongest enterprises in the local IT industry. It is also one of the top 100 electronic enterprises in China.

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

"CS&S is an experienced provider of operating system software in China," said Henry Tse, managing director of Compaq China. "The agreement advances Compaq's UNIX as a world wide industry standard while helping China develop its software market.

"CS&S brings to this partnership its UNIX software development expertise and market development and expansion skills. Combined with advanced technology from Compaq, this enables us to jointly create a bigger UNIX market in China," Tse continued. "This partnership will strongly position Compaq in the UNIX-based server market as users migrate from 32-bit to 64-bit operating systems."

Compaq Background

Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune Global 100 company, is the second largest computer company in the world and the largest global supplier of computer systems. Compaq develops and markets hardware, software, solutions, and services, including industry-leading enterprise computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, enterprise and network storage solutions, commercial desktop and portable products and consumer PCs. The company is an industry leader in environmentally friendly programs and business practices.

Compaq products are sold and supported in more than 100 countries through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners. Customer support and information about Compaq and its products are available at http://www.compaq.com.

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