[17 th March 2003, Hong Kong] Thiz Technology Group Limited (hereafter called "Thiz Group" or the "Group". Stock Code: 8119) announced that its new product, "ThizServer 7.0 (for IA64)" is certified for LSB1.3 by the international certification organization, Free Standards Group (FSG). The certification reassures the high quality of the product and is recognized internationally. This is the second LSB1.3 certified product of the Group, after "ThizLinux Desktop 7.0" which was released in last May.

"ThizServer 7.0 (for IA64)" uses 64-bit Linux kernel and is highly hardware compatible. It helps users to establish multi-functional Linux server running at 64 bit in easy and simple ways. In terms of system security, "ThizServer 7.0 (for IA64)" offers SSH, Snort and Tripwire, to detect and prevent server from illegal intrusion.

"The support of IA64 infrastructure makes ThizServer 7.0 (for IA64) different from many of its competitors. The product passes over 4500 tests and is proved to be distinctive in quality," said, Mr. Albert Wong, the chief executive officer of the Group. "In Asia, it stands out from the others by being the first LSB1.3 certified Linux product supporting IA64." Currently in the world, only Red Hat, SuSE and United Linux's IA64 products have obtained LSB1.3 certification.

IA64 is the next generation technology which enables 64-bit computing. It is the new direction of information technology development. It has a more advanced and improved architecture than 32 bit of the time. "The faster computing of IA64 definitely makes itself the mainstream in the near future," Mr. Wong continued, "that is why the Group has started the development of ThizServer 7.0 for IA64 since last year. Our aim is to introduce state-of-the-art Linux operating system for Greater China."

FSG is a non-profitable organization which aims at promoting industrially recognized standards to accelerate the popularity and application of open-source technologies. The Linux Standard Base (LSB) introduced by FSG is the standard of compatibility enforced on Linux architecture. It helps standardizing applications that can run on various Linux distributions.