Industry leaders to enhance the competitiveness and responsiveness of Pearl River Delta manufacturers through cost saving and productivity enhancing innovations

(Hong Kong, January 22, 2003) To prepare local manufacturers for increased cross-border integration with Guangdong, four of the information technology leaders in Hong Kong, namely Diyixian.com Ltd, NEC Hong Kong Limited (NEC Hong Kong), Integrated Solutions Ltd (ISL) and Corporate Technology Ltd (CTL), today announced a one-stop solution for manufacturers whose operations sprawl across the border, and those who seek to modernize their supply chains and extend their reach into the Pearl River Delta and beyond.

In his annual Policy Address released early this month, chief executive Tung Chee-hwa spelled out plans to reinvent Hong Kong¡¦s future by making it an integral part of the Pearl River Delta (PRD). The PRD is a region where the economic and geopolitical landscape continues to undergo transformation. Internet-based services are levelling the playing field for indigenous SMEs when it comes to purchasing productivity enhancing tools. Rapidly evolving supply chain management software is also changing the face of business in the region.

Companies that are responsive to changes in demand or the market environment are inevitably the most successful. Local companies need more efficient IT strategies to survive intensifying international competition in a more liberalized trading environment. Such responsiveness is absolutely vital to ensure that Hong Kong strengthens its position as the main product development and marketing centre for the manufacturing industries in the PRD region.

To help enterprises gear up for challenges of informatisation in one of the world¡¦s busiest manufacturing centres, the four industry players will jointly offer customers a total solutions package to be deployed across their branches or subsidiaries in the PRD region, with the immediate aim of connecting the communications, manufacturing, and supply chain functions for better integration with other enterprise applications or activities.

These experienced specialist providers will also jointly organize a seminar on January 22 to explore various productivity enhancing solutions for the manufacturing sector, targeting businesses seeking to better manage costs and ensure flexibility in their IT infrastructure and free up valuable IT resources.

Diyixian is a key player in the region¡¦s emerging IP private network market. ¡§Companies in the PRD region are turning to high-speed IP private networks to augment their existing expensive frame relay network connections,¡¨ said Lap Man, CEO of Diyixian. On top of these MPLS technology-based IP private networks, there is the proprietary IP fax services from CTL. ¡§At CTL, we offer cutting-edge network services that incorporate email-to-fax concepts to supply the level of quality needed for site-to-site communication requirements,¡¨ remarked Victor Wong, CTL¡¦s Business Development Manager.

The most widely deployed IP private network services in the region are managed enterprise resource planning (ERP), managed fax and voice over IP (F/VoIP) and video conferencing services. ¡§NEC has put a great deal of effort in research and development for FT servers on Linux platform,¡¨ stated Ray Cheung, Assistant General Manager, Business Solutions and Services of NEC Hong Kong. ¡§Complementing these IP private network managed class-of-service offerings, our high-performance server solutions deliver capabilities, reliability and scalability in today¡¦s competitive business environment.¡¨

¡§The ERP software from ISL is a well-rounded implementation of APICS-standard processes of manufacturing resource planning (MRPII),¡¨ said Philip Lee, ISL¡¦s Assistant Marketing Manager. ¡§ISL¡¦s ERP applications coupled with the IP private network services support seamless, integrated operations between head office and remote sites. With over 18 years of deployment experience for local SME manufacturers, ISL is confident that our ERP applications are highly configurable to meet the needs of different types of manufacturing environments.¡¨

About Corporate Technology Limited
Corporate Technology Ltd.(CTL) is a Distributing Agent which mainly distribute for Internet Appliance (I.A.) products & solutions especially on communications (e.g.Fax & Voice). CTL bring most advanced and innovative technologies, products, services and solutions which help enterprises and organizations to cut their operating costs, increase the efficiency & effectiveness to code this more and more competitive dynamic environment.

For additional information about the company, please visit http://www.cslglobal.com

About Diyixian.com Limited
As the largest IP private network service provider in Greater China, Diyixian sets the industry benchmark for quality and excellence by providing an innovative range of network-centric solutions for enterprise customers. By virtue of its nationwide IP broadband coverage, Diyixian offers a comprehensive and fully integrated suite of managed hosting, connectivity and security services, providing one of the industry’s most reliable single sources for enterprise Internet needs, ensuring the high level of scalability and reliability that enterprises have come to expect. Among its current offerings that have the largest overall market share are the highly popular IP private network solutions and managed hosting services.

For additional information about the company, please visit http://www.dyxnet.com.cn.

About Integrated Solutions Limited
Integrated Solutions Limited (ISL) has been an enterprise applications developer since 1985. ISL is unique in Hong Kong. Instead of doing custom-made work that only emphasize features fitting to one company’s needs, ISL places tremendous weight on the improvement of its products and its services to the needs of Hong Kong and the Southern China region, and has built up the reputation of quality workmanship. ISL is a practitioner of Total Quality Management (TQM) and is the winner of the 1994-95 HKMA Quality Award, which modeled after the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige award in the U.S. Recent recognitions from the I.T. industry included the Fast Start Award from QAD Inc. in 1997 and the Most Outstanding Customized Application Developer from Microsoft in 1998.

For additional information about the company, please visit http://www.isl.com.hk

About NEC Hong Kong Limited
NEC has a long and eventful history in Hong Kong. NEC Hong Kong Limited was established in 1984 and has expanded rapidly its activities to meet the growing demands for our customers in Hong Kong, Macau and China. From the manufacturing to the dynamic technological era, NEC Hong Kong has been providing advanced computer and communications products, display and visual appliance, mobile telecommunications devices, and information technology solutions to foster the market development. We are now a leading provider of Internet solutions and consulting services, dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of our customers in the fields of business network, security, banking and finance, and outsourcing services.

For further information, please visit http://www.nec.com.hk