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HP AND ORACLE LAUNCH COMPETENCY AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
TO STRENGTHEN LOCAL ISVs' TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITY
Malaysia PITSTOP centre will be managed by HPD Systems and OED Technology

Malaysia, November 20, 2003 - Hewlett Packard Sales (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd ("HP Malaysia") and Oracle Corporation Malaysia Sdn Bhd ("Oracle Malaysia") today launched Malaysia's Partners' Innovative Technology and Solution Centre (PITSTOP) - one of the five regional competency and development centres in South East Asia.

Malaysia's PITSTOP centre, located at Patimas Technology Centre, Technology Park Malaysia, is part of an US$10 million regional initiative by both HP and Oracle to fast-track the development of a strong regional network of local Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and System Integrators (SIs). This centre will be managed jointly by HP distributor - HPD Systems Sdn Bhd (HPD) and Oracle distributor - OED Technology Sdn Bhd (OED). Both are subsidiary companies of Patimas Computers Berhad.

HP Malaysia Managing Director T F Chong said, "Through this PITSTOP centre, HP and Oracle will extend a helping hand to ISVs and SIs in building their technology capabilities. The network of PITSTOP centres will also be their solutions showcase and their access to overseas markets."

"Malaysia's PITSTOP will be the breeding ground for the Information Technology (IT) community to develop innovative solutions, relevant for use across all industries and across borders. It will also be used to enhance the skills of the partners towards making them knowledge workers in line with the Government's objective," said Oracle Malaysia Managing Director V R Srivatsan.

Under this joint initiative, HP and Oracle will utilize the Malaysia PITSTOP centre to provide ISVs and SIs with a clear roadmap towards enabling them to become fully certified and qualified developers on HP and Oracle technologies. The PITSTOP centre will run the full range of Oracle infrastructure software and Oracle E-Business Suite on HP's technology platform.

HP and Oracle will also provide consultants to help partners gain hands-on experience with the latest HP and Oracle technologies. Regular workshops and training will also be provided to enable the transfer of knowledge to help develop the expertise level of the local IT community.

"By making our technologies and technical resources easily available at such a well- supported competency centre, our partners will have an attractive, viable and compelling proposition to focus on developing their own solutions rapidly," said Chong.

"They will be able to leverage not only on the technological expertise but also on the network of marketing expertise of both HP and Oracle to become more market-focused in order to exploit cross border business opportunities," he added.

Srivatsan said the PITSTOP centre addresses a real need for partners in Malaysia. "For local partners who are developing new products and services on our technology, they need an available infrastructure and facilities for proof of concept and demonstrations to customers."

He added that with the PITSTOP network in place, HP and Oracle partners can greatly cut down the costs and time associated with bringing products and services to market. Partners will have the opportunity to utilize the PITSTOP network in the region to expand their offshore resources, support overseas clients, develop cross-border strategic alliances or penetrate new markets.

In addition to Malaysia, other PITSTOP centres are located in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

HPD Chief Executive Officer Dato' E K Lim said the choice of locating the Malaysia PITSTOP centre in the group's Patimas Technology Centre will further enhance his organisation's role as total solutions provider for the enterprise marketplace.

He added that he looked forward to closer collaboration with HP and Oracle to provide a conducive environment, facilities and support services for the development of Made-in-Malaysia solutions as well as nurture greater entrepreneurship in the local technology community.

About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing for consumers, enterprises and small and medium businesses. For the last four quarters, HP revenue totalled $71.3 billion. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

About Oracle
Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, visit our website at

About HPD Systems
A member of the Patimas Computers Group, HPD Systems was incorporated in Malaysia on December 1996 as a dynamic IT distributor to provide Total Solutions for the enterprise marketplace. It is principally engaged as a Value-Added Distributor of Hewlett-Packard (HP) range of products and services, the Distributor of HP UNIX Servers and Workstations in Malaysia as well as the Authorised Wholesaler for HP ProLiant Servers and other related products.

About OED Technology Sdn Bhd
OED Technology Sdn Bhd is an Oracle Value Added Distributor, Oracle Applications Reseller and Oracle Approved Education Centre. It specializes in project management, application consulting and technology consulting in Value Chain Collaboration, Customer Relationship Management, Infrastructure, E-Development, Business Intelligence, Enterprise Application Integration and Education.

Trademarks
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation.