TurboLinux Expands Australia-New Zealand Operations; Tech Pacific Appointed Distributor; New GM Named; Centari Systems First Gold VAR

Business Wire, March 8, 2000

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2000

TurboLinux(R), Inc., the high performance Linux company, announced today it has expanded its operations in Australia with new headquarters offices in Sydney and has appointed Nicole Sztachanski as the company's new general manager for Australia-New Zealand.

"TurboLinux sees an enormous opportunity for Linux in Australia and New Zealand," said Cliff Miller, CEO of TurboLinux.

"We have already tapped the talents of many leading software developers in Australia and several major enterprise customers have deployed TurboLinux solutions. Our expansion in this market is a commitment to better serve our corporate and enterprise customers in Australia and New Zealand, as well as globally."

TurboLinux's award-winning products will be distributed nationally by Tech Pacific, the leading computer distribution channel in Asia-Pacific.

To provide local channel and customer support, TurboLinux has also signed key state-based distribution partners: MPA, the number one SCO distributor in Australia, will cover Victoria and Tasmania; Astims IT will distribute in New South Wales as well as provide reseller and customer training and support services; Saratoga Distributions will cover South Australia and Western Australia; Intellitron will cover Queensland and Northern Territory.

TurboLinux has also signed up Centari Systems as the company's first gold reseller in Australia. Centari Systems, an authorized reseller for Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Xerox, was selected by Hewlett-Packard as its corporate reseller of the year in 1998. Centari has offices in all major capital cities in Australia.

"More and more of our major government and corporate accounts are asking us to implement Linux in their IT infrastructure," said Jon Johnston, managing director of Centari Systems. "We think TurboLinux, with its focus on server solutions and high performance clustering, offers the most compelling Linux products on the market."

The new TurboLinux headquarters office will be located in the NAB House in George Street, Sydney. This office will house TurboLinux staff in sales, marketing, support, education and consulting services.

Nicole Sztachanski, the new general manager for Australia-New Zealand, joined TurboLinux from design software firm IMSI where she headed marketing and sales in Australia and New Zealand. Prior to IMSI she worked for Dataflow Computer Services, a major Australian distributor.

"We're very happy to see TurboLinux expand its presence locally," said Graeme Kelly, secretary of the Sydney Linux Users' Group, Australia's largest Linux users' group. "We really appreciate the attention TurboLinux has paid to the requirements of Linux users in here."

TurboLinux has also signed up Netcraft, a leading Australian distributor for Linux, as a reseller partner. "We are excited to be working with TurboLinux," said Dave Bennet, managing director of Netcraft. "TurboLinux is doing business in a manner consistent with the Linux philosophy. We are excited to move forward with them."

TurboLinux has several enterprise customers in Australia who have deployed TurboLinux solutions, including AMP Asset Management, Boeing Australia and Monash University.

TurboLinux will be demonstrating its workstation, server, and clustering solutions at booth E6 at the Linux Open Source Expo & Conference, March 7-10, at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour.

About TurboLinux Inc.

Founded in 1992, TurboLinux is the world's fastest-growing Linux company with investment backing from more than 20 global hardware, software and services companies, including BEA, Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu Support and Services, Intel, NEC, Novell, NTT, SCO and Toshiba.

A market leader in Linux software clustering solutions and Linux internationalization, the company's high-performance consumer and business Linux products run on Intel, Alpha and PowerPC workstation and server platforms and are supported globally by IBM, Hewlett-Packard and SCO.

Headquartered in San Francisco, TurboLinux has regional offices in Hamburg, Tokyo, Beijing and Sydney. The company's home page is located on the Internet at www.turbolinux.com, in Japanese at www.turbolinux.co.jp and in Chinese at www.turbolinux.com.cn.

Note to Editors: Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. TurboLinux is a trademark of TurboLinux, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.