Phoenix Technologies and Founder PC Announce Long-Term FirstWare Licensing Agreement; Phoenix Expands Presence in China With Major New Partnership and New Offices

Business Wire, June 28, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:PTEC), a global leader in device-enabling and management software products for PCs and connected digital devices, today announced an expansion of its partnership with Founder Technology Computer System Co., Ltd. (Founder PC), a leading computer manufacturer in China. Through a significant addition to an existing agreement, Founder PC has expanded their use of FirstWare Connect(TM), part of the FirstWare Rescue(TM) suite of products, for use in Founder PC's latest Founder A series computers. FirstWare Connect is an Internet browser that doesn't require an operating system -- it is built into a secure, tamper-resistant "safe zone" in the foundation of the PC. Even after a major disaster such as an operating system crash, scrambled hard disk, software worm or virus attack, FirstWare Connect continues to function so PC users can use the Internet to get help in resolving problems on their own.

"Improved customer satisfaction continues to be a key initiative for Founder PC," said Mr. Zhou Xian Feng, General Manager of Founder Technology Computer System Co., Ltd. "By licensing the Phoenix FirstWare technology, we will be able to offer our customers a more user-friendly and more secure computer system. At the same time, we can make our products even more affordable by reducing our manufacturing and maintenance costs."

The Phoenix FirstWare Rescue product family is a collection of "always-available," pre-Operating System (OS) recovery programs that intelligently combine FirstBIOS(TM) capabilities with a special, protected area of the hard drive -- Phoenix's FirstWare environment. The FirstWare Rescue product family includes FirstWare Recover(TM), FirstWare Check(TM), FirstWare Vault(TM), and FirstWare Connect(TM). While each component provides a unique capability and can run independently of the others, they combine to provide a powerful new capability for PC manufacturers to build customized software applications for their customers into a secure environment, protected from system crashes, viruses, and security breaches.

On June 25, Phoenix Technologies announced its new partnership with Founder PC and its expansion into China at a joint media event in Beijing. During the event, Albert E. Sisto, Chairman, CEO, and President of Phoenix Technologies commented, "I am excited by the information industry development in China, one of the fastest growing markets in the world. I think it is very important for one worldwide leading software provider, like Phoenix Technologies, to upgrade its investment in the region and build close partnerships with local computer OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and ODMs (Original Design Manufacturers) in this market. We believe these moves will bring innovation to the local market and invigorate our partners here -- allowing them to offer more competitive products."

In 2000, to support the fast growth in the China computing market, Phoenix established an R&D center in Nanjing, China, and in 2001, opened an office in Beijing. Since opening these offices, Phoenix has expanded further in China by opening additional offices in Shanghai and Shenzhen to work closely with local computer manufacturers to help bring more innovative products to market. Currently, the Beijing office serves as the headquarters of Phoenix Asia Pacific, demonstrating its geographical importance in the Phoenix strategy and commitment to the Chinese market.

About Founder Technology Computer System Co., Ltd.

Founder Technology Computer System Co. Ltd., the core enterprise under Shanghai Founder Technology Co. Ltd., designs, manufactures and markets products including home PCs, business PCs, laptops, and hand-held devices. Founder PC launched its own branded PC on Nov 6, 1995. It is currently one of the top three local brands in China. Founder PC is distributed through a channel of almost 1000 resellers in 200 cities.

About Phoenix

Phoenix Technologies (Nasdaq:PTEC); Founded in 1979, Phoenix is a global leader in device-enabling and management software products for PCs and other connected digital devices. Its FirstWare family of "instant on" software activates, secures, connects, and recovers digital devices and is designed into millions of industry standard desktop, notebook, server, and information appliance systems sold annually. This enables Phoenix customers -- specifiers, developers, and manufacturers of user-driven microprocessor systems -- to reduce costs and provide high value-added features to their customers. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Phoenix Technologies has offices worldwide.

For more information about Phoenix Technologies, visit our website at http://www.phoenix.com/

Note to Editors: Phoenix and Phoenix Technologies are registered trademarks of Phoenix Technologies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.