Rapidly Expanding Linux Market in Korea Selected for Launch of Levanta's Management Appliance in Asia

SAN MATEO, Calif., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Levanta, the leader in Linux management, today announced two new Korean sales partners, and the kickoff of an international sales program. Under terms of the agreements, NSTEK and Linuxkorea, two of Korea's largest Linux solution providers, will resell Levanta's Intrepid M Linux management appliance.

"Korea is one of the fastest-growing countries in Linux adoption," said SookBang Lee, Infrastructure Solution Sales Executive with the AP Systems & Technology Group for IBM in Korea. "As the market evolves, overall stability and quality -- above and beyond the operating system -- are going to be critical for the marketplace, so the demand for system management solutions is high."

In 2004, the Korean government announced a $50 million initiative to convert more than 1,000 government IT projects to Linux and open source software. Today, Linux in the non-Japanese Asian market is projected to grow 78.6% in 2005 (according to IDC), and represents one of the top worldwide growth sectors overall for Linux. Levanta sees similar opportunities for Intrepid M sales in other countries where the Linux market is rapidly developing.

"We chose Korea to launch the Intrepid in Asia because of the widespread adoption of Linux in both government organizations and enterprises," said Matt Mosman, CEO of Levanta. "In the U.S., we've seen the strongest demand for the Intrepid M in corporations and Internet businesses with large numbers of existing Linux deployments. With the fantastic growth of Linux in Korea and large number of Linux systems, we see a big opportunity for the Intrepid M."

Levanta's Intrepid M (TM) -- named "Most Innovative Hardware Appliance" at the 2005 LinuxWorld Expo -- is the industry's first Linux management appliance to combine network provisioning with Linux data virtualization, providing a management tool that greatly simplifies common Linux management scenarios (from server provisioning, to open source application deployment, to disaster recovery and change control).

"While Linux deployment in the public sector is increasing rapidly in Korea, there are many difficulties in managing Linux servers," said Hyuk Jin Park, CEO of Linuxkorea. "I believe Levanta can provide a perfect management solution for Linux end users in Korea."

"As a Linux appliance manufacturer, NSTEK has deep technical understanding of the Linux operating system, and has deep ties with the community's issues in managing Linux environments," said Young Ik Chee, President and CEO of NSTEK, Inc. "We were intrigued by Levanta's unique management methodology and believe that Levanta can position itself as a leading standard for Linux systems management in Korea very quickly."

"HP is currently evaluating Levanta's Intrepid M Linux management appliance's opportunities in the Korean marketplace," said Kim U-Jin, Manager of the Open Source & Linux Organization with HP Korea. "With Levanta's proven track record in production Linux deployments at customer sites in the U.S., they are well-positioned to help manage Linux environments in Korea." About Levanta

Levanta is a leader in Linux management and data virtualization. Levanta's unique technology marries change control with data virtualization, delivering dramatically faster and more flexible control of Linux on commodity hardware, racks, blades, boxes, virtual machines, and even mainframes. Levanta's customers include industry leaders in financial services, entertainment, government, retail and telecommunications. Levanta has partnerships with IBM, HP, Novell, and Red Hat. A private company, Levanta is headquartered in San Mateo and can be found on the Web at http://www.levanta.com . About NSTEK, Inc.

Established in 2000, NSTEK is Korea's leading Network & Internet Solution Developer, providing "TaskQoS," a Quality of Service appliance for network traffic, and the OfficeMail Appliance and Wagering Solution. In 2001, Compaq (since acquired by HP) recognized the technology and potential growth of NSTEK, and invested $1M in the company. NSTEK's customer base includes more than 150 major government, university and enterprise accounts. About Linuxkorea

Linuxkorea, Inc., established in 1998, is a leading provider of Linux and Open Source solutions. Linuxkorea provides technical support for Linux systems, as well as solutions for wireless authentication and IP management. Linuxkorea is a member of Korean OSS Forum and provides consulting on Open Source policies for the Korean government.