INDUSTRY

SALT LAKE CITY -- Linux Networx announced today that President George W. Bush plans to appoint Bernard Daines, chairman and CEO of Linux Networx, as a member of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC). Daines was selected for the two-year PITAC appointment for his expertise in high performance computing (HPC) and for his experience in the networking industry. As a member of PITAC, Daines will provide President Bush with expert, independent advice on maintaining America's preeminence in advanced information technologies, including such important elements of the national IT infrastructure as high performance computing, large-scale networking, and high assurance software and systems design. A key developer in Ethernet technologies, Daines has been instrumental in the development of the IEEE standards and innovative solutions for Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet. In the 1990's, Daines founded Packet Engines and co-founded Grand Junction Networks, two companies that were sold to Alcatel and Cisco Systems. "I am very pleased with the appointed members to serve on the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee. These new PITAC members are some of the best scientific, engineering, and business minds in the country, and I believe their collective knowledge and experience will be enormously beneficial to the President and to the Nation," said House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.). "I look forward to working with the PITAC members and with the Administration on some of the most challenging issues facing our nation." PITAC was established by Executive Order and is chartered by Congress under the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 and the Next Generation Internet Act of 1998. PITAC will help guide the Administration's efforts to accelerate the development and adoption of information technologies vital for American prosperity in the 21st century. "It is a great honor to be appointed to this prestigious PITAC position and have a direct impact on advancing America's computation and communications goals," said Daines. "Along with other PITAC members, I hope to contribute valuable information and knowledge that will expedite the nation's development of information technology." Linux Networx recently received worldwide attention for building the world's fastest Linux supercomputer, which currently ranks as the third overall fastest supercomputer in the world ( www.top500.org ).