The world's second Linux international standard testing lab was set up in China's capital of Beijing on Friday.

Sponsored by China's Information Industry Ministry, the lab was jointly established by China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI) and Intel Corporation.

"It will help promote Linux education and awareness among Chinese IT companies and cut the cost of homemade Linux Operating System (OS)," said Mo Wei, director of CESI, adding that the lab will provide statistical evidence for the forthcoming national Linux standard.

Linux is a free computer operating system which supports multiple users, tasks and processes. Featured with complete openness, the system allows the running of a maximum number of hardware.

The major task of the Beijing-based lab is to set a unified standard for Chinese software developers, said Mo.

At present, several domestic software companies such as Beijing's Red Flag Software Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Standard Software Co. Ltd., have passed the Linux international test.

"The reason why we chose Beijing for the lab is that China has achieved remarkable progress in the research and development of Linux OS," said Jim Zemlin, president of Free Standards Group (FSG).

Source: Xinhua