This design comes from our experience on both the technology side and the business side--it's based on our forecasts for doing business both in Hong Kong and around the world.

CWHK: Why did you use an embedded Linux OS?

Kam: This is an OS we developed ourselves, based on open-source from the Linux consortium and other sources. There were a number of challenges, but the reason we chose Linux is that we have to customize the OS down to a very low level--we have to screen millisecond by millisecond to improve the performance.

When you need a transaction time of 0.3 seconds, you really have to get into the code and get your hands very dirty, so to speak--to tune the performance.

Security was also an issue. In order to guarantee security, I think you have to get ahold of the source code. Embedded Linux is the trend for custom electronics.