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 a hold of the source code. Embedded Linux is the trend for custom electronics.