Beijing Huahong NEC IC Design Co. Ltd (Huanghong NEC) said Thursday that it has achieved the Software Capability Maturity (CMM) Level 3, indicating it has made great progress in its software developing capability.

CMM is an internationally recognised standard of quality management for software firms. So far, more than 2,000 firms and organizations worldwide have obtained the certificates, but only less than 50 in China.

CMM is divided into five levels. China has no more than 10 companies that have achieved the third level or above.

Qu Lingnian, deputy director of the Beijing IT Industry Promotion Center, said that as CMM stands for international advanced standards, the Chinese government supports companies applying it to their daily management. To encourage their efforts, Beijing had decided to reward companies obtaining such certificates. Huahong NEC received 300,000 yuan (US$936,000) as an award from the Beijing government today.

A joint investment in 1998 by the Beijing Huahong IC Design Co.Ltd and Japan's NEC, Huahong NEC provides services in such sectorsas solutions, software, and chip systems.

(People's Daily June 14, 2002)