Hewlett-Packard and its CSO distributor in Vietnam, the HiPT, officially opened a center for open systems computing expertise in Hanoi on July 1, 1995. Its establishment was part of a formal memorandum of understanding which HP and the Ministry of science, Technology, and the environment (MOSTE) had signed in March 1995. MOSTE was the body responsible for the promotion and development of information technology in Vietnam. The center would assist MOSTE’s goal of developing a pool of qualified IT professionals to implement the Vietnam IT-2000 plan, based on the open-systems concept.