The ministry together with Shanghai Municipality unveiled the project - entitled S219 - on February 19 last year.

The first phase involved more than 3,100 senior executives, engineers and other experts throughout China and received financial support from the central as well as local governments.

Xu Guanhua, minister of science and technology, said yesterday the project is a first of its kind in China. Its success will lay a solid base for the application of information security, he said.

The first phase emphasized information-security software dealing with data from financial institutions, the media and the government.

The project generated nine system solutions for problems such as viruses, hacker intrusions and missing data.

The project has already obtained 45 patents and drawn up a local standard for information-security technology, local officials said.

Acting Mayor Chen Liangyu said: "While improving the government functions, the municipality will aid the ministry in starting the second phase of the project as soon as possible."