Hitachi Data Systems Announces the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V and VM

SANTA CLARA, Calif., USA (SANEPR.com) January 5, 2009 -- Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions, today announced the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V™ and VM are now certified with the latest generation IBM System z10 Enterprise Class server.

Compatibility and interoperability certification with IBM’s zHPF enhancements to the System z architecture and the FICON interface architecture now allows customers to mix Hitachi storage and IBM storage in the mainframe environment to run business-critical applications. Additionally, the zHPF architecture changes coupled with interoperability support from Hitachi, offers customers an end-to-end solution designed to improve the reliability, availability and serviceability in the mainframe environment.

Many of the world’s largest organizations in the financial services, telecommunications and other central industries rely on IBM mainframe systems to run mission-critical applications. This certification continues to reinforce Hitachi’s commitment to enterprise-class storage systems. Hitachi’s approach enables customers to deliver centrally managed storage services such as tiered storage, data migration and replication, as opposed to utilizing multiple isolated islands of storage to perform similar functions.

"Hitachi has a long history in supporting mainframe environments which many businesses rely on for their mission-critical applications," said John Mansfield, senior vice president, Global Solutions Strategy and Development, Hitachi Data Systems. "We are fully committed to providing these customers with the highest availability and performance to meet their business needs. Furthermore, with our Services Oriented Storage strategy we offer opportunities to further reduce cost, complexity and risk by leveraging a common virtualized storage platform for open and mainframe storage requirements."

The successful testing was conducted for Hitachi's support of Enterprise System Connection (R) (ESCON®), Fibre Connection (FICON®), High Performance FICON for System z (ZHPF), and Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) connectivity for select configurations of IBM System z10, System , zSeries® 990, 890, 900, and 800 systems running operating systems including z/OS® V1.9, z/VM V5.3, z/VSE V4.1 and Linux on System z Novell SUSE SLES 9 and SLES 10.

As a result of successful completion of compatibility and interoperability testing, a Letter of Qualification was issued by IBM and posted on its Web site at http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/hardware/connectivity/products/index.html

About Hitachi Data Systems
Hitachi Data Systems Corporation provides Services Oriented Storage Solutions that enable heterogeneous storage to be dynamically provisioned according to business needs and centrally managed via industry-leading Hitachi storage virtualization software. With over 4,000 employees, and as an integral part of the Hitachi Storage Solutions Group, Hitachi Data Systems delivers storage infrastructure platforms, storage management software, and storage consulting services through direct and indirect channels in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include nearly 60-percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.hds.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 390,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2007 (ended March 31, 2008) consolidated revenues totaled 11,226 billion yen ($112.3 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.hitachi.com.

Press Contact:
Hitachi Data Systems
Carli Ghelfi
(408) 327-4024
carli.ghelfi@hds.com

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Dan LaRusso
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