Hitachi Data Systems Offers Free Storage Virtualization Through "Switch it On” Program

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 "Switch it On” program to help customers derive more efficiency out of their environments by improving the optimization of their storage assets. As part of the program, Hitachi Data Systems is offering *free storage virtualization software which enables customers to consolidate all externally attached, third-party storage under common management and optimize with advanced capabilities such as transparent data movement, dynamic provisioning, intelligent tiering and disaster recovery.

"Programs that promote storage efficiency are endemic right now and deservedly so,” said Mark Peters, senior analyst, the Enterprise Strategy Group. "Heterogeneous support and virtualization are extremely valuable approaches both operationally and financially; however with ‘Switch it On’ Hitachi Data Systems strikes a new and welcome chord – it is not only exposing inefficiency and talking about what it can offer, but is actually helping its customers to do something to address it, without them having to get out their checkbooks.”

"Customers are increasingly aware that their data should be considered as digital assets," says Benjamin S. Woo, vice president, enterprise storage systems at IDC. "By consolidating and increasing utilization through virtualization technologies, customers can maximize the return on their digital assets as well as the return on the investment in the infrastructure that protects those assets."

Hitachi’s storage efficiency technologies and world class services and support provide customers the assurance that they can reclaim unused storage capacity, improve storage utilization and realize a dynamic and efficient storage infrastructure optimized to meet business requirements. Hitachi Data Systems market proven storage virtualization technology and dynamic provisioning help improve overall storage utilization by up to 40 percent, recover up to 50 percent of unused storage capacity and reduce overall power, space and cooling costs in the data center. With more than 11,000 virtualization-enabled controllers, Hitachi Data Systems is the undisputed market leader in the storage virtualization space.

"This initiative reaffirms our commitment to help customers save money by enabling them to leverage existing assets they own and reclaim under utilized storage capacity,” said Brian Householder, senior vice president of worldwide marketing and business development, Hitachi Data Systems. "Customers tell us we have the winning strategy because, unlike other storage vendors, our strategy is built upon enabling customers to do more with less and improving on operational and capital expenditures. By leveraging our market leading storage virtualization technology, customers can dynamically thin provision not only internal storage, but external storage as well for non-disruptive data movement, copies, replication, business continuity and migration of thin volumes across externally virtualized storage.”

Hitachi Storage Efficiency Customers

With a nationwide network of 1412 Branches and 3,177 ATMs in 527 Indian towns and cities, HDFC Bank saves thousands of labor hours each year in part because of Hitachi virtualization technologies. Mr. Harish Shetty, executive vice president of IT, HDFC Bank stated: "The Hitachi virtualization solution has helped us simplify our storage management practice. We're not only able to enhance the life of our legacy assets but also to manage all assets in one single, virtualized pool — improving storage utilization and operational efficiencies. We've drastically improved efficiency and productivity by delivering notably faster customer response times and keeping costs low for multiple snapshots of 3TB production databases."

HUK-Coburg, a large European insurance company, dramatically simplified its storage environment, improved storage utilization and reduced operational costs. Since implementing Hitachi Data Systems’ dynamic provisioning technologies, HUK-Coburg has reclaimed 30% storage capacity. Renar Grunenberg, manager of data administration, HUK-Coburg said: "We capitalized on Hitachi virtualization and tiered storage technologies to reduce operational and capital IT expenses by minimizing the cost of doing business. We have reduced the number of systems and applications that needed to be managed separately and deferred storage purchases to the future for long-term savings, resulting in a lower total cost of ownership. Now we are actually doing more with less — we’re managing more capacity more effectively with less effort and less cost to operate.”

Web Resources

To find out more about the Switch It On program, please visit: www.hds.com/go/free-storage-virtualization.

To learn how customers can economize their storage with Hitachi’s storage efficiency solutions, please visit: www.hds.com/solutions/resource-centers/storage-economize.

To read more about the latest Hitachi Data Systems news and market leading storage virtualization technologies, visit the Storage Economics Blog at http://blogs.hds.com/david and Hu’s Blog at http://blogs.hds.com/hu.

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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 the top 100 companies on the Fortune 500®. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.hds.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE:HIT)(TOKYO: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 ($112.2 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, logistics and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.hitachi.com.

*Constitutes a fully-paid software license and does not include required software maintenance. Federal and government-owned entities are ineligible to participate in this program. See full terms and conditions available at www.hds.com/go/free-storage-virtualization.

© 2009, Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. Hitachi is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Hitachi Data Systems is a registered trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. in the United States and other countries.