Hitachi Data Systems Wins Diogenes Labs — Storage Magazine Quality Award; Leader in Virtualization Solutions Receives Top Honors in Enterprise Storage Arrays

Business Wire, August 15, 2005

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, provider of Application Optimized Storage(TM) solutions and a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT), today announced that the Hitachi Lightning 9900(TM) V Series won the first annual Diogenes Labs -- Storage magazine Quality Award for Enterprise Storage Arrays. As the winner, Hitachi Data Systems will be featured in the cover story of the August 2005 issue of Storage magazine.

"We're honored to have the Hitachi Lightning 9900 V Series receive the Quality Award for Enterprise Storage Arrays by Diogenes Analytical Laboratories and Storage magazine," said Rachel Young, vice president of marketing, Hitachi Data Systems. "This award, based on results of an empirical survey of Storage magazine end-user readers, clearly demonstrates that customers value solutions built on products with the most advanced features and the highest quality, reliability, and technical support. Our cutting-edge virtualization solutions deliver these qualities that Hitachi is renowned for and provide our customers with dynamic new ways to manage their storage infrastructure."

While most awards are judged as popularity contests, the Quality Awards are unique in providing an objective and statistically valid assessment of the quality and reliability of today's leading storage products. Presented by Diogenes Analytical Laboratories, Inc. and TechTarget's Storage magazine, the Quality Awards were determined by results of an empirical survey of over 300 Storage magazine subscribers identified as managers, administrators, and other end-users of storage arrays. The five leading enterprise arrays were evaluated on the basis of sales competence, product features, product quality, product reliability, and technical support.

Diogenes Analytical Laboratories, Inc. is an organization that helps IT buyers reduce the inherent risk and uncertainty associated with technology purchases by providing research, strategy development, price negotiation assistance, and product and technology reviews. Storage magazine is a monthly publication that provides IT executives, managers, and staff with in-depth analysis and forward-looking guidance on managing, storing, networking, and safeguarding the data at the core of large organizations.

About Hitachi Lightning 9900 V Series

The Lightning 9900 V Series, announced in May 2002, represents a crucial step in Hitachi's development of controller-based virtualization implemented in the TagmaStore(TM) Universal Storage Platform and the Network Storage Controller. The Lightning 9900 V Series was the second generation of Hitachi storage based on the unique Hi-Star(TM) crossbar switch architecture and introduced a virtualization layer at the port level. This layer, combined with Host Storage Domains, enables the attachment of multiple heterogeneous servers to each physical port, with each server having its own secure storage. This architecture and the virtualization layer concept were greatly expanded to make possible the breakthrough innovations found in the Universal Storage Platform and the Network Storage Controller: virtualization of externally attached storage from a variety of vendors, and logical partitioning of cache, ports, and internal and externally-attached storage resources.

This approach to virtualization enables new Application Optimized Storage solutions, based on tiered storage, that deliver new levels of TCO and ROI. As the role of enterprise storage continues to evolve, Hitachi Data Systems will maintain its place ahead of the curve by providing rich, advanced, next-generation storage management tools that meet the business needs of both large and mid-size enterprises.

About Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi Data Systems leverages global R&D resources to develop storage solutions built on industry-leading technology with the performance, availability and scalability to maximize customers' ROI and minimize their risk. By focusing on the customer's perspective as we apply the best hardware, software, and services from Hitachi and our partners, we uniquely satisfy our customers' business needs.

With approximately 2,900 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business through direct and indirect channels in the public, government and private sectors in over 170 countries. Its customers include more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please visit our Website at www.hds.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 347,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2004 (ended March 31, 2005) consolidated sales totaled 9,027.0 billion yen ($84.4 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 Website at http://www.hitachi.com.