Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi Data Systems Complete Storage Compatibility and Interoperability Testing for IBM Mainframe Environments; Hitachi Reinforces Strategic Commitment to the Mainframe Storage Market

Business Wire, May 22, 2006

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT)(TOKYO:6501), and its wholly owned subsidiary Hitachi Data Systems today announced successful completion of compatibility and interoperability testing between Hitachi storage and IBM zSeries mainframe systems.

Supporting IBM mainframe environments remains an important and strategic segment of Hitachi's storage business. A significant number of customers -- in the financial services industry and other key sectors -- rely on mainframe systems to run mission-critical applications. The compatibility and interoperability test results demonstrates Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi Data Systems' commitment to this strategic segment of Hitachi's storage business. As a result, users enjoy a degree of confidence when they consider Hitachi in their data center purchasing decisions.

Hitachi has seen increased customer satisfaction since agreeing in May 2005 to begin product interoperability testing to validate Hitachi storage system compatibility with IBM zSeries mainframes. The testing environments included enterprise storage products marketed globally by Hitachi, Ltd., and Hitachi Data Systems such as the Hitachi TagmaStore(R) Universal Storage Platform, Hitachi TagmaStore(R) Network Storage Controller, Hitachi SANRISE(R) Universal Storage Platform and Hitachi SANRISE(R) Network Storage Controller.

"We are seeing a resurgence in high-end mainframe storage deployments, particularly in the financial services and telecommunications industries," said Jack Domme, senior vice president, Global Solutions Development & Support, Hitachi Data Systems. "Our commitment to this market means that meeting the business-critical data storage needs of mainframe clients around the globe is priority number one. Hitachi's agreement with IBM provides a concrete example of how companies can cooperate effectively on the interoperability of their products, putting the customer first."

Hitachi's support of Enterprise System Connection(TM) (ESCON(R)), Fiber Connection (FICON(R)) and Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) connectivity for select configurations of IBM eServer zSeries(R) 800, 900 and 990 systems and System z9, running operating systems including z/OS(R) 1.6, z/OS(R) 1.7, VM/ESA 5.2.0 and Linux on System z was successfully tested.

As a result of successful completion of compatibility and interoperability testing, a Letter of Qualification was issued by IBM and posted on the website at:

Hitachi Data Systems

http://www.hds.com/pdf/ibm_qualification_letter.pdf.> IBM

http://www.ibm.com/systems/z/connectivity/pdf/hitachi.pdf

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 and regions. Its customers include more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.hds.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE:HIT)(TOKYO:6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 356,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2005 (ended March 31, 2006) consolidated sales totaled 9,464 billion yen ($80.9 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.

(C) 2006, Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. Application Optimized Storage and TagmaStore is a trademark of Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. SANRISE is a trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. All other trade names, trademarks, and service marks used herein are the rightful property of their respective owners.