Released on: October 14, 2008, 3:42 am

Press Release Author: Hitachi Data Systems

Industry: Computers

Press Release Summary: Hitachi Data Systems Breaks the Barrier in Operational
Efficiency and Redefines Midrange Storage. It Features Industry's First Dynamic Load
Balancing Storage Controller and SAS Backplane Architecture.

Press Release Body: Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd.
(NYSE:HIT) and the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions, today
unveiled its next-generation line-up of midrange storage systems, the Hitachi
Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS) 2000 Series. Breaking new ground in operational
efficiency, Hitachi Data Systems is introducing a wide range of pioneering
technologies, previously unavailable on a midrange storage platform, that deliver
improved performance, connectivity, scalability, reliability and ease-of-use to
midrange customers, and demonstrate Hitachi's rich heritage of world-class storage
innovation. Customers benefit by implementing a sophisticated, cost-effective
midrange storage platform that can scale to better address their growing storage
environments and diverse application requirements.

"Despite the fact that mid-sized businesses and operations have precisely the same
challenges as larger ones, all too often the storage industry has met their needs
for reduced scale and increased affordability with a significantly compromised
feature set," said Mark Peters, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "The new AMS
products from Hitachi turn such old-fashioned notions on their head, providing
mid-sized storage systems that blend advanced functionality and affordability with
flexibility and ease of use. Hitachi's innovative combination of a SAS backend with
an advanced active-active controller is what underpins the systems' extensive
capabilities, which users can access via a straightforward GUI."

The Hitachi AMS Series 2000 delivers up to 4x the performance compared to prior
generations, and also offers storage consolidation for iSCSI, NAS, and Fibre Channel
storage area network (SAN) connections. The AMS Series 2000 is comprised of three
models: the Hitachi AMS 2100, the Hitachi AMS 2300, and the Hitachi AMS 2500. The
entire portfolio of midrange storage systems meets the benchmarking standard "Five
9's" of availability, 99.999 percent uptime. The new Hitachi AMS Series 2000
delivers the following technology breakthroughs:

The industry's Hitachi Dynamic Load Balancing Controller turbocharges the storage
system to peak levels of performance with virtually no-touch. Unlike asymmetrical
controller designs of traditional midrange storage systems, the breakthrough Hitachi
Dynamic Load Balancing Controller eliminates typical bottlenecks and "hot spots"
that can decrease I/O response times by monitoring utilization rates of each
controller and dynamically enables workload balancing.

The industry's first 3Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Backplane in a midrange
storage platform, providing the fastest, most cost-effective way to process and
transfer data through a storage controller engine. This breakthrough technology
curbs the architectural limitations of arbitrated loop designs with support for up
to 32 3Gb/s high-performance point-to-point links that deliver a blistering 9600
MB/sec of bandwidth and dramatically speed data transfer.

"With the depth and breadth of their midrange portfolio and strong channel
partnership culture, Hitachi Data Systems is uniquely positioned in the midrange
storage market," said Layne Hellickson, storage solutions consultant, Advanced
Systems Group. "We're proud to partner with Hitachi Data Systems and help meet the
evolving needs of our joint customers, while pushing the evolution of the storage
market forward."

"Spin down; Spin up" Power Savings Feature that enables hard disk drives to be
powered down when not being accessed by a business application, and powered up
quickly when the application requires them. In the face of rising energy costs and
datacenter power consumption, the "spin down" feature significantly reduces the cost
of storing and delivering information, thereby minimizing carbon footprints and
cooling costs. This provides an ideal solution for customers with large archived
data or virtual tape libraries where data is accessed infrequently.

Optimized for Virtual Server Environments through the combination of its Dynamic
Load Balancing Controller and SAS backplane, the Hitachi AMS Series 2000 addresses
the impact that server virtualization technology places on traditional storage
architectures, such as performance imbalances, provisioning difficulties, and
overall quality-of-service issues, and negates current architectural shortcoming of
traditional midrange platforms.


"The shift to a virtualized IT environment, creation of richer digital content, and
expanded use of data replication are driving major changes in modular storage
systems," said Richard Villars, Vice President of storage systems research at IDC.
"Products like Hitachi's new generation of modular storage systems address
organizations' need for storage solutions that deliver improved scalability,
operational efficiency, and IT responsiveness while making it easier to control
costs."

Future Support for Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning to enhance storage capacity
utilization and minimize costs by allowing virtual disk storage to be allocated
based on future application requirements. If the need for additional physical disk
arises, capacity can be purchased at a later time (and at a lower cost) and
implementation occurs transparently, without any disruption to mission-critical
applications. Hitachi Data Systems was first to deliver enterprise-class thin
provisioning for both internal and externally-attached heterogeneous storage on the
Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V Series in 2007.

John Mansfield, SVP of Global Storage Solutions Strategy and Development, Hitachi
Data Systems stated: "Hitachi Data Systems is leveraging its deep R&D expertise and
storage innovation to offer customers best-in-class technologies and solutions that
deliver ease of management, reliability and scalability, aimed at meeting the
ever-growing demands of midrange customers. The Hitachi AMS Series 2000 delivers
tangible efficiencies not only to business operations, but also to the
environmentals of the data center. In the face of dwindling IT budgets and high
energy costs, this is a very powerful value proposition that will enable Hitachi
Data Systems to accelerate its penetration into the midrange storage market."

"The AMS 2000 platform is undoubtedly one of the top midrange storage products
available today, Pavel Miloschewsky, General Director, MHM Computer. "The capability
the load balancing active/active controller provides for large capacity volumes is a
feature customers are now seeking in abundance. Hitachi Data Systems has surpassed
our expectations and will do so with customers alike."

Hitachi Data Systems also announced additional updates to its midrange storage
portfolio with security and data protection capabilities enhancements to its Hitachi
USP VM storage system for those customers interested in enterprise-class
functionality in a smaller configuration (see separate press release). With evolving
economic challenges and ever-changing business requirements, customers need greater
flexibility for their storage infrastructure, the new Hitachi midrange portfolio
provides a comprehensive set of solutions that deliver an industry-first platform as
well as enterprise-class functionality ideally suited midrange environments such as,
storage virtualization, dynamic tiering, and advanced replication, allowing
customers to further enhance their return on storage assets investments. With the
combination of the new Hitachi AMS Series 2000 and the newly enhanced USP VM,
Hitachi Data Systems is providing the most comprehensive midrange storage portfolio
to maximize storage asset investments and optimize operational efficiency and
resilience.

For more information on the Hitachi Adaptable Modular System Series 2000, please visit
http://www.hds.com/products/storage-systems/adaptable-modular-storage-2000-family/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. 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 ($112.2
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, logistics, materials and financial services.
For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at
http://www.hitachi.com.

Web Site: http://www.hds.com

Contact Details: Hitachi Data Systems, 750 Central Expressway, Santa Clara, CA,
4089707097