Features - Storage Innovations:

HITACHI DATA SYSTEMS REDEFINES MODULAR STORAGE

Continuing to deliver on the TrueNorth vision and strategy, Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd, has announced the Hitachi Freedom Storage Thunder 9500 V Series storage systems for customers looking for high-performance, easy-to-use, centrally managed distributed storage with large storage capacity in a small footprint. In response to today's tight IT budgets, the Thunder 9500 V Series storage systems are optimal for small-to-medium-scale consolidation, allowing customers to optimize resources and reduce total cost of ownership.

"Wodonga TAFE is confident that with Hitachi Data Systems' new Thunder 9500 V in place, we will be set to manage our data storage requirements into the next five years and beyond," said Neil Taylor, manager, Information, Technology & Communications, Wodonga Institute of TAFE. "Considering the 35% growth we have experienced recently and the 12,000 new users we manage per year, getting the most technically advanced storage product -- within our budget -- was imperative. Our assessment after a four-month selection process and careful consideration of the three main players is that Hitachi Data Systems offers the most cost-effective and technically proficient system in the mid-range with the Thunder 9500 V."

"Hitachi Data Systems is committed to delivering the most advanced storage solutions, fully supported by our TrueNorth vision and strategy," said Dave Roberson, president and COO, Hitachi Data Systems. "The success of the Lightning 9900 V Series systems has helped Hitachi Data Systems reach for the top of the high-end storage market. With today's announcement of the Thunder 9500 V Series we bring an equally superior technology and similar functionality to the modular, distributed storage space. These complementary products, united under a common management umbrella, enable customers to truly deploy information infrastructures that address their unique business needs -- massively consolidated and distributed throughout a geographically dispersed enterprise."

Building on Hitachi's high-end storage technology leadership, the new Thunder 9500 V Series features a virtualization assist layer to ease storage management and better utilize resources. As with the Lightning 9900 V Series, the virtualization layer allows administrators to mix heterogeneous servers on a single port and provide security to the Logical Unit (LUN) level through Host Storage Domains. By simplifying the infrastructure through smaller SAN configurations, fewer switches, Fibre Channel cables and host bus adapters, virtualization further lowers total cost of ownership and accelerates return on investment. Additionally, the Thunder 9500 V Series boasts the industry's most compact form factor, allowing terabytes of storage capacity to be housed in a fraction of the space of its closest rivals.

"The success of the Lightning 9900 V Series introduced earlier this year distinguished Hitachi Data Systems as a technology leader in high-end storage," said Chuck Standerfer, senior partner, Evaluator Group Inc. "With the introduction of the Thunder 9500 V Series, Hitachi Data Systems expands its broad range of solutions to include entry-level systems to full capacity modular systems that will be competitive in all segments of the modular market. If their track record continues, Hitachi Data Systems should gain considerable market share in this highly competitive space."

"Vendors that bring to market modular external controller-based storage systems that are cost-effective, scalable in performance and capacity, flexible to upgrade, simple to manage, make efficient utilization of available storage capacity, and conform to industry standard management specifications will find a highly receptive end-user audience," said Roger W. Cox, chief analyst, Gartner.

Hi-PER Architecture

With the exclusive Hi-PER Architecture, the Thunder 9500 V Series delivers approximately 2.3 times the performance of its predecessor. This architecture provides superior hardware RAID design, with ultra high-speed I/O processing and interconnects. It also includes up to 2GB cache per controller, and advanced cache algorithms. Additional optimized performance is achieved with Hitachi FlashAccess software, which "locks" data into cache and provides solid-state response times. This performance level, combined with high capacity and packing density makes the Thunder 9500 V Series ideal for data-intensive industries, including healthcare, life sciences research, rich media, and retail.

Thunder 9500 V Series Models

The Thunder 9500 V Series is available in a number of flexible, upgradeable models that address customer needs in a wide range of business sizes and industries. All are based on the Hi-PER Architecture and share the same microcode and cabinetry.

• The Thunder 9570V rackmountable system delivers high performance and high capacity in a small footprint with up to 4GB cache, four 2Gb/sec ports and 224 drives (32 TB) per system. This enterprise-class modular storage system is optimal for consolidation, as the centralized storage system in medium to large businesses, or in distributed or departmental deployments in Fortune 500 companies.
• The Thunder 9531V, Thunder 9532V, and Thunder 9533V systems are available in pre-configured, specially priced storage decks. These models, ranging from 360GB to 1TB in capacity, can be upgraded to the Thunder 9570V storage system.

In addition to these products, further advanced Thunder Series systems will be announced next year which will extend the boundaries for modular storage performance and scalability.

"Hitachi's new Thunder product line represents a significant step forward in distributed storage technologies," said Robert Montague, managing director, System Area Network Research, RBC Capital Markets. "We believe this product raises the bar for modularly scalable, enterprise-class storage. Customers are looking for common management schemes and high-availability features in the high-density footprint represented by the new Thunder line. Their ability to purchase in more granular quantities with these strong features should be very well received."

Uniting the Best of Both Worlds Under CIM-Compliant HiCommand Device Manager and Virtualization-Enabled to Reduce Management Complexity

With the Lightning 9900 V Series and Thunder 9500 V Series customers can now more granularly match storage systems to their business needs -- whether those are to massively consolidate, or to distribute storage systems across the enterprise -- and manage it all from a single interface. The CIM-compliant HiCommand Device Manager, a component of the HiCommand Management Framework, provides centralized management for the Thunder 9500 V Series, as well as the rest of the Hitachi Freedom Storage 9000 product line.

Simplify, Protect, Optimize

The latest component of Hitachi Data Systems' TrueNorth vision, the Thunder 9500 V Series is part of the all-fibre Hitachi Freedom Storage family. Like other successful members of the Hitachi Freedom Storage family, the Thunder 9500 V Series enables customers to simplify their storage infrastructures, protect valuable information, and optimize storage by maximizing the ability to change.

• Simplify: The Thunder 9500 V Series systems facilitate consolidation with virtualized ports providing connectivity through Host Storage Domains and Multi-Host Connectivity, resulting in a simplified infrastructure.
• Protect: With hot swappable components, non-disruptive upgrade, copy and backup/recovery software, and "call home" diagnostics, the Thunder 9500 V Series protects customers' valuable data and allows for fast access to the information with 99.999% availability.
• Optimize: With the Thunder 9500 V Series storage systems and HiCommand Management Framework components customers can optimize storage utilization and improve storage administrators' productivity.

Availability

The Thunder 9500 V Series will be available in January 2003.

About Wodonga Institute of TAFE

Wodonga Institute of TAFE is a locally managed, public enterprise providing technical and vocational education services in Victoria both under the Victorian and Australian national TAFE system. It is committed to delivering educational quality, fiscal responsibility and regional development. The Institute services 3,000 full time students per year, and has recently been recognized as Victorian TAFE Training Provider of the Year and is a current finalist in the National TAFE Training Provider of the Year awards.

About Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi Data Systems is committed to enabling organizations worldwide to exploit the full potential of information. By following and deploying our TrueNorth strategy, we provide customers with a broad range of storage solutions to simplify, protect and optimize their information infrastructures. Our offerings include enterprise and modular storage systems and software, professional services, fully complemented by best-of-breed products through channel partners and industry alliances.

With 2,700 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business through direct and indirect channels in the public, government and private sectors in over 170 countries on six continents. 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, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 320,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2001 (ended March 31, 2002) consolidated sales totaled 7,994 billion yen ($60.1 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 global.hitachi.com.

Contact: Jodi Reinman, Hitachi Data Systems, 408-970-1050, jodi.reinman@hds.com.