Hitachi's Storage Technology Complements GE Access' Value-Added Services
Boulder, Colo., and Santa Clara, CA., November 16, 2000 — GE Access, the premier value-added technical distributor of complex computing products, services and solutions, and Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., today announced an agreement that enables GE Access to offer resellers the full line of Hitachi Freedom Storage™ products and solutions.
"According to industry experts, the annual storage growth rate is expected to be between 80 to 100 percent in 2001. GE Access is looking to partner with companies that will help us develop and expand upon our storage strategy," said Michael Minard, executive vice president, GE Access. "Going forward, our relationship with Hitachi Data Systems will not only add more value to our storage solutions practice, but it will also help solidify our position in one of the strongest market opportunities in the technology sector today."
Under this agreement, GE Access will be able to offer Hitachi's flagship high-end storage system, the Freedom Storage Lightning 9900™, as well as the Freedom Storage 5800, a high-performance system for mid-range computing operations. These high-availability storage systems are equipped with Fibre Channel connections making them ideal for use in Storage Area Networks (SANs). They support a variety of UNIX-based platforms as well as Windows NT and Windows 2000 operating systems.
The Lightning 9900 is the first in the industry to use a revolutionary internal switch architecture that allows it to scale as high as 37 terabytes of raw capacity, with no impact on performance as additional load is brought to bear on the system. Its internal bandwidth of 3.7 gigabytes (GB) per second — the highest in the industry — assures that the system will scale to meet demand.
Along with GE Access' services such as technical support and educational tools, Hitachi Data Systems also offers resellers hardware installation and testing services, field sales support and marketing programs.
"The addition of Hitachi Data Systems to our ranks of storage vendors will allow GE Access to meet the needs of our resellers by offering them greater scalability and a broader range of storage solution products," said Michael Koprowski, director, Net Technologies, GE Access. "With their array of comprehensive services and GE Access' value-add offerings, we can present our customers with a complete storage solution."
Hitachi Data Systems has received recognition for its partnership approach to the business and its innovative programs and products. The company was selected by more than 60 systems integrators to receive the Best Channel Strategy award at this year's Enterprise Vision Awards.
"The agreement with GE Access represents a real milestone for Hitachi Data Systems," said Ron Gervenack, Hitachi Data Systems vice president and general manager of Enterprise Products and Solutions. "GE Access' reputation as one of the world's leading distributors of information technology products gives us an unprecedented opportunity to reach a much broader range of customers than we have previously been able to engage. I am confident that GE Access and its customers will all benefit from the enhanced business value they can derive from Freedom Storage-based products and solutions."
GE Access, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, is the premier value-added technical distributor of complex computer products, solutions and services. Its breadth and depth of service and expertise offers its partners industry-leading support as they take complex computer solutions to market. GE Access provides innovative solutions to increase its partners' profitability and competitive advantage, and focuses on the technology areas of e-business, Internet security and storage and network management. GE Access has service, logistics and sales offices throughout the U.S. and Canada, and also has operations in Europe. For additional information and press announcements, please visit GE Access' Web site at http://new.geaccess.com , or call 720-564-7178.
Committed to helping customers exploit the value of information technology for success in the Internet economy, Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), is a leading provider of business solutions for the world's most information-intensive corporations. For further information on Hitachi Data Systems, access www.hds.com.
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1999 (ended March 31, 2000) consolidated sales of 8,001 billion yen ($75.5 billion). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi's Web site at http://www.hitachi.co.jp.
1 At an exchange rate of 106 yen to the dollar.
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©2000 GE Access. General Electric, GE Access and the GE monogram are registered trademarks of General Electric Company. All other company and product names contained herein are property of their respective holders. Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. Freedom Storage, Lightning 9900, NanoCopy, and Hi-Star are trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems Corporation.
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