Leading Storage Technology Companies Forge Strategic
Relationship in Sales and Marketing Initiatives to Drive Market
Penetration in Enterprise Data Storage Space
Waltham, Mass. And Santa Clara, CA-March 13, 2001 — StorageNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ: STOR), the world's leading provider of data storage management services, and Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT), a leading provider of business solutions for the world's most information-intensive corporations, today announced that the two companies have signed a strategic agreement. Under this agreement, StorageNetworks will implement the Hitachi Freedom Storage™ Lightning 9900™ system into its Global Data StorageSM Network (GDSN). The Lightning 9900 incorporates a unique internal crossbar-switch architecture that can scale as high as 37 terabytes in a single system while maintaining industry-leading levels of performance and availability.
The relationship with Hitachi further broadens StorageNetworks multi-vendor support strategy. The Hitachi technology incorporated into StorageNetworks managed storage services is another step in assuring enterprise customers that the data storage solutions they need to meet their application and performance requirements can be found at StorageNetworks.
"StorageNetworks and Hitachi Data Systems share a commitment to helping today's dynamic enterprise businesses make the most of technology innovation," said David Roberson, chief operating officer of Hitachi Data Systems "We are committed to making StorageNetworks a successful Hitachi partner. The storage service provider (SSP) market space is an exciting place to be and we are pleased that StorageNetworks has recognized that our products and solutions can help them continue to succeed in this arena."
"By layering StorageNetworks expertise and software technology on top of Hitachi's leading data storage products, we will enable our customers to combat their most common data storage challenges such as poor asset utilization, capacity planning and/or the resulting low-availability of storage," said Bill Miller, co-founder and chief technology officer of StorageNetworks. "Furthermore, we will enable our customers to free up their most precious IT resource - people - to concentrate on activities that are revenue generating - activities directly affecting their bottom line."
The Virtual Storage Portal software provides customers with an end-to-end view of the entire, integrated storage infrastructure. From the network, hosts, devices and processes associated with backup and data transfer, the VSP software enables users to focus on only what's important to them — their data and applications — not the storage resources underneath. Through the unique Web-based software, StorageNetworks' customers can monitor and ensure backups are running successfully, provision additional storage capacity, and, most importantly, verify the performance of StorageNetworks against the SLA for its services.
STORvision command and control software is an event management system. It is used for internal purposes, to better manage events and workflow. Better control of workflow means more efficient use of storage resources, and cost savings for customers.
The STORos operating system is a layer of code under the VSP software, API and STORvision software. It ties the elements of the infrastructure together to allow communication between StorageNetworks' customers, StorageNetworks itself and the physical environment that makes up the GDSN. Though the STORos operating system is a lower layer code (i.e., no user interface), it eliminates complexity for the customer, and enables them to focus on the benefits of the storage infrastructure, not on the infrastructure itself
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 124 yen to the dollar.
StorageNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ: STOR) is the world's leading provider of storage management services and an innovator that is making managed data storage services as accessible as phone or electric utility services. StorageNetworks enables enterprises with large and rapidly growing volumes of business critical information to store, protect and access it more easily, reliably and efficiently then ever before. StorageNetworks services let customers focus on building their business, not their data center, allowing them to achieve greater flexibility, quicker time to market, high levels of reliability and security, and lower operating costs. Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, StorageNetworks operates in major metropolitan areas worldwide. For further information, please visit the company's Web site at www.StorageNetworks.com, email info@StorageNetworks.com, or call 1-800-463-7105.
Except for the historical information contained in this announcement, the matters discussed in this announcement are "forward-looking statements" (as that term is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that involve risks and uncertainties as detailed from time to time in StorageNetworks, Inc.'s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. StorageNetworks, Inc. draws the reader's attention to the risk factors described in its prospectus dated November 20, 2000 and its quarterly and annual filings filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2000.
Contacts: PR
Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. Freedom Storage and Lightning 9900 are trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems. StorageNetworks, Global Data Storage, Virtual Storage Portal, VSP, STORos and STORvision are servicemarks of StorageNetworks, Inc. All other brand or product names contained in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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