Lightning 9960 Helps Deliver Weather Information 24/7 to Millions of People Around the Globe
SANTA CLARA, California, April 2, 2002 — Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), today announced that The Weather Channel, the nation's leading weather information provider, has selected the Hitachi Freedom Storage™ Lightning 9900™ Series Model 9960 for data storage and management. The networked solution consolidates storage, and has dramatically reduced operational costs for The Weather Channel. The forecaster provides weather information for more than 77,000 locations worldwide.
"Our storage management infrastructure is one of the most mission-critical operational components of our business. It supports not only our internal data, but also all of the dynamic weather data we provide to over 10,000 cable affiliates and Web sites nationwide, including weather.com," said Vicki Hamilton, vice president of Shared Services and IT Operations, The Weather Channel. "We needed to move from a fractured and unwieldy distributed storage system to a centralized storage management environment which would support our current operations and scale with our needs as we continue to expand our global coverage. We selected a solution from Hitachi Data Systems based on its superior scalability, flexibility, reliability, customer support, and total cost of ownership. Since installing the Lightning 9960, we've already lowered our incremental spending and seen greater ROI."
The Weather Channel installed a storage area network based on the Lightning 9960 system. 12 terabytes of storage are needed to manage its data-intensive storage needs, including weather information that changes by the minute, and is customized and personalized for distribution to 10,000 cable affiliates. These affiliates are The Weather Channel cable network, which consists of more than 250 radio markets, and over 14 million Internet users. Hitachi Data Systems has enabled The Weather Channel to lower total cost of ownership, ease systems management, and restructure its data management infrastructure to grow seamlessly as developments in broadcast video and customized data put even more demands on its storage network.
"We are extremely happy with the support we've received from Hitachi Data Systems and will continue to partner with them through future developments and products. As The Weather Channel expands its global presence, our data management needs are going to grow tremendously," added Hamilton.
"Hitachi Data Systems' solution for The Weather Channel further demonstrates our ability to meet our customer's most challenging business needs. The Lightning 9960's extreme scalability, performance, and reliability give our customers absolute confidence to consolidate massive storage infrastructures," said Marlene Woodworth, executive vice president, Global Marketing and Operations, Hitachi Data Systems. "We are committed to working with our customers to provide viable long-term solutions that deliver the greatest ROI available on the market."
For more information about The Weather Channel, please visit www.weather.com/aboutus/.
Introduced in June 2000, the Lightning 9900 Series is the only storage product line to leverage an internal fabric-switched architecture. Combined with sophisticated software to copy, safeguard, move, and manage data, the Lightning 9900 Series provides the most robust foundation for the enterprise's information infrastructure.
Hitachi Data Systems is a leading supplier of storage hardware, software, solutions and services. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), Japan's largest electronics company, HDS is committed to providing the technological infrastructure for the world's most information-intensive corporations. With 2,600 employees, Hitachi Data Systems does business in the public and private sectors in 170 countries and regions on six continents, including the rapidly emerging economies in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. Its customers include more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies, and all of the major Storage Service Providers (SSPs). For more information, please visit the HDS Web site at www.hds.com.
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 2000 (ended March 31, 2001) consolidated sales of 8,417 billion yen ($67.9 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.com/.
Contacts: PR
Jodi Reinman, Hitachi Data Systems, (408) 970.1050, jodi.reinman@hds.com
*At an exchange rate of 124 yen to the dollar.
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, Thunder 9200, and HiCommand are trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems.
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