Comprehensive Partner Initiative Includes Training,
Certification, Business Collaboration, Marketing Support, and Partner
Recognition
SANTA CLARA, California — December 3, 2002 — Reinforcing its commitment to the channel, Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), today established a new global partnering initiative based on the TrueNorth™ vision of a collaborative business model. By providing excellent training, support and incentives, the TrueNorth Solutions Alliance enables Hitachi Data Systems' partners to deliver best-in-class storage solutions.
"We believe that an open and collaborative business model provides our customers with the best storage solutions in the market," said Scott Genereux, vice president, Global Marketing and Business Development, Hitachi Data Systems. "The TrueNorth Solutions Alliance was designed to support our partners and build mutually beneficial, long-term business relationships. Strong channel and technology partnerships will allow Hitachi Data Systems to expand its customer base and penetrate new markets."
The TrueNorth Solutions Alliance unites all Hitachi Data Systems partners under one umbrella, providing consistent policies, programs, and processes across all relationships. Through the TrueNorth Solutions Alliance, Hitachi Data Systems aims to ensure that partners have the necessary information, training, support and incentives to service its increasingly sophisticated customers.
"VERITAS Software shares Hitachi Data Systems' commitment to collaboration, openness and industry standards," said Brenda Zawatski, vice president of product and solutions marketing, VERITAS Software. "Through collaboration, we have been able to integrate our products and provide our mutual customers with advanced storage management software. The introduction of the TrueNorth Solutions Alliance is a natural evolution as we continue to work together in collaboration with our community of solutions providers to bring customers the best solutions for their needs."
The TrueNorth Solutions Alliance is made up of four partnership programs:
TrueNorth Solutions Partner Program — A new tiered program customized for channel partners, the TrueNorth Solutions Partner Program qualifies distribution partners, solutions providers and systems integrators, and provides corresponding benefits to each partner. Partners can qualify as Platinum, Gold, Associate, or Sales Partners, depending on their capabilities and commitment to the Hitachi brand. Benefits include financial rewards, marketing and partner promotion, and sales and training resources.
"As one of Hitachi Data Systems' top resellers, we appreciate their focus on our partnership and are pleased with the mutual benefits from this relationship," said F. William Tilt, vice president, Strategic Alliances and Services, Storage Area Networks Inc. ("SANZ"). "Our customers are consistently impressed by the quality and value of our combined business solutions."
"We have a strong relationship with Hitachi Data Systems and have seen first-hand their commitment to partnership," said Mike Shook, CEO and president, Strategic Technologies, Inc. "We are proud to offer the Thunder 9500 V Series to our customers. Together with Hitachi Data Systems we are helping our customers to better manage their storage needs and their bottom line, with cost-effective storage solutions."
TrueNorth Global Solutions Partners Program — Similar to the TrueNorth Solutions Partner Program, this program is targeted at global systems integrators and vertical integrators in markets such as healthcare, life sciences, rich media, financial services, and telecommunications.
TrueNorth Technology Partners Program — Designed for Storage Area Network (SAN) solutions partners and independent software vendors, the TrueNorth Technology Partners Program provides key technology partners with tools, training and certifications to ensure their solutions work seamlessly with Hitachi Freedom Storage™ systems.
"Brocade and Hitachi Data Systems are long-standing partners, and we're pleased to see the company moving its TrueNorth Solutions Alliance forward to provide a modular platform to offer enterprises of all sizes high quality, high performance solutions," said Jay Kidd, vice president, product management, Brocade. "Brocade remains dedicated to working with partners like Hitachi Data Systems that are committed to providing customers with solutions that enhance the scalability and manageability of their SANs."
TrueNorth Developer Partners Program — The TrueNorth Developer Partners Program encourages storage application developers to build and deploy storage management products based on the HiCommand™ application programming interfaces (APIs). In addition, Hitachi Data Systems also supports openness and collaboration through its work with industry leaders to promote open standards. This allows storage hardware vendors to be managed by consistent methods using standards-based interfaces and APIs.
"CreekPath Systems supports the evolution and growth of storage infrastructure and networking solutions," said Scott Hansbury, vice president of Marketing and Business Development, CreekPath Systems. "The combination of the Hitachi TrueNorth strategy and the rich functionality of the CreekPath AIM Suite provides customers with a broad solution that enables them to meet the critical needs of manageability and reliability in all areas of their storage environments."
For the first time, Hitachi Data Systems has added certification to the partner program to identify the unique skills and services provided by partners. Certification and accreditation programs enable partners to differentiate themselves and develop the expertise to offer value-added services specific to Hitachi Data Systems products. The program provides three levels of training and qualification:
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 industry alliances.
With 2,700 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business through direct sales and resellers in the public, government and private sectors in over 170 countries and regions 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.
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 http://global.hitachi.com.
*At an exchange rate of 133 yen to the dollar.
Contacts: PR
Jodi Reinman, Hitachi Data Systems, (408) 970-1050, jodi.reinman@hds.com
Hitachi Freedom Storage, Thunder 9500, HiCommand and TrueNorth are registered trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.
© Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd.
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