Strategic Partnership to Include Co-branded Solutions, Support and Training
May 25, 2004 — Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd (NYSE:HIT) and Chinese IT business leader, Lenovo Group, today announced a strategic partnership under which Lenovo will become the co-branding partner and join the Hitachi TrueNorth Channel Partner Program as a distributor in the People's Republic of China, PRC.
The partnership will enable customers in the Chinese IT market access to advanced storage technology from Hitachi Data Systems to help reduce total cost of ownership by providing solutions to meet specific needs with reduced time for implementation. Under the terms of the agreement, Hitachi Data Systems and Lenovo will co-brand technology, develop a program for training and market development, and outline a plan for storage solutions and services.
An immediate step to address the enormous storage demand across many industries in China is the joint release of the co-branded Hitachi Thunder 9500™ V Series modular storage systems which offer high performance and optimized management. With large capacity in a small footprint, the Thunder family is suited to support distributed and departmental storage applications of large enterprises or the Small and Medium Business market.
"Through this partnership with Lenovo, we will be able to present a strong value proposition to customers in China by offering the most cost effective storage products, customized solutions, training and consulting services," said Martin Darling, Senior Director, of Channels for Asia Pacific and Latin America at Hitachi Data Systems. "Lenovo's wide market coverage and understanding of customers' challenges helps make this possible."
Under the terms of the agreement, Lenovo will develop a reseller program to support Hitachi Data Systems solutions, targeting 50 storage professional sub-level resellers across the country. In addition, both companies will establish a support network, leveraging Lenovo's existing Technical Support Stations and building new support centers with storage labs in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen to provide SAN consulting, design, implementation and management to Chinese customers. Lenovo will also put into place current Hitachi Data Systems education and certification curriculum for over 200 Chinese professionals.
"This partnership with Hitachi Data Systems is critical to Lenovo, as it reflects our strategy of fostering international cooperation with leading companies," said Liang Jun, GM Server & Storage Business Division of Lenovo. "By means of this association, we will strengthen our three-pronged strategy, providing better solutions, high-level support, and excellent services to become strong players in the IT application market."
The strategic partnership will also serve China's national program for "informationization" defined by the government as the application of modern information technologies into all fields of economic and social development, as well as the intensive exploitation and broad utilization of information resources. Driven by the coming Olympics in 2008, the Chinese government aims to realize the interconnection of information networks and the social sharing of information resources to speed up economic development and urban modernization.
About Hitachi Data Systems
Hitachi Data Systems leverages global R&D resources to develop storage solutions built on industry-leading technology with the performance, availability and scalability to maximize customers' ROI and minimize their risk. By focusing on the customer's perspective as we apply the best hardware, software, and services from Hitachi and our partners, we uniquely satisfy our customers' business needs.
With 2,800 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business through direct and indirect channels in the public, government and private sectors in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.hds.com.
About Lenovo
Lenovo Group established in 1984 and is becoming an IT giant in China. Lenovo is the largest IT corporation in the PRC. In fiscal 2002, it achieved revenue of HK$20.2 billion. It has more than 12,000 staff and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1994 and is a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Index. Its own brand PC has been the country's best-selling PC since 1997 and had a market share of about 27.3% in 2002 according to IDC. Lenovo is also the number one PC brand in the Asia Pacific market (excluding Japan) with a market share of 12.4%. For more information on Lenovo, please refer to our investor website http://www.lenovo.com.
About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 326,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2003 (ended March 31, 2004) consolidated sales totaled 8,632.4 billion yen ($81.4 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://www.hitachi.com.
Contacts:
Lenovo Group, Ms. ZHANG Ruihong
Hitachi Data Systems, Ms. CUI Yaoying, Telephone: ( 010)8518 2238
LXY, Mr. SHI Bing, Telephone: ( 010)8841 4204
Thunder 9500 is a trademark of Hitachi Data Systems. All other product and company names are, or may be, trademarks or service marks 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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