Worldwide Marketing Organization Led by Jim Davidson to Play a Central Role in Leading Company's Growth in 2005
Services Oriented Storage Solutions Strategy to Form Core of Global Marketing Campaigns
SANTA CLARA, CALIF. April 12, 2005 - Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), today announced the promotion of Jim Davidson to executive vice president of Global Marketing and Sales Enablement, a newly created position within the company. Davidson, who brings more than 30 years of sales and marketing experience in the information technology sector, is chartered with leading the worldwide marketing and sales initiatives that will position the company for its next stage of growth. Davidson will continue to report to Dave Roberson, president and chief operating officer, Hitachi Data Systems, and continue to serve on the company's Executive Committee.
"In today's ultra-competitive marketplace, sophisticated marketing campaigns are critical to the success of IT companies," said Roberson. "The extensive field sales experience and fine-tuned customer orientation that Jim brings to his new role will help us build and grow a marketing organization that anticipates the needs of the local market and the local sales force, and stays one step ahead of customer requirements. Jim will keep us on track—towards marketing-led growth—with integrated, responsive and customer- and partner-focused programs and initiatives. Armed with a fully integrated worldwide marketing organization—including our new global PR agency, Blanc & Otus—Hitachi Data Systems is now poised to deliver a truly high impact worldwide marketing campaign."
"I am excited to have the opportunity to evolve marketing into a leading role for the company, one that will contribute materially to the company's objectives and drive sales," said Davidson. "In the past year, Hitachi Data Systems has emerged as the industry thought leader, with innovative approaches to virtualization that have been recognized as a new category of storage. As a result, we are now in a better position to demonstrate our leadership than ever before. Using Services Oriented Storage Solutions as our central theme, we plan to aggressively pursue an integrated worldwide marketing campaign in 2005."
Commenting on today's announcement, Hu Yoshida, chief technology officer, Hitachi Data Systems, said, "Jim will enable HDS to further capitalize on the first mover advantage we are currently enjoying with the advanced capabilities of the TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform. While our competitors are busy test-marketing virtualization products, we are busy installing ours in customer sites around the globe and gaining market traction as the leading solution for large-scale storage virtualization. The combination of our newly formed worldwide sales organization led by Scott Genereux, coupled with the integrated global maketing organization led by Jim Davidson, will enable Hitachi Data Systems to drive marketshare in 2005 and beyond."
The sophisticated design of the newly formed Global Marketing & Sales Enablement organization will position the group to deliver everything from advanced field sales training tools, field productivity solutions, creative financing services, and worldwide marketing and corporate communications campaigns-encompassing the entire spectrum of Hitachi Data Systems marketing and sales deliverables on a truly global scale.
Davidson was previously executive vice president and general manager of the Americas, responsible for management of the company's U.S. Sales and Customer Service and Support Field Organization, Worldwide Sales Support, Human Resources, Finance and Shared Services, Hitachi Data Systems Credit Corporation, and Legal divisions. Davidson joined Hitachi Data Systems in 1989, and has held the positions of vice president of U.S. sales, Central Region vice president, district manager and marketing representative. Before joining Hitachi Data Systems, he held several management positions with Xerox, Inc., and Diebold, Inc.
Davidson received a bachelor's degree in English Literature and master's degree in Education from the University of Missouri.
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 2,900 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.
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 www.hitachi.com.
Hitachi Data Systems
Tony Hynes
(415) 730-6639
tony.hynes@hds.com
Blanc & Otus Public Relations
Quinn Daly
(415) 856-5152
qdaly@blancandotus.com
© 2005, Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd.
Services Oriented Storage Solutions and TagmaStore are trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems. All other trade names, trademarks, and service marks used herein are the rightful property of their respective owners.
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