Hitachi Data Systems Unveils Next-Generation Midrange Storage Platform

Breaks the Barrier in Operational Efficiency and Redefines Midrange Storage

Features Industry's First Dynamic Load Balancing Storage Controller and SAS Backplane Architecture

SNW FALL, Dallas, Texas, Oct. 13, 2008 — Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT) and the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions, today unveiled its next-generation line-up of midrange storage systems, the Hitachi Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS) 2000 Series. Breaking new ground in operational efficiency, Hitachi Data Systems is introducing a wide range of pioneering technologies, previously unavailable on a midrange storage platform, that deliver improved performance, connectivity, scalability, reliability and ease-of-use to midrange customers, and demonstrate Hitachi's rich heritage of world-class storage innovation. Customers benefit by implementing a sophisticated, cost-effective midrange storage platform that can scale to better address their growing storage environments and diverse application requirements.

"Despite the fact that mid-sized businesses and operations have precisely the same challenges as larger ones, all too often the storage industry has met their needs for reduced scale and increased affordability with a significantly compromised feature set," said Mark Peters, analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "The new AMS products from Hitachi turn such old-fashioned notions on their head, providing mid-sized storage systems that blend advanced functionality and affordability with flexibility and ease of use. Hitachi's innovative combination of a SAS backend with an advanced active-active controller is what underpins the systems' extensive capabilities, which users can access via a straightforward GUI.”

The Hitachi AMS Series 2000 delivers up to 4x the performance compared to prior generations, and also offers storage consolidation for iSCSI, NAS, and Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN) connections. The AMS Series 2000 is comprised of three models: the Hitachi AMS 2100, the Hitachi AMS 2300, and the Hitachi AMS 2500. The entire portfolio of midrange storage systems meets the benchmarking standard "Five 9's" of availability, 99.999 percent uptime. The new Hitachi AMS Series 2000 delivers the following technology breakthroughs:

• The industry's Hitachi Dynamic Load Balancing Controller turbocharges the storage system to peak levels of performance with virtually no-touch. Unlike asymmetrical controller designs of traditional midrange storage systems, the breakthrough Hitachi Dynamic Load Balancing Controller eliminates typical bottlenecks and “hot spots” that can decrease I/O response times by monitoring utilization rates of each controller and dynamically enables workload balancing.
• The industry's first 3Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Backplane in a midrange storage platform, providing the fastest, most cost-effective way to process and transfer data through a storage controller engine. This breakthrough technology curbs the architectural limitations of arbitrated loop designs with support for up to 32 3Gb/s high-performance point-to-point links that deliver a blistering 9600 MB/sec of bandwidth and dramatically speed data transfer.

“With the depth and breadth of their midrange portfolio and strong channel partnership culture, Hitachi Data Systems is uniquely positioned in the midrange storage market,” said Layne Hellickson, storage solutions consultant, Advanced Systems Group. “We're proud to partner with Hitachi Data Systems and help meet the evolving needs of our joint customers, while pushing the evolution of the storage market forward.”

• “Spin down; Spin up” Power Savings Feature that enables hard disk drives to be powered down when not being accessed by a business application, and powered up quickly when the application requires them. In the face of rising energy costs and datacenter power consumption, the “spin down” feature significantly reduces the cost of storing and delivering information, thereby minimizing carbon footprints and cooling costs. This provides an ideal solution for customers with large archived data or virtual tape libraries where data is accessed infrequently.
• Optimized for Virtual Server Environments through the combination of its Dynamic Load Balancing Controller and SAS backplane, the Hitachi AMS Series 2000 addresses the impact that server virtualization technology places on traditional storage architectures, such as performance imbalances, provisioning difficulties, and overall quality-of-service issues, and negates current architectural shortcoming of traditional midrange platforms.

"The shift to a virtualized IT environment, creation of richer digital content, and expanded use of data replication are driving major changes in modular storage systems," said Richard Villars, Vice President of storage systems research at IDC. "Products like Hitachi's new generation of modular storage systems address organizations’ need for storage solutions that deliver improved scalability, operational efficiency, and IT responsiveness while making it easier to control costs."

• Future Support for Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning to enhance storage capacity utilization and minimize costs by allowing virtual disk storage to be allocated based on future application requirements. If the need for additional physical disk arises, capacity can be purchased at a later time (and at a lower cost) and implementation occurs transparently, without any disruption to mission-critical applications. Hitachi Data Systems was first to deliver enterprise-class thin provisioning for both internal and externally-attached heterogeneous storage on the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V Series in 2007.

John Mansfield, SVP of Global Storage Solutions Strategy and Development, Hitachi Data Systems stated: “Hitachi Data Systems is leveraging its deep R&D expertise and storage innovation to offer customers best-in-class technologies and solutions that deliver ease of management, reliability and scalability, aimed at meeting the ever-growing demands of midrange customers. The Hitachi AMS Series 2000 delivers tangible efficiencies not only to business operations, but also to the environmentals of the data center. In the face of dwindling IT budgets and high energy costs, this is a very powerful value proposition that will enable Hitachi Data Systems to accelerate its penetration into the midrange storage market.”

“The AMS 2000 platform is undoubtedly one of the top midrange storage products available today, Pavel Miloschewsky, General Director, MHM Computer. ”The capability the load balancing active/active controller provides for large capacity volumes is a feature customers are now seeking in abundance. Hitachi Data Systems has surpassed our expectations and will do so with customers alike.”

Hitachi Data Systems also announced additional updates to its midrange storage portfolio with security and data protection capabilities enhancements to its Hitachi USP VM storage system for those customers interested in enterprise-class functionality in a smaller configuration (see separate press release). With evolving economic challenges and ever-changing business requirements, customers need greater flexibility for their storage infrastructure, the new Hitachi midrange portfolio provides a comprehensive set of solutions that deliver an industry-first platform as well as enterprise-class functionality ideally suited midrange environments such as, storage virtualization, dynamic tiering, and advanced replication, allowing customers to further enhance their return on storage assets investments. With the combination of the new Hitachi AMS Series 2000 and the newly enhanced USP VM, Hitachi Data Systems is providing the most comprehensive midrange storage portfolio to maximize storage asset investments and optimize operational efficiency and resilience.

For more information on the Hitachi Adaptable Modular System Series 2000, please visit
http://www.hds.com/products/storage-systems/adaptable-modular-storage-2000-family/.

 

AMS 2100

AMS 2300

AMS 2500

About Hitachi Data Systems
Hitachi Data Systems Corporation provides Services Oriented Storage Solutions that enable heterogeneous storage to be dynamically provisioned according to business needs and centrally managed via industry-leading Hitachi storage virtualization software. As an integral part of the Hitachi Storage Solutions Group, Hitachi Data Systems delivers storage infrastructure platforms, storage management software, and storage consulting services through direct and indirect channels in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include nearly 60-percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.hds.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 390,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2007 (ended March 31, 2008) consolidated revenues totaled 11,226 billion yen ($112.2 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, logistics, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

Hitachi Data Systems
Laurie Spindler
(408) 970-7097
laurie.spindler@hds.com

David Friedman
(303) 634-2674
david.friedman@ogilvypr.com

© 2008, Hitachi is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Hitachi Data Systems is a registered trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, services marks, company names are properties of their respective owners.