Hitachi, Ltd.
								Microsoft Co., Ltd.


Hitachi, Ltd. Information & Telecommunication group (President & Chief 
Executive Officer: Toshihiko Odaka, Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) and Microsoft 
Co., Ltd. (President: Makoto Naruke, Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) today 
announced a cooperative effort to jointly develop, market and promote open solutions for 
corporate workflow management products.  Using Microsoft's new Digital Dashboard 
technology, Microsoft's core messaging and collaboration technologies will be integrated 
with Hitachi's outstanding workflow technology to provide high-value-added solutions 
that feature an integrated Web environment.

The two companies will jointly develop solutions based on Hitachi's Groupmax 
Workflow for Exchange workflow middleware product.  A project team will start up on 
November 1, 1999, and both companies will jointly market and promote the products.

In addition, Hitachi will develop an enterprise application and service solution 
package consisting of the workflow product, "Applications to the General Affairs 
Division," "Travel Expense Reimbursements," and "Purchase Orders."  The package will 
be released starting January 2000 through SCBANK(1), a solutions distribution 
organization that started up in August. 

Under the collaborative agreement, the functionality of Hitachi's Groupmax 
Workflow for Exchange will be expanded, and Microsoft's new Digital Dashboard 
technology will be used to achieve a seamless integration between workflow operations 
and individual/group data management, such as e-mail.  In addition to joint development 
of solutions products, Hitachi and Microsoft will work together to market and promote 
the products through advertising, direct mail, and mutual Web site links, as well as 
through jointly sponsored events and seminars and jointly developed sales tools.  Hitachi 
will strengthen its partnership with Microsoft and also provide solutions that work with 
Microsoft's upcoming operating system Windows(R) 2000.

In recent years, companies have been installing groupware products, including e-
mail, document management systems, and workflow management systems, to use 
information resources more effectively and improve collaboration, and thereby increase 
office and management productivity.  Through connections with ERP, SFA, SCM and 
other existing enterprise systems, workflow systems have been attracting attention in 
recent years as an effective means of sharing and linking information within a company 
as well as between companies.

Through its Exchange Server, which features outstanding messaging and 
collaboration capabilities, Microsoft has been providing the core of a system for 
transmitting and sharing information throughout an enterprise, and now has the lead share 
of this market.(2)

Digital Dashboard, a new technology based on the capabilities of Microsoft's 
Office 2000 and BackOffice, features a portal function that brings together various types 
of information for knowledge management.  Using this functionality, "knowledge 
workers" are able to integrate and show the information they need to do their work.  By 
further promoting the use of its Digital Dashboard technology, Microsoft will provide a 
broader range of solutions.

Hitachi introduced its Groupmax Workflow product in 1995 as a comprehensive 
solution for organizing a company's various processing operations into a workflow 
system.  More than 1,000 companies use the product, which is regarded as a leading 
workflow management solution.  Groupmax Workflow supports the specification 
standards set by the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), the international 
standardization organization for workflow technology.  Hitachi is the co-chair of the 
WfMC and the Japan representative, and works together with member companies to help 
the Object Management Group, a distributed object standards organization, set workflow 
specification standards.

The joint effort between Hitachi and Microsoft to develop open solutions using 
Microsoft's Digital Dashboard technology will allow users to easily build outstanding 
workflow systems that meet industry standards.



Note:
(1) With the goal of providing users with the best solution, SCBANK provides for
    strengthened development and  sales partnerships among Hitachi group companies,
    IHVs, ISVs, and independent channels, and for joint development, registration,
    and sales of solutions.
(2) The number of Microsoft Exchange Server licenses sold in the first half of 1999
    exceeded that for Lotus Notes by over 673,000.  See Microsoft Co., Ltd. August 23,
    1999 press release: 
    http://www.asia.microsoft.com/japan/presspass/releases/0823exc.htm.

For more information, press only:
Public Relations, Corporate Communications, Hitachi, Ltd.	Tel: 03-3258-1111
PR Group, Corporate Marketing Division, Microsoft Co., Ltd.	Tel: 03-4523-3210