The Information & Computer Systems Group of Hitachi, Ltd. (Group Director and 
CEO: Takao Kato) today announced plans for a new program, the Hitachi IA-64 
Preview Program, to enable customers to begin early implementation of Hitachi's 
IA-64 Intel(R) Itanium(TM) processor based servers and workstations. The Hitachi
IA-64 Preview Program begins in the fourth quarter of the year 2000.  The program
will loan customers early Hitachi systems to support the early development and 
implementation of solutions based on Intel's IA-64 architecture when both hardware 
and software become ready to preview by customers. As a result of this program, 
Hitachi expects to enhance its IA-64 solutions knowledge base for future system 
development.

Since announcing plans to develop IA-64 servers and workstations on January 13, 
2000, Hitachi has received numerous inquiries from end users interested in EPIC 
(Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing), large-scale memory, scalability, 
security, reliability, and high availability.  In particular, Hitachi has received 
a number of requests from end users who are exploring new applications in the areas 
of secure computing transactions and large-scale databases in the Internet business 
environment. Based on these trends, the Company is launching the Hitachi IA-64 
Preview Program to support the early development of solutions based on Itanium 
processors.  In the program, users will perform trials on Hitachi's IA-64 servers 
and workstations with support from Hitachi.

"I'm delighted that we have an opportunity to give customers an early look at IA-64 
through the Hitachi IA-64 Preview Program," said Takao Kato, Group Director and CEO, 
Information & Computer Systems Group, Hitachi, Ltd., of the program. "In addition 
to getting a feel for the special features of the IA-64 processor, participating 
end users will also be able to satisfy their expectations of IA-64's superiority 
in realizing solutions for large-scale data bases and the Internet. Moreover, we can 
move IA-64 system development forward together with end users, and, by making the most 
of our systems development know-how and our strong relationships with clients, we can 
promote the spread of IA-64 systems in the future."

"Hitachi is a leader in the IT space," explained Mike Fister, Vice President and
 General Manager, Enterprise Platform Group of Intel Corporation. "Intel appreciates 
what Hitachi is doing to bring IA-64 architecture to market quickly. Through this 
program each user will have a chance to experience firsthand the IA-64 processor's 
world class parallel-processing abilities, large memory space, reliability, and 
scalability features. With the introduction of IA-64, mid-range to high-end servers 
and high-functionality workstations can achieve the performance of standards-based 
platforms distinctive to IA-64-based solutions."

From the user's perspective, Toshiaki Yamamoto, Director of Information Systems 
for Bridgestone Corporation, enthused: "We are excited that Hitachi has developed 
servers with 120% performance using IA-64 and 64-bit Windows(TM), and we are looking 
forward to having an early chance to use them. Bridgestone is promoting the use of 
an open format for various in-house applications, so we are quite interested in the 
scalability and performance of the IA-64 processor and 64-bit Windows(TM). We expect 
them to play a leading role in our efforts to cut information-related costs."

At present, the companies below have agreed to participate in the Hitachi IA-64 
Preview Program.

(in alphabetical order)

Servers
Bridgestone Corporation
Canon Inc.
Ibaraki Hitachi Information Service Co., Ltd.
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.
Saibu Gas Information Systems Co., Ltd.

Workstations
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Notes:
¡¦
*IA-64 : Intel's next generation microprocessor architecture. IA-64 offers 
the following features:
- 64-bit computing technology 
- Large-scale memory 
- New EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing) architecture 
- An instruction set optimized to the needs of cryptography, video encoding, 
and other functions 

¡¦Trademarks and Registered Trademarks of Other CompaniesIntel and Itanium are 
trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States 
and other countries.
Microsoft and Windows are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft 
Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Supervising Section
Contact: Mr. Tsukishima
Platform Systems Planning Department
Enterprise Server Division
Hitachi, Ltd.
Horiyamashita 1-Banchi,  Hadano-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture, 259-1392
Tel. (domestic): 0463-88-8086