| HITACHI HOME | UP | SEARCH |

May 26, 1998

Hitachi to Collaborate with Microsoft and Expand Windows NT Server Business in Mission Critical Environments

Both companies have agreed to share their views concerning mission critical server marketing and hold frequent technical discussions to further improve Windows NT Server's scalability, supportability and reliability. This commitment to technical exchange will combine Hitachi's expertise in high-end server system technology with the advanced features of Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition. Hitachi is committed to offer Windows NT Server-based solutions to its mission critical customers worldwide. This expanded emphasis on Windows NT Server is a key component of Hitachi's next generation server strategy.

Mr. Shigemichi Matsuka, senior executive managing director of Hitachi, Ltd. said, "This cooperation with Microsoft is very important for our future strategy. We believe that systems using Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition and Intel's Pentium^(R) II Xeon and Merced^(TM) chips will be at the core of our open server line up and we are investing heavily in the development of resources for them. We plan to ship Pentium^(R) II Xeon^(TM) and IA-64^(TM) based Windows NT Server systems worldwide and Microsoft is the best partner we could have. Broadening our relationship through projects such as this is very beneficial for both our companies."

Based on the agreement above, Hitachi will hold frequent technical discussions to further improve Windows NT Server scalability, supportability and reliability. As a first step, Hitachi will send engineers and Hitachi developed high-end servers based on the Pentium^(R) II Xeon^(TM), and when the Merced^(TM) processor becomes available, Merced^(TM) servers, to Microsoft to begin testing Windows NT Server on these advanced platforms. Specific technical goals include improving SMP scalability and development of additional reliability functions. Hitachi believes that through frequent technical information exchanges, it will be able to further improve the support level of Windows NT Server- based systems for use in mission critical IT applications.

Further, Hitachi will cooperate on improving Windows NT Server's connectivity to and interoperability with customers' existing mainframe systems and will continue to work more closely with Microsoft to ensure Windows NT Server is the best operating system for the Intel platform.

"Customers are deploying Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition in global, demanding IT missions", said Paul Maritz, Group Vice President, Platforms and Applications Group, Microsoft Corporation. " Capitalizing on Hitachi's distinguished data center systems engineering expertise, we intend to work together to make Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition even more suitable for and supportable in high performance and high availability settings.

Hitachi has made a commitment to be among the first to release server systems based on Intel's Pentium^(R) II Xeon and future 64 bit processor Merced^(TM), when it becomes available. Hitachi will begin shipping Pentium ^(R) II Xeon and Merced^(TM) based high-end servers running Windows NT Server for the mission critical market not only in Japan, but on a worldwide- basis.

Mr. John Miner, vice president of Intel Corporation said, "We welcome Hitachi's cooperation with Microsoft in the area of Windows NT Server scalability and reliability improvement. The Intel architecture, with Pentium^(R) II Xeon^(TM) processors today, and Merced^(TM) processors in the future, is becoming the unifying architecture for enterprise computing, and provides Hitachi with the performance they need to meet their mission critical customers' needs."

Hitachi and Microsoft have a long standing relationship in broad areas, and Hitachi and Microsoft Co., Ltd. (Japan) have now agreed and announced their intention to jointly establish a Technical Support Center which will commence operation in June this year. The Technical Support Center will improve the support level for mission critical systems with Windows NT Server to meet growing customer interest in the use of Microsoft and Hitachi technologies in very demanding missions. Hitachi will provide a technical support service menu through this center, for its mission critical customers.

Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1996 (ending March 31, 1997) consolidated sales of 8,523 billion yen (68.7 billion dollars^*). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi's Web site at http://www.hitachi.co.jp.

* At an exchange rate of 124 yen to the dollar.

• Microsoft and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
• Intel, Merced, IA-64, Xeon, Pentium II are trademarks of Intel Corporation
• Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

top of this page