HP and Hitachi Ltd. Extend Existing Relationship to Facilitate Open Storage Management with API Exchange; Agreement to Allow Customer Management Across Storage Arrays.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

PALO ALTO, Calif. & TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 2002

HP (NYSE:HPQ) and Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT) today announced a new technology agreement enabling cross-management of each other's storage arrays facilitated by the exchange of application programming interfaces (APIs).

Under the terms of the agreement, HP will be able to manage Hitachi Freedom Storage Lightning 9900 and 9900 V Series and Thunder 9200 Series storage arrays within the HP OpenView Storage Area Management software product. Hitachi, Ltd. will be able to manage the HP StorageWorks XP and VA disk arrays, HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) and HP StorageWorks Enterprise Modular Array (EMA) storage systems within the Hitachi HiCommand Management framework.

"This agreement with Hitachi is more proof that HP is fully committed to providing interoperable solutions with all leading storage vendors in order to make storage area management as easy as possible," said Mark Sorenson, vice president, Storage Software Division, HP Network Storage Solutions. "Customers will be able to use HP OpenView software as the key to dramatically reduce the cost of managing storage in a heterogeneous environment."

"Today's announcement is another important milestone in Hitachi's TrueNorth strategy to provide customers with open, heterogeneous managed data storage environments," said Naoya Takahashi, division president, Disk Array Systems Division, Hitachi, Ltd. "We are forging ahead on all fronts to achieve this goal. This API exchange is a short-term solution, which will shortly be followed by our CIM (Common Information Model) based products. Meanwhile, with this exchange our customers will be able to manage the broadest range of heterogeneous storage systems in the industry through HiCommand software."

SNIA SMI Efforts for Standards-based Interoperability

The exchange of APIs is an interim step toward standards-based interoperability being led by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) in an effort called the Storage Management Initiative (SMI). SMI is based on Bluefin technologies and provides a common management interface for all components in a storage area network (SAN), including disk arrays, switches, host adapters and servers. Both HP and Hitachi are committed to standards-based interoperability as well as to leveraging vendor-specific APIs to deliver multi-vendor storage management solutions to customers today.

"The knowledge HP is gaining through integrating API technologies from Hitachi, Ltd. and other companies into a common software management platform will be used to assist the industry in making Bluefin and SMI a reality," said Sorenson. "We have always said that our goal is to work toward industry-wide interoperability, and the fact that all these leading companies have committed to work with HP demonstrates the industry's faith in our commitment to open standards."

"Hitachi is taking a leadership role with Storage Networking Industry Association on CIM/WBEM (Web-based Enterprise Management) and SMI technologies to ensure that these open standards become widely adopted and productized," said Takahashi. "With the deployment of CIM and the ability to leverage APIs, Hitachi believes that customers will benefit from faster access to interoperable storage infrastructures that extend to existing and future data storage products."

"Since 1999, HP and Hitachi, Ltd. have had a successful relationship with the HP StorageWorks XP disk systems. Our agreement, now focused on heterogeneous storage management, complements the efforts HP and Hitachi have made to provide customers with world-class storage systems," said Howard Elias, senior vice president, HP Network Storage Solutions. "HP will continue to work with Hitachi to bring increased business value to our customers."

"The storage collaboration with HP is one of the most successful partnerships at Hitachi. With this new agreement on API exchange, HP and Hitachi will be able to bring mutual customers the common interoperability and protect their investments in the growing heterogeneous environments," said Hiroaki Nakanishi, managing officer and general manager, International Operations Division, Information & Telecommunications Systems, Hitachi, Ltd.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 320,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2001 (ended March 31, 2002) consolidated sales total 7,994 billion yen ($60.1 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors, including information systems, electronic devised, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Web site at http://global.hitachi.com/.

About HP

HP is a leading global provider of products, technologies, solutions and services to consumers and businesses. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. HP completed its merger transaction involving Compaq Computer Corp. on May 3, 2002. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

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