Hitachi Announces Order for Its AMN1220 Gigabit Passive Optical Network System; Bandon, Oregon, Is the First Community in North America to Implement a 2.4Gbit/s GPON Solution to Provide Triple Play Residential and Business Services.

ATLANTA -- Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT) and Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc., today announced that the company's AMN1220 GPON Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) solution will be deployed in Bandon, Oregon. On August 26, 2005, the City of Bandon accepted a proposal from ComSpanUSA, in association with its development partner, Ledcor Technical Services (LTS), to design, build and operate an FTTP network in Bandon and the surrounding area. Hitachi's AMN1220 GPON solution was selected to deliver triple play services, including data, video and voice services.

The system will reach over 2,500 homes and businesses. The engineering and pre-construction work has commenced and the installation of Hitachi's GPON equipment is planned to start in December 2005. It is believed that this represents the first order and installation in the United States of an ITU-T compliant GPON system that provides data rates of 2.488Gbps downstream and 1.244Gbps upstream and provides triple play services to both residential and business subscribers.

"We selected Hitachi's AMN1220 GPON product for multiple reasons, including the 2.4Gbps downstream rates that will allow us to offer bandwidth-intensive services such as high definition video content, as well as high speed data services for businesses and residents," said Chris McLorg, LTS System Development and Integration Executive. "In addition, the product is carrier-class, robust, and backed by one of the world's foremost technology companies."

"As the service provider for Bandon, ComSpanUSA sought an infrastructure that would give us the maximum flexibility for providing future services, which led us to a standards-based product, along with the maximum line rate available," said John Stadter, ComSpanUSA CEO. "Hitachi's AMN1220 conforms to international standards and provides a line rate of 2.4 gigabits per second. In addition, Hitachi is a very stable company with experience in high-volume Fiber-To-The-Premises applications."

"This is the new wave of the future of networks -- GPON," says Daniel Briere, CEO of TeleChoice, a market consultancy that closely tracks the PON space. "By selecting a 2.4G data rate-based platform, the City of Bandon has really futureproofed itself with a lot of headroom for upcoming bandwidth-intensive services like multiple high-definition television streams and online video-based shopping."

"The AMN1220 GPON System was designed specifically for the North American carrier market," according to David Foote, Hitachi Telecom CTO. "For example, the system includes multiple Optical Network Terminals that allow service providers to flexibly and economically offer services to subscribers from single and multi-family households to medium businesses."

"This is not just big for Hitachi, but it has a huge impact on the U.S. GPON community as well. You now have the worldwide market leader in PON shipments -- mostly with BPON in Asia -- getting its first market penetration in the US for their brand new next generation product, which by the face of it has the technical prowess to match up against the products of the RBOC incumbent PON vendors who will shortly be defending their contracts for the GPON growth phase in the U.S.," says TeleChoice's Briere. "The selection of Hitachi here puts them on the map and shows that the company is determined to compete and win in the U.S."

About Hitachi's AMN1220 Product Family

The AMN1220 FTTP platform is a family of GPON products that provide ultra high bandwidth communication services to residential, business and institutional subscribers using a single optical fiber direct to the subscriber's premises. Hitachi's products for North America are based on ITU-T standards, providing assurance that service providers will have maximum flexibility in implementing FTTP solutions as applications and services increase in the future. Compliant with all ITU-T G.984 standards and FSAN recommendations, the AMN1220 provides data rates of 2.488Gbit/s downstream and 1.244Gbit/s upstream. The product is based on GPON Encapsulation Mode (GEM) framing, allowing TDM services such as T1 to be handled in their native formats.

The AMN1220 consists of a centrally located Optical Line Terminal (OLT) connected via single-mode fiber optic cable to Optical Network Terminals (ONT) at the subscribers' premises. The OLT is equipped with a hybrid Layer 2/3 + TDM switch fabric for flexible traffic management and consolidation. ONTs include the SFU, a single family / small business unit, and the MXU, a configurable multi-dwelling / multi-business ONT. All ONTs can provide a Gigabit Ethernet line rate interface to the customer, enabling a wide range of business applications today and providing future proofing for both residential and business networks.

About Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc.

Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc., a subsidiary of Hitachi America, Ltd., develops, manufactures and markets telecommunications equipment for the North American market. The company offers ITU-compliant 'triple play' systems for Fiber-to-the-Premises applications, and ultra high-speed optical networking equipment such as DWDM and SONET systems. For more information on Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc. visit http://www.hitachitelecom.com.

Hitachi America, Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., markets and manufactures a broad range of electronics and semiconductors, and provides industrial equipment and services throughout North America. For more information on Hitachi America, visit http://www.hitachi.us.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE:HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 347,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2004 (ended March 31, 2005) consolidated sales totaled 9,027.0 billion yen ($84.4 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, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Website at http://www.hitachi.com.

About Ledcor

About Ledcor Technical Services: A wholly owned subsidiary within the Ledcor Group of Companies, Ledcor Technical Services Inc. consists of three separate divisions that combined provide a full range of services that offer our customers a North American-wide full service program. The Managed Services Group focuses on the Telecommunications sector and self provides a number of field and central office maintenance, electronics installation and construction management services. The Resource Managed Group provides facility maintenance management services to the Telecommunications, Utility and Oil and Gas sectors. The Infrastructure Services Group services the Telecommunications, Utilities and Industrial sectors by providing engineering and construction services. For more information please visit our website at www.ledcor.com/en/technical.

About the Ledcor Group of Companies: Founded in 1947, the Ledcor Group of Companies is one of North America's leading, privately-held, employee-owned maintenance and construction companies, specializing in building, civil, industrial and telecommunications projects and services. In addition to a diversified portfolio of projects, Ledcor has been honored with numerous safety awards including the Associated Builders and Contractors 2002 National Safety Award, recognizing excellence for companies exhibiting a firm commitment to safety. Ledcor brings an established history of construction excellence with a team of professionals who measure their success by client satisfaction.

About ComSpanUSA

ComSpanUSA is a facilities-based CLEC headquartered in Roseburg, Oregon whose mission is to bring state-of-the-art communications services to rural communities. Beginning in 2002 with an initial copper-based deployment, powered by a Nortel DMS 500 and a local fiber ring, the company quickly established itself as a force in its market area. ComSpanUSA provides a complete range of telephony and ISP-related services. Seeing the opportunity to develop FTTP projects ComSpanUSA continues its leadership role by providing triple play services to rural markets. For more information please visit our website at www.comspanusa.net.