Hitachi Embedded to Offer Unique, Powerful Search and Data Management Capabilities for Mentor Graphics' Consumer Electronics Platform.

-- Hitachi Entier Embedded Data Manager for Nucleus PLUS Consumer Device Platform Allows Developers to Add Sophisticated Search, While Simultaneously Reducing Application Code --

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The Embedded Business Group of Hitachi America, Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT), announced today that its Entier relational database management system (RDBMS), an application-optimized platform with unique, powerful local search capabilities, will support the Nucleus[R] PLUS real-time operating system (RTOS) from Mentor Graphics Corp (NASDAQ:MENT). The availability of Entier for the royalty-free, Nucleus PLUS RTOS gives developers of consumer devices the ability to incorporate advanced data management and sophisticated search capabilities that allows users to search in a more natural manner, while simultaneously reducing the amount of required application code by a factor of up to 20-fold.

Nucleus PLUS with Entier will be demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas starting Jan. 8, 2007, at the Sands Convention Center, Booth No. 72156.

"The Nucleus PLUS real-time operating system is a natural fit for the Entier data management system, as they both share the goal of easing development time and costs while boosting the functionality available to consumers," said Steven King, vice president, sales and marketing, Hitachi America Embedded Business Group. "The wide array of hardware platforms supported by the Nucleus RTOS makes Entier's application-optimized data management technology accessible to more developers than ever before, effectively offering more functionality, in less code."

Glen Johnson, product marketing manager, Embedded Systems Division, Mentor Graphics, said: "We are always looking to support new technologies that ease development of consumer devices. Entier provides the ability to not only store and manage thousands of data files but also offers cutting-edge search capabilities that enable developers to incorporate unique features in their devices, such as location-based search."

The Nucleus RTOS, widely deployed in millions of designs globally, is robust, scalable and has a minimal memory footprint. The Nucleus RTOS family of products consists of a complete line of middleware products including networking, USB, graphics and file system libraries, providing everything a developer needs to quickly and easily create a wide variety of applications.

The Entier embedded database management system is based on the technology that makes Hitachi's HiRDB one of the top-selling RDBMS products in Japan. Entier is designed for small footprint consumer devices that require a fast, powerful database manager. While a typical RDBMS provides simple search of data, Entier offers two powerful application-optimized search capabilities that make a device easier to use, more responsive, while at the same time dramatically reducing the amount of code an embedded application developer needs to write.

The first of these application optimizations provides the ability to search multidimensional, or "3D," data. This means that an Entier-enabled device can conduct a spatial, or multidimensional, search using the SQL language. By searching a variety of quantitative tags defined by the consumer, Entier can search for content that has qualities similar to other files - for example, finding music of a certain tempo or a movie not too scary for young children. Secondly, Entier offers incremental text search, which progressively executes the search, narrowing down the results with each key stroke. This is useful for any application that involves searching for entries by name, such as song or movie titles.

Availability

The Hitachi Entier embedded data management solution for Mentor Graphics' Nucleus PLUS RTOS will be available in Q2 2007.

About Hitachi

Hitachi Entier is a sophisticated, lightweight data manager for consumer, commercial and mobile devices. It enables rapid delivery of innovative services on any platform, allowing developers to focus on tangible end-user benefits rather than invisible infrastructure. Entier is the first to combine a flexible runtime RDBMS and reliable file system with application-optimized spatial and text search technology. Built on a foundation of total data reliability, Entier incorporates decades of database development expertise and is backed by Hitachi's worldwide enterprise-class support.

Hitachi America, Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., markets and manufactures a broad range of electronics, computer systems and products, and consumer electronics, and provides industrial equipment and services throughout North America. For more information, visit www.hitachi.us.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE:HIT) (TOKYO:6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 356,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2005 (ended March 31, 2006) consolidated sales totaled 9,464 billion yen ($80.9 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 www.hitachi.com.