HitachiSoft and Microsoft Announce Joint Sales, Product Development Operations; "Rights Core for HIBUN" Joint RMS Solution Released.

Tokyo, Japan, Nov 14, 2005 - (JCN Newswire) - HitachiSoft and Microsoft have announced plans to cooperate in solutions development, sales and technical support for systems in the security realm. In the initial collaborative project, HitachiSoft has launched "Rights Core for HIBUN", a solution to protect confidential information developed with Microsoft(R) Windows Rights Management Services (RMS).

Microsoft has been providing Windows Rights Management Services (RMS), an information protection solution for the protection of important Web contents, documents and e-mails, and which enables protection of this information wherever it is sent. HitachiSoft has been developing solutions in the security field including "HIBUN", an information leakage protection solution.

"Rights Core for HIBUN" enables administrators to set up fixed security policies for Microsoft Office 2003 document output from a company's application system in order to protect against information leakage to third parties by design or by accident. Application systems will communicate easily with "Rights Core for HIBUN"by connecting through the API web service.

"Rights Core for HIBUN" Features

1) Administrator security rights set-up & management:

- Administrators control access rights following company IT policy, preventing set up mistakes by users.

- User access is managed by ActiveDirectory(R)*. Administration time can be reduced when access rights needs change, as only changes for individual members in the Active Directory Group are required.

2) Permanent protection of confidential information:

- By coding rights information into Office documents, files containing confidential information can be duplicated, and data kept secure. Even files lost accidentally are protected from individuals other than users with rights in the Active Directory.

- By applying both the "HIBUN Information Cypher (IC)" operating code and the "HIBUN AE Information Fortress (IF)" which controls information extraction, documents other than Office documents may also be protected.

3) Information protection from unauthorized use:

- Reading, editing, saving, printing, copying and pasting, screen shot permission can be combined flexibly, and confidential information can be protected from unauthorized users or usage.

Through the collaboration, both HitachiSoft and Microsoft hope to strengthen their respective systems in sales, product development and support, develop more reliable infrastructure, and increase their presence in the security field, which is expected to expand when ISMS** is JIS standardized. In addition, HitachiSoft will participate in the "SecureIT Alliance", a community organization promoting joint operations with Microsoft as security partner. As a result, HitachiSoft security products will work more effectively with the Microsoft platform in future.

"Rights Core for HIBUN" is targeting 30 orders from mainly communications and finance companies in the first year, with eventual expansion into other industries.

For more information about "HIBUN" and "Rights Core for HIBUN" please visit the product homepage at http://hitachisoft.jp/hibun/square/solution/application03.html.

* The directory service introduced with Microsoft 2000 server.

** An Information Security Management System (ISMS) is a systematic approach to managing sensitive company information so that it remains secure. It encompasses people, processes and IT systems.

- HitachiSoft's formal name is Hitachi Software Engineering Co., Ltd.

- HIBUN is the registered trademark of Hitachi Software Engineering.

- Microsoft Windows and Microsft Active Directory are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporationin the United States and other countries.

- All company names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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