Hitachi Data Systems Forms the Global Office of Technology and Planning with Hitachi to Foster the Creation and Delivery of Social Innovation Technologies

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), today announced the formation of a new Global Office of Technology and Planning (Global OTP). The office will be led by Michael Hay, vice president and chief engineer, global product planning, Hitachi Data Systems, with the IT Platform Division Group (ITPD) of Hitachi. The team will lend expertise and deliver technology solutions to internal Hitachi programs and to customers’ programs to extract meaningful insights that lead to innovation and inspire global action.

The team nurtures an entrepreneurial spirit, using technical know-how and penetrating market insight to give potent guidance for hundreds of engineers at HDS and ITPD. Their goal is to solve mounting challenges of accelerated data growth to glean valuable insights that benefit business and society.

“We are thrilled to continue the collaboration and to bring our high-performing teams under one umbrella, applying a cultural model of success from across the IT Platform business,” said Akinobu Shimada, general manager, IT Platform Business Management Division, IT Platform Division Group, Information & Telecommunication Systems Company, Hitachi.

“Innovation is engrained in our culture. We have a demonstrated ability to work together to solve issues by using information and bring to market brilliant new solutions,” added Munehiro Hashimoto, division president, IT Platform Business Management Division, IT Platform Division Group, Information & Telecommunication Systems Company, Hitachi.

HDS is actively working on initiatives that span more than 10 industries, including call center operations, distribution, energy, finance, healthcare, public safety, retail, security, telecommunications and transportation in collaboration with Hitachi. In addition, the groups have launched an industry forum to facilitate peer-to-peer interactions among customers, partners and other organizations and individual participants who wish to help co-create technology solutions for the global good.

The group is already engaged in deep discussions within the Hitachi Data Systems Community about Open Innovation, programming models that are needed for the future of advanced analytics, and emerging IT trends.

Highlights of the collaborative success Hitachi Data Systems and Hitachi include:

* Facilitating paradigm shifts in telecommunications networking: The Global OTP enables further collaboration with JDSU, a market leader in providing network and service enablement solutions for global carriers, by providing enhanced analytics and customer experience management solutions. “As we expand our business to address the increasing need for real-time analytics driven by the growth of mobile data and applications, we found a great partner in Hitachi Data Systems and Hitachi. Hitachi Data Systems solutions and its telecommunications vertical practice are a powerful combination,” said George Cray, a vice president at JDSU. “We have demonstrated unique capabilities that help our customers optimize their networks and maximize revenue opportunities, and we believe that continued collaboration and innovation is a key ingredient for advancing new opportunities for our PacketPortal solution.”
* Making technology apparent to non-technical users: A clear understanding that technology doesn’t happen in a vacuum has led the team to engage with organizations that ultimately advance the rule of law. “Hitachi Data Systems’ involvement and support within the ABA’s Section of Science & Technology Law (SciTech) has significantly enhanced the Section’s understanding and activities in areas such as security, privacy, cloud computing, and electronic discovery. By leveraging HDS’ expertise and relationships, SciTech has also been able to forge new relationships with organizations like SNIA and the Cloud Security Alliance as well as to participate and influence relevant standards development activities (for example ISO/IEC 27050 Information technology – Security techniques – Electronic discovery). HDS has made a solid contribution to emerging areas of the law,” said Lucy Thomson, esq., chair, American Bar Association, Section of Science & Technology Law.
* Enabling innovation through early access: As the Global OTP progresses, its direct engagement with partners and customers on advanced technologies will increasingly be required. “Early access to new technologies is a significant benefit for HDS Federal Corporation. The optical technology being supported by the Open Innovation team at Hitachi Data Systems helps HDS Federal Corporation address the government’s challenges with big data,” said David Haberland, strategic development manager, Hitachi Data Systems Federal Corporation.

HDS and Hitachi also share their breadth and depth of R&D capabilities in software, compute, storage, and networking with broader industry initiatives in order to innovate in user-to-system and system-to-system interactions. Currently, the companies work with PARC, a Xerox company, which is leading the Emerging Networks Consortium (ENC) to advance the next-generation Internet, based on Content-Centric Networking (CCN).

To advance state-of-the-art innovation, the companies have had a long-standing deep collaboration with Hitachi Research and most recently have joined the Hitachi Global Center for Innovative Analytics (HGC-IA). “The HGC-IA links Hitachi, local researchers and engineers globally to apply the combined participants’ world-class research, business consulting, information technologies and services to their customers’ challenges. The group co-innovates, develops and applies end-to-end big data solutions. The Global Big Data Innovation Lab (GBDIL), the research arm of HGC-IA, coordinates big data related R&D activities worldwide, and is chartered to accelerate Hitachi big data businesses through the creation of key intellectual property in analytics, and innovative proof-of-concept solutions. Through collaboration with the newly formed Global OTP, we will strengthen our core big data business by creating and applying innovative big data and advanced analytics technologies to enable a rich suite of cloud-based platforms and services and cutting-edge analytics,” said Umeshwar Dayal, vice president and Senior Fellow, Big Data Laboratory, Hitachi America Ltd. R&D.

Hay concluded, “Together, the efforts of HDS and Hitachi will create a better world by helping customers to innovate with information to improve their business and our society. This is the heart of social innovation. We look forward to realizing and communicating those successes in the future.”


About Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi Data Systems provides information technologies, services and solutions that help companies improve IT costs and agility, and innovate with information to make a difference in the world. Our customers gain compelling return on investment (ROI), unmatched return on assets (ROA), and demonstrable business impact. With approximately 6,000 employees worldwide, Hitachi Data Systems does business in more than 100 countries and regions. Our products, services and solutions are trusted by the world’s leading enterprises, including more than 70% of the Fortune 100 and more than 80% of the Fortune Global 100. Visit us at www.HDS.com.


About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 326,000 employees worldwide. The company’s consolidated revenues for fiscal 2012 (ended March 31, 2013) totaled 9,041 billion yen ($96.1 billion). Hitachi is focusing more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes infrastructure systems, information & telecommunication systems, power systems, construction machinery, high functional material & components, automotive systems and others. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company’s website at http://www.hitachi.com.

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