Here's what Hitachi has to say about their plans for the future....
hds.com
Hitachi Data Systems Unveils
Strategic Blueprint for Enterprise
Information Management Solutions
Independent Status, New Products, Integration of NT
Servers, Key Industry Alliances, and $300 Million
Hitachi, Ltd. Investment Position Hitachi Data Systems
as High-Value Information Management Solutions
Provider
SANTA CLARA, California, 18 February,
1999—Hitachi Data Systems today unveiled its new
high-level strategy for providing comprehensive,
scalable enterprise information management solutions.
The new strategy is closely tied to Hitachi, Ltd.'s
decision to designate Hitachi Data Systems as its
premiere vehicle for delivering a full array of enterprise
management solutions to the international corporate
marketplace.
Several key steps have been taken in the last 60 days
to finish building and refining this phase of the strategy.
Hitachi announced that Hitachi Data Systems will
acquire EDS' equity interest in Hitachi Data Systems
thereby making Hitachi, Ltd. the sole shareholder (see
press release 1/29/99); Hitachi also announced it will
merge Hitachi Data Systems operations with sister
company Hitachi PC (see press release 2/4/99); and it
has invested an additional $300 million in Hitachi Data
Systems.
Commenting on these steps, Hitachi Data Systems
CEO Yoshihiro Koshimizu said, "With one parent
company instead of two, Hitachi Data Systems will be
better able to deliver and deploy, on any scale,
innovative products as a solutions provider. By adding
Hitachi PC's product lines, plus the customer
relationships and channels they have developed, we
feel our business will benefit in many ways. Their assets
will allow us to broaden the range of platforms we
support while accelerating the development of our
solutions-providing capability. And the additional
investment will be particularly helpful in expanding our
services offerings."
Hitachi Data Systems is moving aggressively towards
its next-millennium business model that will provide
customers with a broader range of information
management solutions—not only through its own direct
sales force, but also through a complementary,
expanded universe of channel partners and business
alliances.
"The stage is now set for us to become a true enterprise
solutions provider," said Mr. Koshimizu. "We have
evolved from being primarily a hardware vendor into a
genuine solutions provider. While we will continue to
manufacture high-performance computer systems and
storage devices, the difference today is that they are not
just isolated pieces of hardware, but rather integral
parts of a solution suite flexible enough to meet the
many and varied critical business problems faced by
our customers. As global information management
requirements grow increasingly critical to corporate
profitability, and even viability, Hitachi Data Systems is
committed to a strategy that ensures the most robust,
comprehensive solutions available."
This initial phase of the new Hitachi Data Systems
strategic direction is rooted in a broad spectrum of
resources and addresses product, service, and
distribution programs in four key areas:
Enterprise Servers
Enterprise Storage
Professional Services
Industry Alliances.
Enterprise Server Strategy
While Hitachi Data Systems currently—and
uniquely—offers two mainframe product lines, each
featuring a different technology, CMOS for Hitachi Data
Systems Pilot Series™ and Advanced CMOS ECL for
the Hitachi Data Systems Skyline Series,™ the future
will see a seamless fusing of the two highly scalable and
granular product lines. These S/390®-compatible
processors will be complemented by powerful NT and
UNIX® servers.
All enterprise servers, regardless of operating system,
will be designed in conjunction with surveyed customer
requirements, will have compressed product cycles, will
feature customary Hitachi engineering precision, and
will aspire to be the most reliable and available
processors available.
Enterprise Storage Strategy
Hitachi Data Systems' storage strategy recognizes that
customers want solutions that allow them to access and
control their data without being tied to proprietary
technology that limits their business options. The Hitachi
Data Networking Architecture (DNA) provides the
overall structure for implementing this strategy, bringing
storage and network protocols together in a way that will
enable customers to access their data on any computer,
any time, anywhere. Within this architecture, the
company will be able to deliver open solutions in many
environments, including Storage Area Networks (SANs)
and Network Attached Storage (NAS).
Key to these solutions is a growing number of industry
alliances in areas such as networking and
communications. And the foundation for all this is
Hitachi Freedom Storage,™ the first family of
SAN-ready subsystems to reach the marketplace. It is
ideal for customers whose business needs require that
their data be distributed throughout the enterprise, and
yet be managed from a central location.
Professional Services Strategy
Hitachi Data Systems has provided a range of
technology and integration services in the past, and will
build very aggressively on this base for the future.
Hitachi brings unique skills and experience that are key
in providing ERP infrastructure, as well as integration
projects that require combining multiple software,
hardware, and service technologies.
A major portion of the $300 million investment funding
will be applied to the Services area which will support
significant growth in new skills and core competencies.
Hitachi will also widen its focus on providing integration
services that leverage such key partners as Oracle,
SAP, Microsoft, Cisco, and CA.
Industry Alliance Strategy
As noted above, HDS is aligned with such industry
leaders as Cisco, CA, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP, and
is continuing to forge value-add relationships with other
key vendors. Particular emphasis is being placed on
developing enterprise-wide solutions that optimize the
capabilities and unique value of each alliance
relationship. Said Mr. Koshimizu, "Not only must we
continue to offer our own set of leading-edge products
and services, but we must also find unique ways to
integrate the offerings from industry-leading software,
peripheral, and service companies with our own so we
can provide our valued customers 'one-stop shopping'
for their information management needs."
Face of the Future
"The Hitachi Data Systems of the future, then, will be a
company with a diverse list of hardware and software
alliance partners," added Mr. Koshimizu. "It will be a
company that sells solutions to its core of world-class
Fortune 1000 customers through a professional end
user sales and service organization and to the same
companies at other levels through a select group of
channel and OEM partners. It will be a company that
provides the marketing eyes and ears for Hitachi, Ltd.
and that will be able to fully leverage Hitachi's
formidable R&D engine to deliver exciting, elegantly
engineered products to our customers. It will be a
company like no other."
About Hitachi Data Systems
Committed to providing advanced enterprise computing
solutions, Hitachi Data Systems markets
high-performance enterprise servers, storage systems,
and professional services worldwide. Hitachi meets its
customers' computing needs with the broadest line of
the highest performance enterprise servers in the world,
including the Hitachi Data Systems Skyline Series™
and the Hitachi Data Systems Pilot Series™, as well as
the Hitachi Freedom Storage™ subsystems which
provide multiplatform support across S/390, UNIX, and
NT environments. Owned by Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT),*
Hitachi Data Systems has its headquarters in Santa
Clara, California. The company employs approximately
2,300 people and operates in 30 countries worldwide.
For on-line information about HDS' products and
services please access our products and services
pages.
*Hitachi Data Systems will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. on
or prior to April 21, 1999.
ANCR has put the Infostor article by L. Olson on the top of the list.
They are stressing scalability.
ancor.com
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