Features - Storage Innovations:

HITACHI UNVEILS MASSIVE ENTERPRISE HARD DRIVE

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced the Ultrastar 10K300, the world's first 300GB enterprise hard disk drive. Hitachi's newest 10,000 rpm hard drive satisfies the requirements of mission-critical storage applications such as online transaction processing, data analysis and media streaming. The new 3.5-inch drives have already begun shipping and are in the process of being qualified at major OEMs worldwide. Hitachi expects volume shipments of the Ultrastar 10K300 to begin in the second quarter of this year.

The Hitachi Ultrastar 10K300 is built on a proven drive design with demonstrated enterprise class reliability and product quality. The new drive continues this tradition with enhanced head and disk manufacturing processes designed to extend reliability and performance. The drives will use Fluid Dynamic Bearing motors to provide a low acoustic rating and improved data integrity.

Hitachi's time-to-market leadership and global technical support accelerates customers' qualification process, enabling products to be delivered to customers in a shorter amount of time. The capacity and performance characteristics of the Ultrastar 10K300 provide system builders the ability to deliver more powerful storage systems to their customers. The new drives will be available in Ultra 320 SCSI and 2Gbps Fibre Channel (FCAL) interfaces.

"Being first to market with a 300GB server drive is a significant milestone," said Fumio Kugiya, general manager of the Server Business Unit at Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "Hitachi's technology expertise and product breadth are among the many reasons that customers are increasingly looking to Hitachi to meet their disk storage requirements. This is a significant achievement for Hitachi and is expected to solidify our position as one of the industry's top enterprise hard drive manufacturers."

About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was founded in 2003 as a result of the strategic combination of Hitachi's and IBM's storage technology businesses. The company's goal is to enable users to fully engage in the digital lifestyle by providing access to large amounts of storage capacity in formats suitable for the office, on the road and in the home.

The company offers customers worldwide a comprehensive range of storage products for desktop computers, high-performance servers and mobile devices. For more information on Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, please visit the company's Web site at www.hgst.com.

About Hitachi Ltd

Hitachi Ltd, headquartered in Tokyo, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 340,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2002 (ended March 31) consolidated sales totaled 8,191.7 billion yen ($68.3 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 Web site at www.hitachi.com.