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CORRECTING and REPLACING Hitachi Sets New Standard for Enterprise Hard Drive Performance with 4Gbit/s Fibre Channel Demonstration

Posted on: Monday, 5 January 2004, 06:00 CST

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 2004--In BW5225 issued Jan. 5, 2004: Third paragraph, last sentence should read: The 4Gbit/s FCAL specification is designed to allow for a data transfer of up to 400MB/s per port and up to 800MB/s in a dual port environment (sted: The 4Gbit/s FCAL specification is designed to allow for a data transfer of up to 400MB per port and up to 800MB in a dual port environment).

The corrected release reads:

HITACHI SETS NEW STANDARD FOR ENTERPRISE HARD DRIVE PERFORMANCE WITH 4GBIT/S FIBRE CHANNEL DEMONSTRATION

Company Leapfrogs Competition in Bid to Deliver the Industry's Fastest Hard Drive

www.hgst.com Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced that it has completed a successful 4Gbit/s Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FCAL) data transfer between two fully integrated hard drive controllers. The demonstration effectively doubles the current industry standard FCAL interface speed of 2 Gbit/s and represents a significant milestone in the advancement of hard drive interface standards.

Hitachi GST expects to begin 4Gbit/s FCAL hardware exchanges and testing with other industry suppliers immediately. The joint testing is expected to result in system-level hardware compatibility, which is the first step to delivering 4Gbit/s FCAL products to the market place. Server and storage systems that integrate 4Gbit/s FCAL components are expected to provide the ultimate in system performance and reliability. FCAL-based hard disk drives are expected to be used in storage area network, file sharing, workgroup and scientific/engineering environments.

Design engineers demonstrated FCAL loop synchronization at 4Gbit/s between two fully integrated Hitachi GST hard disk controllers. The demonstration included the ability to initiate and complete LIP (Loop Initialization Procedure) as well as Port and Process Logins. With the loop established, both commands and data were transferred at 4Gbit/s speed. The 4Gbit/s FCAL specification is designed to allow for a data transfer of up to 400MB/s per port and up to 800MB/s in a dual port environment.

"This performance achievement enables Hitachi to begin the year on an extremely high note," said Fumio Kugiya, general manager, Server Business Unit, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "With this move, Hitachi is reclaiming performance leadership in the enterprise hard drive segment and setting the stage for many exciting things to come in 2004."

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 vision 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 http://www.hgst.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 340,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2002 (ended March 31, 2003) 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 http://www.hitachi.com.

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