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Hitachi Scores Enterprise Hard Drive Triple PlaySAN JOSE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Poised to secure a stronger foothold in the enterprise hard drive market segment, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi), today announced a trio of new products: the 15K RPM Ultrastar(R) 15K300, 7200 RPM Ultrastar A7K1000, and the company's first small form factor (SFF) enterprise hard drive, the 10K RPM Ultrastar C10K147. Hitachi's new hard drives target a broad range of enterprise storage systems, from mission-critical and lower duty cycle storage applications to servers, delivering the quality and reliability customers have come to expect from Hitachi's Ultrastar enterprise-class hard drives. Expanded enterprise segment participation is a key element of Hitachi's plan for business excellence as the segment continues to experience consistent growth and drive technology innovation that can be leveraged across other Hitachi products. Delivering a new portfolio of enterprise hard drives in 2007 helps support Hitachi's profitability initiatives and places the company in a strong position to achieve its goal of 20 percent year-to-year volume growth in enterprise. Accelerating the Transition to Small Form Factor A key new product in Hitachi's enterprise product portfolio is the Ultrastar C10K147, the company's first small form factor enterprise hard drive. The Ultrastar C10K147 was developed specifically for the high performance, low power requirements of servers. According to IDC, the industry is expected to experience a fast ramp in shipments from 2.4 million in 2006 to 9.4 million in 2007 as cost, space and low power considerations in data centers drive the need for a transition to SFF. The delivery of the Ultrastar C10K147 is timed to capitalize on and accelerate this increasing demand. "As the first to market with a full portfolio of small form factor SAS-based servers and storage, HP offers customers innovations that maximize the performance, reliability, power savings and other efficiency advantages of their IT investments," said Ron Noblett, vice president, Shared Technology, Industry Standard Servers and BladeSystem Division, HP. "With Hitachi as a valued technology provider and its Ultrastar C10K147, we will continue to help drive the industry's transition into the small form factor market." As businesses and their IT organizations experience a transition to an all-digital world - voice, images and video - the requirement to capture, store and access such data increases exponentially. This information is replicated over and over on the Internet, in servers and in data centers - all on the backbone of enterprise hard drives. Hitachi's broad product portfolio allows enterprise customers to create infrastructures with the optimal mix of hard drives that address the performance, power, capacity and cost parameters for the varying storage and data-access requirements that exist in the storage hierarchy. "HDD suppliers face an increasing number of demands from enterprise data centers ranging from power and cooling, higher performance, less physical space, to higher capacities," according to John Rydning, research manager for hard disk drives at IDC. "Enterprise HDD vendors, like Hitachi, with a broad portfolio of enterprise HDDs gives customers and system OEMs product choices to satisfy a wide range of enterprise storage requirements." Platforms Built for Reliability Hitachi's new Ultrastar hard drives are built upon technology proven for reliability, leveraging the system architecture and electronics of their predecessors. The 15K300 is the next generation of the popular 15K147, which has been qualified at major enterprise storage OEMs. The Ultrastar A7K1000 represents the next generation of the Deskstar E7K500, which has become the most popular hard drive for Enterprise SATA applications, with demonstrated reliability in the field. The Ultrastar A7K1000 is set to continue the reliability standard with a targeted 1.2 million hours mean time between failure(1) (MTBF). "The enterprise market segment is an extremely important business for Hitachi. Our customers are providing the critical storage infrastructure that supports end-users' ability to create, store and share digital content," said Shinjiro Iwata, chief marketing officer, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "Our OEM customers have identified our products as setting the standard for quality, and building on this successful track record, our 2007 product portfolio helps position Hitachi to further expand our enterprise segment participation and achieve our volume-growth targets." Demonstrated Enterprise Market Expertise Hitachi's enterprise "triple play" of hard drives is built on a deep understanding of the enterprise market. From product design through consistent manufacturing output, the company maintains a persistent focus on producing reliable products that meet the unique needs of three critical segments of the enterprise storage hierarchy: -- Ultrastar 15K300 - Built for mission-critical enterprise computing environments -- 3.5-inch, 15,000 RPM, up to 300GB -- 16 MB data buffer -- Ultra320 SCSI, 3Gb/s SAS and 4Gb/s FCAL interfaces -- Rotational Vibration Safeguard (RVS) -- Thermal Fly-height Control (TFC) -- Adaptive format -- End-to-end data protection -- Ultrastar C10K147 - Optimized for the power, performance requirements of servers -- SFF 2.5-inch 10,000 RPM, up to 147GB -- 16 MB data buffer -- 3Gb/s SAS interface -- Thermal Fly-height Control -- Adaptive format -- End-to-end data protection -- Ultrastar A7K1000 - High capacity, low-cost per gigabyte for lower duty cycle enterprise environments -- 3.5-inch, 7,200 RPM, up to 1TB -- 3.0Gb/s SATA interface -- 32 MB data buffer -- Targeted 1.2 million hours MTBF -- Improved Rotational Vibration (RV) functionality -- Self Protection Throttling (SPT) technology -- Built on perpendicular magnetic recording technology To learn more information about Hitachi's new enterprise hard drive portfolio, listen to our Enterprise HDD Podcast at: http://www.podtech.net/home/corporate/2744/hitachi-gsts-doug-pickford- on-the-storage-infrastructure-high-effiency-drives (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.) Availability The Ultrastar 15K300 is available now with production quantities available in the first week of May 2007. The Ultrastar C10K147 and Ultrastar A7K1000 will be delivered in the second quarter of 2007. Technical Specifications: Ultrastar 15K300 300 / 147 / 73 GB (GB = 1 billion bytes, accessible capacity may be less) 113 billion bits per square inch maximum areal density 8 / 4 / 2 platters, 4 / 2 / 1 recording heads 1441 Mb/s max. media data rate 3.6 / 3.4 / 3.4 ms average seek time (excludes command overhead) 15,000 RPM, 2.0 ms average latency Ultra 320 SCSI, 3Gb/s SAS, 4Gb/s FCAL interfaces 16 MB data buffer 25.8 mm in height (max) 745 in weight (max) 250 G/2 ms pulse non-operating shock Ultra320 SCSI: 13.1 / 9.7 / 8.2 watt idle power SAS: 13.6 / 10.2 / 8.6 watt idle power FCAL: 14.1 / 10.7 / 8.9 watt idle power 3.5 Bels typical idle acoustics 5 to 55 degrees C operating temperature Ultrastar C10K147 147 / 73 GB (GB = 1 billion bytes, accessible capacity may be less) 137 billion bits per square inch maximum areal density 4 / 2 platters, 2 / 1 recording heads 1057 Mb/s max. media data rate 3.7 ms average seek time (excludes command overhead) 10,000 RPM, 3.0 ms average latency 3Gb/s SAS 16 MB data buffer 14.8 mm in height (max) 227g in weight (max) 300 G/2 ms pulse non-operating shock 5.9 / 5.3 watt idle power 2.9 Bels typical idle acoustics 5 to 55 degrees C operating temperature Ultrastar A7K1000 1000 / 750 / 500 GB (GB = 1 billion bytes, accessible capacity may be less) 148 billion bits per square inch maximum areal density 5 / 4 / 3 platters, 10 / 8 / 6 recording heads 1070 Mb/s max. media data rate 8.2 ms average seek time (excludes command overhead) 7,200 RPM, 4.17 ms average latency Serial-ATA 3.0Gb/s 32 MB data buffer 26.1 mm in height (max) 700g in weight (max) 300 G/1 ms pulse non-operating shock 9.0 / 8.1 / 7.3 watt idle power 2.9 Bels typical idle acoustics 5 to 60 degrees C operating temperature 1. This MTBF measurement is based on a sample population and is estimated by statistical measurements and acceleration algorithms under lower duty cycle workload and nominal operating conditions. MTBF ratings are not intended to predict an individual drive's reliability. MTBF does not constitute a warranty. About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is a storage technology leader, founded in 2003 through the combination of Hitachi's and IBM's hard disk drive businesses. Hitachi GST enables users to fully engage in the digital lifestyle by providing high-value hard disk storage in formats suitable for the office, on the road and in the home. With its legacy in hard drive invention, Hitachi GST led the industry in celebrating the storage technology's golden anniversary in 2006. The hard drive has had a profound effect on the computing and consumer electronics industries after five decades of innovation. That heritage lives on at Hitachi GST today through products that define the standard for hard drive miniaturization, capacity, performance and reliability. With approximately 33,000 employees worldwide, Hitachi GST offers a comprehensive range of hard drive products for desktop computers, high-performance servers, notebooks and consumer devices. For more information, please visit the company's Web site at www.hitachigst.com. About Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE:HIT) (TOKYO:6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 356,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2005 (ended March 31, 2006) consolidated sales totaled 9,464 billion yen ($80.9 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 website at http://www.hitachi.com. "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, without limitation, statements regarding the company's expectations, objectives, anticipations, plans, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, statements regarding delivering a new portfolio of enterprise hard drives in 2007 that helps support Hitachi's profitability initiatives and places the company in a strong position to achieve its goal of 20% year-to-year volume growth in enterprise. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward looking statements include risks and uncertainties, such as: any unforeseen event; possible delays in developing and marketing new products; possible component parts shortages; employment issues at our manufacturing facilities; changes in customer needs; new products and services offerings by the company and its competitors; and other risks indicated in Hitachi, Ltd.'s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. |
