BEDFORD, MA and TOKYO, JAPAN -- September 23, 2003 - Voltaire, a leading provider of high performance InfiniBand solutions, today announced that it has signed an agreement with two Hitachi group companies for the distribution of Voltaire's high performance InfiniBand switches, routers, and related products in Japan. The demand for Voltaire's solutions in Japan is growing as InfiniBand interconnect technology continues to gain traction in market segments such as high performance computing and enterprise data centers. The two Hitachi distributors are Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation (Hitachi-HT), and Hitachi Information Technology Co. Ltd. (Hitachi-IT). Triangle Technologies, which is responsible for Voltaire's marketing activities in Japan, negotiated the agreement.
"Following our evaluation of the market, we selected Voltaire as the most reliable and innovative company producing InfiniBand solutions," explained Noriyuki Hioki, general manager of Hitachi-HT's IT Systems Department. "Voltaire's products represent the most cost-effective solutions for many applications in Japan, such as intra-cluster high speed networks, grid computing, HPC, database clusters, and networks."
Hitachi-HT intends to sell Voltaire's entire product family, including Voltaire's ISR 6000 and ISR 9600 switch routers, intelligent InfiniBand-to-IP and InfiniBand-to-Fibre Channel routers, HCAs, and related products through various marketing partners, such as leading system integrators, HPC vendors, storage vendors, and database systems vendors. "We expect to achieve annual sales of $14 million within two years," said Hioki.
Yoshiaki Eifuku, executive and board member of Hitachi IT, stated that, "Voltaire has demonstrated high system capability and reliability, and their embedded management software has excellent functionality and reliability. We are proud to represent Voltaire in the Japanese market."
Hitachi IT intends to sell Voltaire products both independently, and in conjunction with Hitachi-HT, with Hitachi-IT focusing also on providing technical support and maintenance services, which are some of Hitachi-IT's unique strengths.
"Hitachi is clearly one of the world's IT powerhouses, and Hitachi-HT and Hitachi-IT have been influential in introducing new networking and interconnectivity technologies in the Japanese market," said Ronnie Kenneth, chairman and CEO, Voltaire Inc. "Needless to say, our relationships with these Hitachi group companies give Voltaire and InfiniBand strong credibility in Japan."
"Following Hitachi's corporate investment in Voltaire in August, 2002, Hitachi-HT and Hitachi-IT spent almost 10 months confirming that there is a market for Voltaire's products and that Voltaire's products would meet the very stringent standards of Japanese customers," commented Dr. Daniel Isenberg, CEO of Triangle Technologies of Tel-Aviv and Tokyo. "We are proud to be partners with Hitachi group companies, and believe that these are relationships with real synergy," continued Isenberg.
About Voltaire, Inc.
Voltaire is a leading provider of high performance InfiniBand solutions for enterprise data centers and HPC environments. Voltaire's InfiniBand solutions deliver significant return on investment to the data center by improving the performance and utilization of clustered databases, shared servers and storage. For HPC customers, Voltaire leads the industry with the largest InfiniBand Trade Association-certified switch to support clusters scaling from hundreds to thousands of nodes. With business headquarters near Boston, Massachusetts, Voltaire is a certified partner of Hitachi, IBM DB2 and Oracle and is certified by the IBTA's Integrator's List. More information about Voltaire is available at www.voltaire.com or by calling 1-800-865-8247.
About Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation is a global company that has specialized in cutting-edge technologies from a core emphasis on biotechnology products, semiconductor production systems, IT solutions and products. Hitachi High-Technologies is a subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. Founded in 1947, the headquarters is located in Tokyo and there are 22 offices in Japan and 77 offices outside of Japan. Consolidated Net Sales is 6B(US$) in 2002. Visit the company's Web site at http://www.hitachi-hitec.com.
About Hitachi Information Technology Co. Ltd.
Hitachi Information Technology is a company that provides network system integration, marketing, development, manufacturing, contract manufacturing, repair and recycling of IT products. Hitachi Information Technology is a subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. Founded in 1978, the headquarters is located in Tokyo and there are 15 offices in Japan. Visit the company's Web site at http://www.hitachi-it.co.jp.
About Triangle Technologies
Triangle Technologies specializes in assisting foreign technology companies penetrate the Japanese market, and has concluded over 100 signed agreements between Japanese and non-Japanese companies. Founded in 1990 by Dr. Daniel Isenberg, formerly assistant professor at the Harvard Business School, Triangle Technologies has successfully formed numerous strategic alliances in Japan, including distribution and sales, OEM agreements, joint development, technology licensing, investments, and joint ventures. www.triangletech.com |
