Company Invests in Partner Success: New Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure Now Available; Partner-Ready System Configurations Drive Hitachi Storage Sales; Reimagined Partner Program Grows Ecosystem, Delivers Results

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), today highlighted the investments and progress the company has made in its partner business that have netted the company and its partners significant growth over the last year. As Hitachi Vantara continues its transformation to help customers maximize the value of their data, the company has invested significantly in its partner business as a critical component for growth.  

Most recently, the new Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure demonstrate the steps Hitachi Vantara is taking to address market demand through collaboration with and investment in its strategic relationships. In September 2018, Hitachi Vantara delivered VSP PRO solutions, which are simplified, partner-optimized configurations of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP). The revamped Hitachi Vantara Partner Program, launched in April 2018, includes new competencies, delivery models, enablement and incentives. These initiatives demonstrate the increased focus Hitachi Vantara is placing on its partner ecosystem to successfully deliver solutions that help customers address their transformation challenges.

Cisco and Hitachi Accelerate Data Center Modernization and Cloud
Cisco and Hitachi are capitalizing on their aligned priorities for data center modernization and cloud to deliver an intelligent converged solution that helps enterprises worldwide meet the challenges of today and position themselves for the future. Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure is a Cisco Validated Design (CVD) that combines the companies’ best-in-class technologies including Hitachi storage and Cisco compute and networking. Engineered, tested and validated by both Cisco and Hitachi, the new “meet-in-the-market” solution is designed for partners to address demand for a validated Hitachi and Cisco converged infrastructure that supports high-end, enterprise-grade, multi-use application workloads and delivers an agile, operationally efficient solution for continuous data availability and service-level agreement (SLA) management. It will be supported by both Cisco and Hitachi.

Over the last year, Hitachi Vantara has seen high single-digit growth in its converged business through partners. Sold and delivered by partners, the new Cisco and Hitachi solution is expected to increase opportunity for both companies’ partner ecosystems in this space.

Hitachi VSP PRO Configurations
Introduced in September 2018, the pre-configured, cost-optimized Hitachi VSP PRO semi-customizable configurations are a prime example of how the company is delivering on its promises to simplify and accelerate sales cycles for partners. Created expressly for the partner community, Hitachi VSP PRO solutions allow partners to quickly and easily quote small, medium, large and extra-large systems with an automated, self-service sales model that reduces the process from several hours to a matter of minutes. Hitachi VSP PRO solutions have also helped partners initiate conversations with customers about VSP solutions more broadly, contributing to year-over-year growth in partner sales of Hitachi VSP storage arrays.

Hitachi Vantara Reimagines Partner Program to Drive Ecosystem Success
When the company launched its new Partner Program in April 2018, Hitachi Vantara introduced new competencies, delivery models and flexibility for partners to choose how they engage with the company. In addition, the company reiterated its commitment to maximize profitability and improve self-service and automation for its partners. Since the program launched, the company has continued to deliver against these promises, resulting in improved overall partner engagement and satisfaction, growth of partner business revenues including double-digit growth among solution providers, and rapid expansion of the company’s ecosystem in strategic focus areas such as big data analytics and IoT. The latter has resulted in additional collaboration with several strategic partners, including Tech Data and Computacenter, to improve the recruitment, onboarding, and sales and presales enablement of a growing ecosystem of partners focused on big data analytics and IoT – an ecosystem that has grown nearly 300 percent year over year.

Customer and Partner Quotes:

• “Cisco and Hitachi Vantara have collaborated to provide customers on a path to digital transformation with an enterprise-class data center modernization solution,” said Kaustubh Das, Vice President, Product Development and Strategy, Computing Systems Product Group at Cisco. “The new Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure will accelerate deployment and simplify operations for our mutual customers.”
   
• “Since 2004, we have partnered with Hitachi Vantara to help customers get the most from their data. For 15 years, our partnership has been successful for several reasons: the commitment Hitachi Vantara has demonstrated to our business, an aligned strategic focus, and the breadth of innovative offerings we have available to tackle customer challenges. In the last year, we’ve seen positive developments in these areas – from the new Hitachi Vantara partner program to new strategic solutions that address market demands and accelerate customers transformation – all contributing to Computacenter’s successes,” said Axel Heitmann, Sales Director Datacenter, Computacenter Germany. “Today, with the new Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure offering, we believe we can do even more, helping more customers adopt a best-in-class modern infrastructure environment that meets their needs for today and tomorrow.”
   
• “For nearly 20 years, the Tech Data-Hitachi Vantara partnership has driven success for thousands of customers. Over this period, our partnership has continued to expand, we’ve added exciting new offerings to our portfolio, and we’ve identified new opportunities available we can address together,” said Cheryl Neal, vice president, Data and Networking Solutions, Tech Data. “From data center modernization to advanced analytics for business intelligence, our partnership with Hitachi Vantara is enabling us to guide our partners to further transform for the future.  We’re excited to bring what’s next.”

Hitachi Executive Quotes:

• “The new Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure build on our global Cisco partnership, paving the way for expanding our collaboration into new areas,” said Toshio Nakano, President of IT Platform Products Management Division, Hitachi, Ltd. “Together, we will continue innovating to create customer value through data across solutions that address a broad range of customer needs.”
   
• “Hitachi’s partners – from solution providers to strategic alliances such as Cisco – have been a cornerstone of our success for many years and continue to become a larger part of Hitachi Vantara’s overall business results. Together, we have successfully helped customers realize the power of their data,” said Scott Kelly, COO and chief transformation officer at Hitachi Vantara. “As Hitachi Vantara continues transforming to deliver innovation, we will continue to invest in an exciting future with our partners.”

Additional Resources:

• Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure CVD
• Cisco blog post: Accelerate Data Center Modernization with Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solution for Converged Infrastructure
• Hitachi Vantara blog post: Hitachi and Cisco: Unlocking Your Data
• Hitachi Vantara Partner Program

About Hitachi Vantara
Hitachi Vantara, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., helps data-driven leaders find and use the value in their data to innovate intelligently and reach outcomes that matter for business and society. We combine technology, intellectual property and industry knowledge to deliver data-managing solutions that help enterprises improve their customers’ experiences, develop new revenue streams, and lower the costs of business. Only Hitachi Vantara elevates your innovation advantage by combining deep information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and domain expertise. We work with organizations everywhere to drive data to meaningful outcomes. Visit us at www.HitachiVantara.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society's challenges, combining its operational technology, information technology, and products/systems. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2017 (ended March 31, 2018) totaled 9,368.6 billion yen ($88.4 billion). The Hitachi Group is an innovation partner for the IoT era, and it has approximately 307,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation with customers, Hitachi is deploying Social Innovation Business using digital technologies in a broad range of sectors, including Power/Energy, Industry/Distribution/Water, Urban Development, and Finance/Social Infrastructure/Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

HITACHI is a trademark or registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. All other trademarks, service marks, and company names are properties of their respective owners.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Steve MacDonnell
Hitachi Vantara
steve.macdonnell@hitachivantara.com  
+1 408-327-3670

Ashley Paula
Weber Shandwick for Hitachi Vantara
apaula@webershandwick.com 
+1 415-262-5975

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