Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi Data Systems
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Computer data storage
Founded	1967
Founder	Peter Redfield, Gary Friedman
Fate	Integrated into Hitachi Vantara in 2017
Headquarters	Santa Clara, California, United States
Area served	Worldwide (over 170 countries)
Key people	Jun Naruse (CEO from 1999)
Products	Modular mid-range and high-end computer data storage solutions (hardware, software, services)
Parent	Hitachi (fully owned subsidiary since 1999)

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) specialized in modular mid-range and high-end computer data storage solutions, including hardware, software, and related services. Its business operations have since been integrated into Hitachi Vantara.

By the year 2010, Hitachi Data Systems operated through both direct and indirect sales networks across more than 170 countries, catering to over half of the companies listed in the Fortune 100. Until 2017, it functioned as a subsidiary under Hitachi within the Hitachi Information Systems & Telecommunications Division. That year, it merged with Pentaho and Hitachi Insight Group to establish Hitachi Vantara.

Foundation as Itel

Founded in 1967 by Peter Redfield and Gary Friedman, Itel began as an equipment leasing firm primarily focused on IBM mainframes. Utilizing innovative financial approaches, Itel quickly rose to become the second-largest revenue generator after IBM by providing more affordable leasing options.

In 1977, a collaboration between National Semiconductor and Hitachi produced IBM-compatible mainframes marketed under the Advanced Systems name, with Itel as the contracting partner. After successfully shipping 200 units and earning a $73 million net profit, Itel increased its investment to promote Advanced Systems further. When negotiating price cuts to compete against IBM, Itel entered into long-term agreements with National Semiconductor and Hitachi, influenced by National Semiconductor’s CEO Charlie Sporck.

National Semiconductor’s Control of Advanced Systems

Following IBM’s launch of a technologically superior computer series, Itel experienced a sharp decline in sales that resulted in excess inventory. While Hitachi consented to reduce shipments, National Semiconductor accused Itel of coercion. In 1979, Peter Redfield resigned as CEO, and National Semiconductor took over responsibility for sales and marketing within Itel Advanced Systems.

National Semiconductor rebranded this segment as National Advanced Systems (NAS), focusing on assembling and distributing IBM-compatible computers powered by CPUs imported from Hitachi. NAS capitalized on IBM’s phased product introductions to achieve occasional market gains.

In late 1981, NAS introduced its AS/9000 DPC plug-compatible mainframes; however, IBM’s substantial semiconductor investments enabled it to produce more powerful and cost-efficient systems. Simultaneously, the mainframe market was contracting due to the emergence of mini- and microcomputers alongside Unix operating systems. Major players such as Sperry, Honeywell, Burroughs, NCR, and Control Data were progressively withdrawing from this space. Both NAS and competitor Amdahl faced intense technological challenges and competitive pressure from IBM.

In 1983, IBM filed a $2.5 billion lawsuit against National Semiconductor and NAS for allegedly misappropriating computer technology secrets following a U.S. government inquiry into National’s partnership with Hitachi. Hitachi settled with IBM by licensing its mainframe operating system software. Following this resolution, NAS discontinued manufacturing mainframes using Hitachi processors and shifted focus toward reselling Hitachi’s mainframe and storage products.

Formation of HDS (1989)

In 1989, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) was created when Hitachi partnered with Electronic Data Systems (EDS) to jointly acquire National Advanced Systems (NAS) from National Semiconductor, subsequently rebranding it as HDS. NAS had evolved from Itel’s early mainframe business into a marketer of Hitachi systems rather than a manufacturer. By 1999, Hitachi had purchased EDS's shares, making HDS a fully owned subsidiary. Initially concentrating on Hitachi IBM plug-compatible mainframes and storage devices, HDS exited the mainframe market in 2000 to focus exclusively on enterprise storage solutions as part of its strategic effort to expand its presence in storage technologies.

Hitachi and EDS Joint Venture

On February 28, 1989, Hitachi and EDS reached an agreement to purchase NAS for $398 million, with Hitachi acquiring an 80% ownership stake. This acquisition was intended to strengthen Hitachi's foothold in the U.S. market and position it as a competitor to IBM. Earlier that year, Memorex Telex had proposed a joint venture with National Semiconductor; however, National Semiconductor preferred the Hitachi–EDS arrangement due to its superior financial benefits and absence of ongoing commitments. This transaction laid the groundwork for HDS’s corporate framework and its global business operations.

EDS Ownership

In January 1999, Hitachi acquired EDS's entire interest in HDS and appointed Jun Naruse as CEO. Naruse brought valuable technical knowledge from his engineering experience with RAID storage systems. With complete ownership, Hitachi assimilated HDS into its corporate culture and strategic management structure, bolstering its competitive position within the enterprise storage market.

Storage Systems

On April 6, 2000, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) restructured to prioritize storage systems rather than mainframe computing. Subsequently, on June 26, 2000, HDS unveiled its inaugural storage product—the Freedom Storage Lightning 9900. This system employed a crossbar switch design to interconnect memory, disk drives, servers, and external devices, representing an advancement over conventional bus architectures. Both HP and Sun marketed the 9900 along with later models that introduced virtualization features for aggregating external Hitachi and third-party storage into unified pools.

In January 2001, HDS launched the Thunder 9200, a modular mid-range storage solution aimed at small to medium-sized enterprises and primarily distributed through reseller channels. The company’s product suite combined high-end and mid-tier modular storage platforms with software tools addressing storage management, content organization, business continuity, replication, data protection, and IT operations management.

In 2002, Hitachi expanded its storage market presence by acquiring Comstock Systems Corp—a move analysts estimated would boost its market share by roughly 35%, thereby enhancing its competitive standing in the storage sector.

Cloud Computing

HDS embraced the concept of cloud computing, marked by a significant announcement on October 25, 2011. Furthering this initiative, in August 2014 HDS collaborated with Avnet to broaden its cloud partner network and enrich its cloud services offerings.

Acquisitions

On February 6, 2007, Hitachi Data Systems acquired Archives, a company specializing in digital archiving and content management solutions.
On August 20, 2010, HDS obtained the intellectual property and engineering team of ParaScale, known for clustered file system software designed for Linux servers.
On September 7, 2011, HDS purchased BlueArc, recognized for clustered network-attached storage products; notably, HDS accounted for approximately half of BlueArc's revenue in 2010.
On February 13, 2012, HDS acquired Shoden Data Systems to expand its data center technology footprint throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
On September 26, 2012, HDS took over Cofio Software, a San Diego-based provider of unified data protection and orchestration workflow solutions with engineering operations in England.
On August 10, 2014, HDS acquired Sepaton, a supplier of data deduplication appliances.
On May 31, 2015, HDS purchased oXya, a company specializing in SAP HANA service offerings.
On June 4, 2015, HDS completed the acquisition of Pentaho to enhance its big data analytics capabilities as part of its Social Innovation strategy leveraging emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things.
On September 17, 2019, Hitachi merged Hitachi Vantara with Hitachi Consulting to accelerate global growth within its Social Innovation Business and digital transformation efforts. The combined organization began operating under the Hitachi Vantara brand in January 2020 under CEO Toshiaki Tokunaga.

Corporate affairs

The main corporate office is situated in Santa Clara, California, with additional business locations spread throughout the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Corporate culture, social responsibility, and work environment

Hitachi Vantara's organizational culture is rooted in Hitachi's fundamental principles: wa (harmony, trust, respect), Makoto (integrity, honesty), and kaitakusha-seishin (a pioneering spirit). The company has received recognition for its workplace atmosphere, featuring in Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" rankings in 2012, 2013, and 2014. In 2012, it was ranked eighth among the highest-paying companies and placed sixteenth on Chief Executive Magazine’s “40 Best Companies for Leaders.” Furthermore, Hitachi Data Systems was honored as a top workplace in France and Poland in 2011 and earned accreditation from Best Companies UK in 2010.

Hardware

Virtual Storage Platform. A premium storage system engineered for enterprise-level storage consolidation and IBM mainframe requirements, virtualizing diverse storage devices into a single management pool for handling various data types.
Hitachi Unified Storage VM. An integrated enterprise storage virtualization solution aimed at small to medium-sized businesses, facilitating centralized control over file, block, and object data.
Hitachi Unified Storage 100 Family. A scalable storage system enabling centralized consolidation of file, block, and object data with maximum capacities reaching 3PB.
Hitachi NAS Platform by BlueArc. A comprehensive network-attached storage (NAS) solution providing file sharing and server consolidation capabilities designed for medium to large organizations.
Hitachi Content Platform (HCP). A distributed object storage solution offered as either physical hardware or a virtual appliance; it serves as the foundation of Hitachi's cloud infrastructure for managing unstructured data.

Software

Storage Management. Applications designed to configure, operate, optimize, and monitor Hitachi storage environments with automation driven by policies.
Cloud Storage. The Hitachi Content Platform can be deployed across public, private, or hybrid cloud environments as a central element of Hitachi Data Systems' cloud strategy.
Replication. Software that facilitates both local and remote data replication to enable data migration, ensure business continuity, and support disaster recovery.
Data Protection. Solutions focused on managing backups and snapshots to secure enterprise data assets.
IT Operations. Tools that oversee IT infrastructure monitoring and simplify administrative processes such as security management, asset tracking, and software distribution.

Hitachi TrueCopy

Hitachi TrueCopy, previously referred to as Hitachi Open Remote Copy (HORC) or Hitachi Remote Copy (HRC), is a remote disk mirroring capability within Hitachi Data Systems storage arrays supporting open systems along with IBM z/OS. TrueCopy utilizes IBM's Peer to Peer Remote Copy (PPRC) protocol.

Synchronous TrueCopy duplicates data concurrently to both primary and secondary volumes, completing I/O operations only after updates are confirmed on both. In contrast, Asynchronous TrueCopy temporarily stores time-stamped IO packets on the primary array before transmitting them to the secondary site based on available bandwidth; it marks tracks for subsequent replication once buffers reach capacity.

Associated products include:

Hitachi Raid Manager for managing TrueCopy operations
Hitachi Command Control Interface (CCI)
Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) agent designed for TrueCopy integration

Services

Assess and Consult: Conducts thorough evaluations of IT infrastructures to support decisions on investing in new storage solutions.
Plan and Design: Creates tailored strategies that align with client needs and service goals.
Install and Implement: Executes deployment of storage hardware and software swiftly, following industry best standards.
Integrate and Transition: Facilitates seamless data migration to Hitachi platforms, ensuring no interruption to applications.
Manage and Optimize: Applies ITIL frameworks to oversee and enhance storage system performance.
Education: The Hitachi Data Systems Academy provides comprehensive training programs culminating in HDS Certification across various specializations.

Partners

The partner network of Hitachi Data Systems comprises Technology partners, Global Systems Integrators, Hitachi TrueNorth Partners, and Hitachi TrueNorth Advisor Partners, all contributing to the company’s strategic objectives and expanding market presence.

External links

Official Hitachi Vantara website