Hitachi Data Systems appoints Vivekanand Venugopal as Vice President & GM

Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions, today announced the appointment of Vivekanand Venugopal as Vice President & General Manager, India. Vivekanand’s new leadership role would encompass growing the business, extending partnerships and accelerating expansion of the company's revenue, customers and market share in India. Previously, as Vice President of Hitachi’s APAC Global Solutions Services and the Product and Solutions Group, Vivekanand has played a significant role in Hitachi’s market-leading growth in the Asia Pacific region.

“I am pleased to announce Vivekanand’s appointment as our India business head, to meet the requirements of the fast-growing, dynamic Indian market. As the analysts have reported, we recorded incredible growth of 62% year-over-year in the external disk storage market in India in the last fiscal year and the region continues to represent high potential for our business. We are committed to sustaining the growth momentum in India and we will continue to invest in this market,” said Kevin Eggleston, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Asia Pacific, Hitachi Data Systems.

“My new role will give me a great opportunity to integrate my earlier experiences as Vice President of Hitachi’s APAC Global Solutions Services and the Solutions and Products Group into the Indian market. We will continue to leverage our unique storage and services solutions to help our clients in India to meet their changing business requirements,” said Vivekanand Venugopal, Vice President & General Manager, India, Hitachi Data Systems.

Being a senior veteran in various roles at Hitachi Data Systems, Vivekanand has achieved numerous accolades in his career. In his previous role he was responsible for helping to make Hitachi the number one Virtualized Storage Solutions supplier in the world. He takes over from Natarajan Viswanathan who left recently to pursue his own interests after a two year successful stint.

Vivekanand joined Hitachi Data Systems in India in 2001 as business development manager, and later handled sales across India. In 2004, he was responsible for driving the storage management solution business line across Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Hitachi Data Systems, he worked with a storage integration company based in Bangalore, India. He holds a graduate degree in Computer Science and Engineering and a post graduate degree in Marketing Management. 

About Hitachi Data Systems
Hitachi Data Systems Corporation provides Services Oriented Storage Solutions that enable heterogeneous storage to be dynamically provisioned according to business needs and centrally managed via industry-leading Hitachi storage virtualization software. With over 4,100 employees, and as an integral part of the Hitachi Storage Solutions Group, Hitachi Data Systems delivers storage infrastructure platforms, storage management software, and storage consulting services through direct and indirect channels in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include nearly 60-percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.hds.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 400,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2008 (ended March 31, 2009) consolidated revenues totaled 10,000 billion yen ($102.0 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, logistics and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

© 2009, Hitachi is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries.  Hitachi Data Systems is a registered trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. in the United States and other countries.