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Hitachi Cable, Ltd. has announced the selection of its Apresia Ethernet switch series by Global Data Service Joint Stock Company (hereafter, "GDS," headquartered in Hanoi), a joint venture data center service company launched by Japanese communications provider NTT Communications Corporation and its Vietnamese counterpart, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, in Vietnam. Apresia switches will serve as part of the 10-Gbps backbone system of the company.

Following the development of its private brand Apresia series of Ethernet switches in 2003, Hitachi Cable has been expanding its sales by responding to the needs of telecommunications carriers for wide-area Ethernet services and of businesses for local-area network services. Its efforts, boosted by its flexibility in developing functions fully suited to the characteristics of particular communication networks and the distinctive reliability of its products, have brought the company a 21% share of Japan's layer 2 switch market.*

Overseas, the company's accomplishments, which have long achieved high acclaim among Japanese telecommunications carriers, have duly been acknowledged and, as a result, Apresia switches have so far been adopted for service stations in nine countries by communications carriers operating outside Japan to serve as edge switches in global wide-area Ethernet service systems, leading the company to rank third in the global Ethernet switch market for telecommunications carriers

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in risk management involving contingency planning and security measures regarding the information systems of corporations alongside the need for the uninterrupted operation of information systems in general. In response, demand has accordingly been on the increase for services in which operations of servers and other devices of corporations are entrusted to special data management firms in the form of data centers.

In Japan, connection between a data center and the local area network of a corporation is normally carried out using Ethernet technology, whose low implementation cost and high reliability are widely appreciated, initiating a shift from conventional IP-VPN connection to Ethernet-based connection outside Japan alike.

In the same manner, Hitachi Cable's Apresia switches will be used by Vietnam's GDS as its backbone switches for 10-Gbps network connections to local network providers. The plan will mark the first implementation of Apresia switches in a data center outside Japan.

GDS will be the first Japanese company to provide high-quality data services of the Tier 3 level*5 in Vietnam. It plans to start data center services in Hanoi in 2009, connecting an Ethernet-based 10-Gbps network to the networks of communications carriers operating in Hanoi to enable high-speed/wide-area connections to user sites. GDS next plans to launch the service in Ho Chi Minh City.

The selection of Hitachi Cable's Apresia series as GDS's backbone switches is based on the recognition of the switches as being outstanding in terms of error avoidance functions, reliability, and implementation record.

With its achievements in the field of global wide-area Ethernet services serving as a toehold, Hitachi Cable, Ltd. in the future plans to promote its Apresia series of switches in markets requiring reliable high-speed Ethernet communications services as offered by local communications carriers connected to global networks as well as foreign-owned global network service providers, thereby further increasing its share in the Ethernet switch market

The economic conditions in which the Hitachi Cable Group operates today show no signs of letup from the financial crisis that originated with the failure of a major US securities firm last year. The global economy is in the midst of a deep and extended recession. Having assumed the office of president at this juncture, I am sobered by the enormity of this responsibility. The current business performance of our Group has been hit hard by the global recession, with especially marked declines in the semiconductor and automotive markets. My first task is to address this situation as quickly as possible through the sustained implementation of Emergency Performance Enhancement Measures.

The Hitachi Cable Group has restructured its businesses through the six-year medium-term management plan intended to strengthen its makeup. But rapid transformations in both the world and markets have highlighted deficiencies in our business restructuring efforts. The Hitachi Cable Group will now establish the corporate culture needed to implement a ceaseless cycle of transformation and renewal, in this way seeking to survive in a world in which markets react and interact across national and regional borders—ultimately forming a single world market—and to meet the threats facing the company today. To do this, we must focus on the following three themes.

First, we will work to cultivate what we call market acumen. Developing the market savvy needed to guide the Group is vital to overcoming present difficulties. All divisions—sales, research and development, design, and others—will hone their capacity to make judgments based on their observations of market conditions—hence market acumen—as professionals in their own fields. They will establish the direction of our business through energetic and sustained dialogue with each other.

Second, we will push for continued advances in manufacturing. The introduction of the Hitachi Cable Just-in-Time (JIT) Production System has steadily strengthened the manufacturing capabilities of the Hitachi Cable Group. We plan to establish related measures more widely and deeply within the Group to maximize results, including shortened lead times and lower inventories, which will then become a source of company strength.

Third, we will realize the Group corporate vision: Empowering Energy & Communication. To survive and thrive in a single world market, we must achieve peak performance in every aspect possible, including sales power, market acumen, manufacturing technology capabilities, product quality, and research and development capabilities, as well corporate social responsibilities (CSR). My goal is to make Hitachi Cable a company capable of producing communication-centric products: one by one, in large numbers, and continuously. I believe that by doing so we will be recognized as a firm that is focused on communications, which will bear fruit for the Hitachi Cable Brand.

Guided by these themes, the Hitachi Cable Group is firmly resolved to do its utmost to improve business performance and achieve new growth. We ask for your continued support and cooperation in these efforts.