Sydney, Australia, 28 January 2009. Sun Microsystems has today announced that it achieved Hitachi Data Systems’ (HDS) partner of the year 2008 in its fourth annual True North partner awards.

Steve Kelly, Director Channels, HDS Australia and New Zealand said, "Hitachi Data Systems’ 'National Partner of the Year' award is given in recognition of true commitment to the partnership and our Partner Program. Sun Microsystems has demonstrated fantastic year-on-year growth, heavily invested in building its capacity and capability and delivered some key strategic wins in 2008. They thoroughly deserve the recognition of our National Partner of the Year."

Presented at HDS’s annual partner event at the end of the year, the award is the latest milestone in a seven-year long partnership between the two organisations.

According to HDS, Sun’s achieved its highest award because of its investment in its partner capacity, its national sales achievement and its commitment to HDS as a long-term partner.

Anthony Clarke, Sun’s Storage Practice Manager, attended the event and collected the award. He said, “We value our relationship with HDS highly and have worked hard to achieve well beyond our targets for 2008. They are a great organisation to work with.”

The three-day True North partner event involved planning and objective-setting for the coming year, as well as activities and networking for all HDS partners in ANZ. Approximately 80 partners attended the event.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- "The Network is the Computer" -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development and open source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.

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 4,000 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 390,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2007 (ended March 31, 2008) consolidated revenues totaled 11,226 billion yen ($112.3 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.