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Leading intelligent storage company, Hitachi Data Systems, celebrated today (March 24) the opening of its expanded Hong Kong office, which is designated as the Asia Pacific regional headquarters.  

Based in Santa Clara, California, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) markets and supports intelligent storage subsystems and the software and services needed to deliver total storage solutions to customers.  The regional headquarters in Hong Kong is home to several HDS senior executives responsible for the business operations of the company in the region.  The office will be charged with marketing and selling the entire range of storage solutions to customers in Hong Kong and around the region, ranging from small and medium-sized businesses to large enterprises.  

The company also has offices in Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.  Other markets like Indonesia, Macau, New Zealand, the Philippines and Vietnam are serviced and supported by authorised channel partners.

The Senior Vice President and General Manager of HDS Asia Pacific, Mr David Yuen, said Hong Kong is regarded by the company as an ideal location for its regional base.  He said, "Hong Kong has long held the status of having one of the best infrastructures in the region.  With the entry of China into the World Trade Organization in December 2001, Hong Kong has become an even more strategic place to do business.  We view Hong Kong as the premier gateway to China ¡V as much as China sees Hong Kong as its window to the outside world."

According to Mr Yuen, the Hong Kong office of HDS has more than doubled in size since 2003, as the company has built a team of professionals to support its business growth in the region.

"The HDS Solutions Centre in Hong Kong was created to address a common customer concern about understanding how and which storage technology best fits a particular organisation.  The Centre provides both our partners and customers with the appropriate facilities for testing and building storage systems typically in a proof-of-concept exercise.  Most importantly, we build the Solutions Centre here not only for the large-scale enterprise market.  We also want to give strong commitment to the local small and medium enterprise market as we see them as the core business sector in Hong Kong," said Mr Yuen.

Officiating at HDS's new office opening ceremony, the Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong, Mr John Rutherford, welcomed the company's decision to use Hong Kong as a strategic base to oversee operations in the region.  

He said, "This expansion by Hitachi Data Systems endorses Hong Kong's position as the regional centre for IT providers.  Given the increasing intensity and complexity of business and marketing activities conducted in Asia, there is a great demand for innovative IT solutions to increase the competitiveness and effectiveness of local and regional companies.  Hong Kong's central position in Asia; our proximity and unique relationship with the mainland and our international business environment make us a natural location for technology companies to set up a regional operation to oversee and interact easily with their international business."

In sharing the company's vision on long-term development in Hong Kong, Mr Yuen said, "To sustain its leadership in the global economy, Hong Kong businesses must align their IT infrastructure closer to the business.  To fully take advantage of technology does not mean simply investing in the latest developments but rather building solutions that deliver greater efficiency while simplifying the management of what is already a very complex network of servers, storage and applications."

Hitachi Data Systems is a subsidiary of leading global electronics company, Hitachi, Ltd (NYSE: HIT).  HDS reaches its customers through the support of value-added business partners in the region.  With 2,900 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business through direct and indirect channels in the public, government and private sectors in over 170 countries.  For more information, please visit the website at www.hds.com.

Invest Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government department charged with encouraging and facilitating inward investment into the city by providing all the support needed to establish a business presence here.  For more information, please visit the website at www.investhk.gov.hk.

Ends/Thursday, March 24, 2005

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