Altech UEC Selects Hitachi CinemaStar HDDs for PVR Products
Tues 22 May, 2007

SAN JOSE, Calif. –  May 22, 2007 – Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi) today announced that Altech UEC – South Africa's largest set-top box manufacturer – has selected Hitachi's CinemaStar^TM hard drives for its line of personal video recorders (PVR). With capabilities like Smooth Stream^TM technology and "bedroom quiet" acoustics, the CinemaStar hard drive is optimized for PVR applications and allows Altech UEC customers to record and store up to 80 hours of their favourite shows.

The CinemaStar hard drive will be used in Altech UEC's current DVR 3000 and DVR 831 video recorders in addition to Altech UEC's new MPEG-4 standard-definition and high-definition PVRs. The DVR3000 recorder is equipped with the 250GB CinemaStar hard drive and features a triple-tuner solution. This allows the viewer to record one programme, time-shift live events on a second channel and view a third programme simultaneously. The DVR831 Recorder, with the 160GB CinemaStar hard drive, allows viewers to record one programme and time-shift live events on a second channel.

"With the issuing of new DTH Pay-TV licences in South Africa expected later this year and the migration of analogue terrestrial services in South Africa to an all-digital platform expected to begin in 2008, we are anticipating that local demand for PVRs will strengthen significantly over the next five years," said Ian Develing, sales and marketing director at Altech UEC. "In addition, foreign demand for our PVRs continues to strengthen year on year. When looking for a supplier of hard disk drives, we knew that we had to go with a brand that we trusted and we have complete faith in Hitachi's ability to meet the growing demand for our PVRs."

The "Smart" Hard Drive

Spearheading the era of the "smart" hard drive, Hitachi has incorporated customized features into its CinemaStar line of hard drives, delivering capabilities that are optimized specifically for PVR and set-top box applications:

• Silent-seek acoustics for "bedroom-quiet" operation
• Low-power idle for cooler system operation and greater host-product reliability
• SMART Command Transport and adaptive error recovery for optimized video streaming and picture quality
• Thermal monitoring and Thermal Fly-height Control (TFC) to maintain consistent fly-height for improved error rates in varied temperature conditions.

"This is a very significant win for Hitachi and our CinemaStar hard drives," said Nick Kyriacou, Director, EMEA, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "Altech UEC has a fast-growing business and Hitachi has proven itself more than able to meet high-volume demand for drives. We enjoy a very good relationship with Altech UEC and are excited about our future work with them."

About Altech UEC

Altech UEC is a subsidiary of the JSE listed Altech group of companies and is a supplier of digital television hardware, software and support services to major Pay-TV Operators in Africa, Australia, Europe, India, the Middle East and Latin America. For further information visit www.uec.co.za or contact our Marketing Services Coordinator, Merethe Gooding on +27 31 5082800.

About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is a storage technology leader, founded in 2003 through the combination of Hitachi's and IBM's hard disk drive businesses. Hitachi GST enables users to fully engage in the digital lifestyle by providing high-value hard disk storage in formats suitable for the office, on the road and in the home.

With its legacy in hard drive invention, Hitachi GST led the industry in celebrating the storage technology's golden anniversary in 2006. The hard drive has had a profound effect on the computing and consumer electronics industries after five decades of innovation. That heritage lives on at Hitachi GST today through products that define the standard for hard drive miniaturization, capacity, performance and reliability.

With approximately 33,000 employees worldwide, Hitachi GST offers a comprehensive range of hard drive products for desktop computers, high-performance servers, notebooks and consumer devices. For more information, please visit the company's Web site at www.hitachigst.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 384,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2006 (ended March 31, 2007) consolidated revenues totaled 10,247 billion yen ($86.8 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 and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.