Hitachi Introduces the AMN Optical Access Family for North America

ATLANTA, Ga. October 7, 2003 - Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc., today introduced the broadest, most complete set of optical access solutions in the industry from a single vendor. The AMN Optical Access product family consists of a complete suite of access solutions to address the expanding needs of the telecom market in North America.

Hitachi has been developing optical access products since 1994, mainly for the Asian market with hundreds of thousands of A-PON, Ethernet B-PON, and Point-to-Point (PtP) system lines deployed. Now, with interest brewing in North America for PON products, Hitachi has modified and expanded its suite of products to address the specific needs of North America. Hitachi is the only company that offers B-PON, GbE-PON and Point-to-Point all in one product family. Hitachi's Access Family of products are not just "PON-capable" or "PON ready", they are available now and deployed worldwide. In addition, Hitachi is offering a complete end-to-end solution for every product with ONTs (customer premise units), OLTs (central office units) and a single management system.

The AMN Optical Access product Family consists of:

The AMN1200 series - Hitachi has already shipped over 200,000 systems in Japan with orders expected to reach over 300,000 worldwide by the end of the year. The AMN1200 series is an Ethernet B-PON system* compliant with the ITU-T G.983 standards. Hitachi developed FSAN components to implement bi-directional transmission over a single optical fiber (downstream: 622Mbit/s, upstream: 156Mbit/s) to extend LAN segments up to 20km. The AMN 1200 series offers a more sophisticated way to achieve fast Internet and Ethernet access services transmitting at high-speeds up to 100Mbit/s per user with up to 32 users sharing a single fiber from the Central Office (CO).

The triple play B-PON series - The product family also includes a "triple play" B-PON product developed in conjunction with Wave7 Optics in order to address the specific needs of the North American market. The triple play B-PON delivers data*, voice and video applications to a residence or small office over a single fiber. It uses WDM technology to support video services with interoperability to existing industry leading Set Top Boxes (STB). The customer unit easily mounts to the exterior of a building in a hardened shell allowing for minimal interference, while allowing service providers to offer revenue generating next-generation broadband access technology to customers.

The AMN1500 series - Hitachi supports future expandability to its product family with the AMN1500 GbE-PON system designed for higher bandwidth applications suited especially to enterprise customers. The GbE-PON transmits 1Gbit/s both upstream and downstream and is based on the progressing IEEE802.3ah Ge-PON standard.

The AMN1100 Media Converter - Hitachi offers a point-to-point Ethernet Converter that dedicates a fiber to each customer. The AMN1100 provides dedicated bi-directional bandwidth of 100Mbit/s end-to-end, ensuring a secure connection with no shared bandwidth.

"Hitachi is pleased to enter the Access market in North America with a complete product line that is available and proven," says Frank Banks, VP of Sales, Hitachi Telecom. "The market for optical access has started to grow in the last year or so with utility and municipality deployments to be followed by larger carriers. We believe Hitachi's proven solutions will bring value to this market."

*Based on a technical license from NTT Access Network Service Systems Lab.

About Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc.

Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc., a subsidiary of Hitachi America, Ltd., develops, manufactures and markets telecommunications equipment for the U.S. market. The company offers Access systems such as an ITU-compliant 'triple play' B-PON for FTTh/FTTB, ultra high-speed optical networking equipment such as DWDM and SONET systems as well as customer premises products such as PBXs. For more information on Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc., visit http://www.hitel.com.

Hitachi America, Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., markets and manufactures a broad range of electronics and semiconductors, and provides industrial equipment and services throughout North America. For more information on Hitachi America, visit http://www.hitachi.us .

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 340,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2002 (ended March 31, 2003) consolidated sales totaled 8,191.7 billion yen ($68.3 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 and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Website at http://www.hitachi.com .