ATLANTA, GA, September 19, 2005 – Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc. today announced that Hitachi’s AMN1200 Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) system has been accepted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for deployment under the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program. Hitachi’s AMN1200 FTTP system was included on the RUS List of Acceptable Materials in category “ae,” access equipment, as of July 28, 2005. This listing allows broadband service providers serving communities of up to 20,000 inhabitants to install Hitachi’s AMN1200 FTTP solution using funding obtained under the RUS program. The Hitachi AMN1200 meets the RUS “Buy American” requirements.
As defined by the USDA, the RUS Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program is designed to ensure that rural consumers enjoy the same quality and range of telecommunications services that are available in urban and suburban communities. On March 4, 2005, RUS announced funding availability in FY 2005, of “no less than $2.157 billion in loans, including $2.032 billion for direct cost-of-money loans, $46 million for direct 4-percent loans, and $79 million for loan guarantees.”
“Hitachi is a company with a deep technology pedigree and large-scale manufacturing capabilities. The company is also the most experienced supplier of FTTP systems in the world. Hitachi’s RUS listing demonstrates the company’s commitment to bring leading edge communications services to all geographic regions – urban to rural – in a concerted way,” said consultant and analyst Kermit Ross, Principal of Millennium Marketing.
“Hitachi’s FTTP solutions are designed to be economical to deploy, reliable in operation, and to offer performance that will support the high-bandwidth applications of the future,” said David Foote, Chief Technical Officer, Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc. “In addition, because we build our products to ITU-T standards, service providers can be confident that their investments are technologically sound for the long haul. Now, the combination of RUS funding and Hitachi FTTP technology will be a major benefit to smaller communities.”
About Hitachi’s AMN1200 Product Family
The AMN1200 FTTP platform is a family of products that provides ultra high bandwidth communication services to residential, business and institutional subscribers using a single optical fiber direct to the subscriber’s premises. Hitachi’s products for North America are based on ITU-T standards, providing further assurance that service providers will have maximum flexibility in implementing FTTP solutions as speeds and capabilities increase in the future.
About Hitachi Telecom ( USA), Inc.
Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc., a subsidiary of Hitachi America, Ltd., develops, manufactures and markets telecommunications equipment for the North American market. The company offers access systems such as Ethernet B-PON and ITU-compliant ‘triple play’ systems for Fiber-to-the-Premises applications, and ultra high-speed optical networking equipment such as DWDM and SONET systems. For more information on Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc., visit http://www.hitachitelecom.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 347,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2004 (ended March 31, 2005) consolidated sales totaled 9,027.0 billion yen ($84.4 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.
About Rural Utilities Service, USDA
The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency delivering the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Utilities Programs, administers the Broadband Program, a loan program designed specifically to increase the rate of deployment of technology to small towns in rural areas. The program can be used to fund borrowers serving communities of up to 20,000 inhabitants. For more information on RUS, please visit the agency’s website at http://www.usda.gov/rus/telecom/index.htm.
