ELKO Group has signed an agreement with Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) to start the distribution of hard disk drive (HDD) products in Russia, Eastern Europe and the Baltics.
“The rapid digitalization of consumer goods is happening throughout the world and our HDD business has grown rapidly over the last several years, with more than 1.5 million units sold in 2004,” said Jens Hartmann, CEO of the ELKO Group. “With the addition of Hitachi to our portfolio, we are excited about our future growth prospects, and our ability to tap into the company’s broad range of products and technology leadership.”
The new agreement will enable Hitachi to significantly expand company’s presence in the growing region and extend the distribution of its HDD product line, which ranges from the popular one-inch Microdrive digital media to 3.5-inch Ultrastar drives for enterprise applications.
“The addition of the ELKO Group to our distributor line-up helps us achieve several key goals – expand our global presence, capture emerging market growth and continue to build a channel network that allows Hitachi and its partners to be successful,” said Steve Pereira, director, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies EMEA. “We are pleased to begin working with ELKO Group throughout the nine Eastern European countries in which they operate.”
About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was founded in 2003 as a result of the strategic combination of Hitachi’s and IBM’s storage technology businesses. Hitachi GST is the industry’s second largest hard disk drive manufacturer in revenue.
The company’s goal is to enable users to fully engage in the digital lifestyle by providing access to large amounts of storage capacity in formats suitable for the office, on the road and in the home. The company offers customers worldwide a comprehensive range of storage products for desktop computers, high-performance servers and mobile devices. For more information on Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.hitachigst.com.
About Hitachi, Ltd.
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.
