Hitachi and the Georgia Institute of Technology Collaborate to Spur Innovation in Converged Applications Development for Communications Service Providers

Hitachi Communication Technologies America, Inc. (HCTA) today announced that Hitachi is a sponsor of the 2010-2011 Convergence Innovation Competition (CIC) produced by the Georgia Tech Research Network Operations Center (GT-RNOC). The partnership began in the Fall Semester with network setup, training, and classroom instruction. The CIC is currently underway and will culminate at the end of the Spring Semester, with awards given to student teams based on concept viability, creativity, and completeness of the submitted prototype.

“Hitachi is proud to sponsor the Convergence Innovation Competition this year. The topic of applications delivered over communications networks is very timely, as service providers today continue to seek ways to generate revenue from their broadband wireline and wireless networks,” said David Foote, HCTA Chief Technology Officer. “It is rewarding to see the creativity and organized thought process that the students apply to these projects.”

“Working on these projects with Hitachi is very beneficial to our students,” said Russ Clark, PhD, Associate Director of GT-RNOC and Research Scientist in Georgia Tech’s College of Computing. “The direct association with a leading international technology company, one that is engaged in real product development activities in this field, is an opportunity for students to apply their classroom experience to projects that could become a commercial reality.”

Hitachi is providing funding support for the CIC program, along with the company’s SuperJTM Applications Environment software platform, server components, training and technical support. The competition focus on applications development has drawn the support of other companies that have products and initiatives in this area. Actiontec, a major supplier of home/business gateway devices to large service providers, contributed Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) – broadband home routers and plug computer-based service gateways – for use in the competition. According to Brian Henrichs, Actiontec chief business development officer, “We are seeing from all of our customers an increasing need to monetize bandwidth, and this program is an ideal forum to generate new ideas.”

In addition to sponsoring the competition, Hitachi provided a full suite of the SuperJ Applications Deployment Platform to Georgia Tech including:

• SuperJ Engine (SJE): highly performance optimized embedded Java Virtual Machine
• SuperJ Framework (SJF): OSGi standards-compliant client software for all CPE
• SuperJ Deployment Management System (SJDMS): applications deployment server
• SuperJ Tools (SJT): development kit and tools for application developers

All of the Actiontec home routers and service gateways and plug computers used by the students are running Hitachi’s SJE and SJF in order to “host” the applications that will be developed (using the SJT) by the competing student teams. The deployment and life cycle management of the applications will be accomplished by GT-RNOC researchers and student assistants using the SJDMS.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH

The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation's premier research universities. Ranked seventh among U.S. News & World Report's top public universities, Georgia Tech's more than 20,000 students are enrolled in its Colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Management and Sciences. Tech is among the nation's top producers of women and African-American engineers. The Institute offers research opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students and is home to more than 100 interdisciplinary units plus the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

ABOUT GT-RNOC

GT-RNOC is an enabling center providing Georgia Tech academic, research and development communities with the access networks, core services, application services and enablers, as well as fixed and mobile clients required to pioneer end-to-end ubiquitous visual and voice communication integrated with personalized real-time information and media. GT-RNOC produces the Convergence Innovation Competition (CIC) annually during Georgia Tech’s fall and spring semesters giving students the opportunity to apply their classroom and lab experience to practical problems in partnership with companies actively engaged in related businesses, potentially leading to viable commercial products and applications. Please visit www.rnoc.gatech.edu for more information.

ABOUT HITACHI

Hitachi Communication Technologies America, Inc., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., develops, manufactures and markets equipment for communications service providers in the Americas. The company offers ultra high-speed optical networking equipment for long haul and metro applications, standards-compliant fiber-to-the-premises solutions, software platforms for subscriber applications deployment and management, and products and technologies for wireless network operators, including evolved packet core solutions. For more information about Hitachi Communication Technologies America, please visit www.hitachi-cta.com.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 360,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2009 (ended March 31, 2010) consolidated revenues totaled 8,968 billion yen ($96.4 billion). Hitachi will focus more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems, power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated materials and key devices that support them. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.