ATLANTA -- 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.”

In a separate release:

Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc. today announced a joint relationship with Wave7 Optics for the FTTx market. The recently announced Hitachi triple play (data*, voice, video) B-PON product was the first benefactor of this partnership. Hitachi has a long history in standards (A-PON, ATM, IEEE) since 1994 and has a reputation of quality and reliable manufacturing. Wave7 offers an innovative spirit and holds patents in both the video and Ethernet areas.

Hitachi and Wave7 developed the triple play B-PON in response to the interest in FTTx generated by the RBOCs. Hitachi and Wave7 formed a working relationship to combine core competencies and create a unique and affordable solution to offer the market.

Hitachi and Wave7 Optics will exhibit the triple play B-PON solution at the FTTH Conference (Oct 7-9, 2003) in New Orleans, Telecom’O3 (Oct 11-15) in Las Vegas, as well as at the APPA Show (Oct 11-15) in Kansas City.

“By combining Hitachi and Wave7’s expertise, we expect to repeat the ongoing success experienced by Hitachi with our optical access products in Asia.” says Frank Banks, VP Sales, Hitachi Telecom. “Our joint development efforts have produced an industry leading triple play B-PON solution that will compliment the rest of our optical access product family consisting of Ethernet B-PON, Point-to-Point and GbE-PON from Hitachi.”

“We are very pleased to be working with Hitachi Telecom,” says Emmanuel Vella, Chief Marketing Officer of Wave7 Optics. “Hitachi’s rich legacy of industry leading telecommunications products and Wave7’s innovations in optical access will result in a series of revolutionary access products for our customers.”

In a separate release:

Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc. today announced a triple play FSAN compliant B-PON system to the AMN1200 Access family. It transmits data, voice, and video at speeds up to 622Mbit/s to a home or small office offering a suite of feature rich applications that stands to propel the telecom industry into the future. The Standards based triple play B-PON offers a more sophisticated way to achieve voice, video and fast data* services other than copper and cable by transmitting all three services at high-speeds over fiber.

Hitachi’s triple play B-PON addresses North America’s move towards FTTx solutions. Currently throughout Asia, Hitachi has deployed more than 200,000 PON and Point-to-Point systems since 1994 with orders expected to reach 300,000 worldwide by the end of the year. Hitachi’s triple play B-PON is designed to complement the needs specific to the North American market. It is compliant with ITU-T G.983 standards and uses WDM technology to implement bi-directional transmission over a single optical fiber (downstream: 622Mbit/s, upstream: 156Mbit/s).

Hitachi will exhibit the triple play B-PON solution at the FTTH Conference (Oct 7-9, 2003) in New Orleans & Telecom’O3 (Oct 11-15) in Las Vegas.

Hitachi’s triple play B-PON supports 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet services (data*, VPN, Internet access, VoIP), POTS and video that readily accommodates current standard set top boxes and HDTV (in the future), as well as, features a patent pending RF return capability. It achieves a low system cost making it an attractive, viable solution to the FTTx hesitation experienced by many carriers to date.

“Hitachi has anticipated the introduction of the triple play B-PON for some time to complete our AMN Optical Access product family” says Frank Banks, VP Sales, Hitachi Telecom. “Our success in shipping over 200,000 systems in Asia to date and the experience we have gained ensures our potential to become the industry leading supplier for the FTTx triple play market in North America.”

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

Hitachi Ltd.

Hitachi Telecom (USA) Inc.

Wave7 Optics Inc.