Business Editors

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 2000

SYNNEX Information Technologies, Inc. a leading supply chain integrator, announced it has signed a distribution agreement with Hitachi America, Ltd. a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT), to distribute the company's line of hard disk drive products. Hitachi, a leading provider of drives for portable computers and high-performance server storage applications, is expanding distribution to meet a growing demand for its high-capacity and high-performance products.

The alliance with Hitachi enables SYNNEX to provide high-performance disk drives and increased storage options to support its broad base of value-added resellers, OEMs, systems integrators, and computer dealers. With four distribution centers and five manufacturing facilities strategically located throughout the US, SYNNEX is well-positioned to meet fast-growing demands for the hard disk drive products quickly and efficiently. The addition of Hitachi further enhances the company's ability to offer a comprehensive lineup of storage solutions to service the channel and its manufacturing customers.

Meeting High Performance Demands

The Hitachi product lineup includes a family of 2.5-inch drives with capacities of up to 18GB, and 3.5-inch drives with advanced SCSI and Fibre Channel interfaces. The 2.5-inch drives (for portable computers) have storage capacities ranging from 4.3 to 18 GBs and use Hitachi's advanced GMR head and digital read/write channel technology to achieve very high capacity in the increasingly popular slimline form factor. The 3.5-inch drives are available at speeds of 7,200 rpm or 10,025 rpm, and storage capacities range from 9 GB to 73.9 GB.

"We are seeing increased demand across the board for high-performance drives, driven by the popularity of portable PCs and growth in Internet and e-commerce applications," said Gary Galusha, Vice President of Hard Disk Drives Sales and Marketing for Hitachi America's Computer Division, Storage Products Group. "Adding SYNNEX to the distribution team further advances our commitment to make Hitachi disk storage products available in both original equipment and aftermarket sales channels."

David Liscom, Vice President of Storage Products at SYNNEX said, "We are extremely pleased to add the Hitachi line of hard drives to our suite of mass storage offerings at SYNNEX. Hitachi is one of the leaders in the 2.5-inch drive market, and their newest 3.5-inch products will enable us to offer our customers a high performance solution for their server applications."

Company Information

Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Fremont, CA, SYNNEX Information Technologies, Inc., is a premier IT supply chain integrator with expertise in electronics manufacturing services, distribution, and e-commerce. The company offers complete design-to-delivery computing solutions to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), value-added resellers (VARs), and systems integrators. SYNNEX is aligned with the industry's top suppliers in PCs and servers, motherboards, CPUs, memory, storage, networking, communication, and component products. Additional information about SYNNEX can be found online at http://www.synnex.com.

Hitachi America, Ltd., Computer Division, supplies high-performance computer storage products and multimedia products to OEMs, value-added resellers, system integrators and distributors. The division's products include high-capacity hard disk drives and optical drives, digital multimedia recorders, hand-held computers, LCD projectors, color laser beam printers and flat panel displays. Hitachi America, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., Japan, markets and manufactures a broad range of electronics, computer systems, consumer electronics and semiconductor products, and provides industrial equipment and services throughout the U.S. Additional information is available at Hitachi America's web site at http://www.hitachi.com.

Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1998 (ended March 31, 1999) consolidated sales of 7,977 billion yen ($65.9 billion(a)). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi's web site at http://www.hitachi.co.jp.

(a) At an exchange rate of 121 yen to the dollar.