Hitachi Vantara Restructures for AI and Hybrid Cloud Focus

As new technologies like AI continue to grow, there has been an explosive growth of required processing for the increased level of data. In fact, the vast majority of IT professionals are currently unable to support the increased level of AI-related requests from within their organisation.

With this in mind, Hitachi Vantara - the data storage and hybrid cloud management subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. - is doubling down on its enterprise storage, AI and hybrid cloud business through a strategic restructure. 

The new structure includes the integration of the Hitachi IT Platform Products Management Division to provide unmatched data processing, reliability and resiliency capabilities. 

Hitachi Vantara is not the first company to realign its priorities on account of AI this year, wth SAP having restructured parts of its business to prioritise AI development in January 2024. On the other hand, leading electric vehicle (EV) companies like Xpeng are set to hire thousands more workers in order to shift to a more AI-led focus.

Accelerating internal growth plans

With extensive plans for technological growth, Hitachi Vantara prides itself on its ability to respond to market opportunities and focus on hybrid cloud and generative AI (Gen AI). As a result, the company’s new structure seeks to command infrastructure and data storage experience across manufacturing and hybrid cloud.

In addition, it will have a shared focus on collaboration to drive meaningful business outcomes for the company’s customers. Aiming to innovate and adapt to market needs in real-time, Hitachi Vantara will also be building upon its extensive expertise in managing data across mission critical environments.

This announcement comes during a significant time in enterprise technology space, as customer demand for data and processing continues to spike. As a result, plenty of companies are struggling to keep pace with evolving AI projects.

According to recent research, AI budgets are expected to increase over the next three years, with 62% of business leaders anticipating that it will improve operational efficiency and productivity.

Upscaling AI transformation to improve business outcomes

Hitachi Vantara is also working to pioneer the development of hybrid cloud storage that aims to combine on-premises and cloud computing to achieve safety, high performance, reliability and cost advantage. This will enable critical large-scale data to be processed easier for complex business requirements. 

For instance, the company recently announced a partnership with Nvidia to create a new generation of transformational AI. Hitachi iQ seeks to layer industry-specific capabilities on top of its AI solution stack, resulting in more tailored and specific outcomes relevant to the particular organisation harnessing the technology.

“The rise of Gen AI and the explosion in data processing power are pushing the pace of change, and many organisations are struggling to keep up,” says Sheila Rohra, CEO of Hitachi Vantara. “This next phase of business transformation is designed to help us accelerate our execution and scale our business to identify and capitalise on market opportunities in real-time. 

She continues: “This extension of development, manufacturing, sales, and delivery capabilities will strengthen our ability to provide our customers with the AI-driven data performance, reliability, and resiliency they need across their hybrid cloud environments in order to realise real-world impact and growth.”

As part of the new organisational structure, Akinobu Shimada, formerly president of Hitachi’s IT Platform Products Management Division, has been appointed as chairman of Hitachi Vantara. His goal is to further strengthen the connection between Hitachi Vantara and Hitachi Ltd.

“Our strong partnership across the organisations has helped to create the right synergy to formalise a Hitachi Vantara structure that brings R&D and engineering closer to our key markets around the globe,” Akinobu Shimada says. “Given the impressive amount of industry expertise and technical understanding infused into our business, I am confident that we will lead with a unified digital infrastructure and AI strategy and execution plan that enables us to deliver high-impact outcomes for our customers and positions our business for continued growth.”

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