Hitachi to Reorganize Telecom Operations and Cut Work Force

TOKYO, March 4 -- As part of its restructuring, Hitachi said it will lower its overall workforce by approximately 20,930 (15,100 in Japan and 5,830 overseas) by the end of June.

Hitachi said it will also reorganize its operations in the information and telecommunications and digital media sectors, effective April 1. At present, its operations in these sectors encompass five organizations: the Information & Telecommunications Systems Group, Solution Systems, Digital Media, Information & Network Services and the Net-PDA Venture Co. Hitachi said it will reorganize these five organizations into three: the Information Business Group, the Information & Telecommunications Group and the Ubiquitous Platform Group.

The Ubiquitous Platform Group will be at the heart of Hitachi's response to the broadband era, the company said; imaging systems such as plasma display panels and LCD projectors will be linked with PCs, mobile phones and PDAs. (In another step, Hitachi is withdrawing from its color picture tube business in the US.)

Isao Ono, who currently heads the Information & Telecommunications Systems Group and is president and CEO of Solution Systems, will be president and CEO of the new Information & Telecommunications Group. Tsugio Momose, current president and CEO of Digital Media, will be appointed president and CEO of the Ubiquitous Platform Group.