We are leaders, who continue advancing full steam ahead
Hitachi Vantara is a young company that unifies IT infrastructure and operational technologies from various industries. Woven into every segment of their operations is the Japanese culture, in which focus is squarely on the customer, and where quality comes first and everything else is less important.
“Our 100% guarantee refers to the guarantee that we give to our customers with which we guarantee the 100% availability of data on our devices and no loss of data. Our customers worldwide appreciate that very much, because they recognise the quality of the equipment and the support we provide them,” notes Mladen Jevtić, Hitachi Vantara sales manager for the Adriatic Region.
Could you recount for us the interesting history of Hitachi Vantara, which is part of the Hitachi company.
– Hitachi Vantara (formerly HDS – Hitachi Data Systems) is part of the large Hitachi Group and was founded five years ago with the goal of unifying IT infrastructure and operational technologies from various industries. This primarily applies to the IoT and big data analytics, with which Hitachi unified all its expertise under one roof. We are now in a position to provide a complete service of process optimisation/automation for virtually every client, whether that’s a telecommunications or an energy company, a factory, a bank, a utility provider or any other, with the aim of reducing costs and maximising profits.
You have behind you tremendous experience – 100+ years in operational technology and 60+ in the IT sector. How important is experience in your business?
– Hitachi is a manufacturer of IT equipment, trains, robots, construction machinery, medical equipment, power plants, home electronics, auto industry electronics and thermal systems. We have products for practically every industry and knowhow going back many years. We are actually the only manufacturer in the world with this kind of portfolio and it is natural for us to continue with digital innovation/ revolution, by integrating/connecting all of our products and solutions across all industries.
Perhaps the best example of this is British Railways, which is – with the help of Hitachi – integrating its transport infrastructure with IT. There a million sensors installed on trains and railway infrastructure monitor every segment of work in order to prevent breakdowns and delays, and to increase safety. Financial savings are enormous, and the safety of passengers and their satisfaction have increased massively compared to the time prior to the introduction of such a system.
You recently introduced the 5000 Series Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP), which is the world’s fastest such platform. How superior is this solution compared to all previous ones? How important is this for your partners?
– Yes, this is the largest, fastest and most reliable storage in the world, which can be used to store dozens of petabytes of data. It can be used to hold, for instance, all data from the public administration/state bodies and all data from all ERP systems implemented in Serbia, and for there still to be room for more. It’s good that it can be implemented as a “small” system and then expanded without limitation, which means that it can also be suitable for large users in Serbia and the region.
We’ve just implemented one such system at NLB Bank in Slovenia, and we expect large clients in Serbia to soon recognise this kind of system as a central part of their data centre.
Whoever has a large number of users, transactions, applications and large databases, and wants it all to work as fast as possible, chooses Hitachi as a partner
Clients expect you to help them generate new revenue, increase competitiveness, reduce costs and improve their customer experience. Is this achieved through digital innovations?
– Absolutely. In this age, and in the future, there is no other way to advance operations than to apply digital innovation. Considering our experience and knowhow, we can immediately present our clients with the savings and benefits they are brought by the introduction of a particular “innovation”, and it is up to them to decide. Fortunately, the managers of large clients are also aware of this trend and it is now easier to discuss this topic with them than it was 10 years ago, when everything was in development.
And while we’re on this subject, is it your goal to become the first choice when it comes to digital innovation?
– We already are in a way. In terms of the number of patents in the domain of the IoT and data analytics, we are the world leader and are continuinf in this direction full steam ahead. Our focus now is on AI, where our IT infrastructure devices already have algorithms for AI built in.
Your company is a strategic partner of Disney Parks. What jobs do you do for them? Is that your most famous client?
– I’m not sure whether Disney is the biggest client, but it’s probably one of the most interesting. Disney opted to make Hitachi its strategic partner because we were able to network and oversee everything that exists in the system of their amusement parks. Disney’s idea was to optimise system maintenance – reduce costs and increase the safety and satisfaction of guests. Now everything – from rollercoasters to the flow of people, control of queues and security alerts – can be monitored from one centre via a plethora of sensors and cameras distributed throughout the park.
Just an we have smart telephones and smart cars, Disney now has smart rollercoasters – on every rollercoaster, every wheel, rail, pole, seat, safety harness, door and other parts there are now cameras and sensors that measure everything from the environment. They measure vibrations, temperature, sound, and all that in real time, and then all that information is processed in real time, so the entire system is advanced and preventatively maintained through artificial intelligence.
Which references would you single out from Serbia and our region?
– I would certainly single out the Deuche Telecom Group, Raiffeisen Bank, NLB Bank, AIK Bank, Telekom Srbija, VIP Mobile, Telenor, and many state bodies from all over the former Yugoslavia.
In Serbia those are our storage systems and backup, which are known for their performances and reliability.
Whoever has a large number of users, transactions, applications and large databases, and wants it all to work as quickly as possible, 24x7x365, recognises Hitachi as a partner.
In Serbia there must definitely be an upgrading of “disaster recovery” systems – the existence of a “second” data centre as a backup location in the event of a crash/problem at the primary location, which now most commonly operates in the active-passive mode (asynchronous replication, second dana centre idle). Our technologies enable, without any additional complications, the realising of the active-active mode of operation, where resources are also engaged at a second location, with which the overall performance and security of the system are improved.
Moreover, our users have yet to recognise the modern concept of digital archives, but I think this will soon be changed by the new law on “archiving”, which stipulates that long-term and adequate preservation of digital data be taken seriously, with the application of privacy and security policies.