New Head at HDS

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) today said it has appointed Dave Roberson as president and CEO, replacing Shinjiro Iwata.

Effective April 1, Iwata will become chief marketing officer for the Information and Telecommunications Systems Group (ITSG) for HDS’s parent company, Hitachi, Inc.

HDS, also announced that Minoru Kosuge, executive vice president and chief storage architect, has been promoted to COO of HDS.

Dave Roberson Source: HDS

Roberson, currently president and COO of HDS, has 25 years in key executive management positions at HDS under his belt. He has served as a board member of several public and private companies, from semiconductors to IT services.

Iwata and Roberson said in a statement they plan to work with each other in their new roles.

“Dave’s strategic vision and demonstrated strength in managing operations will continue to drive the company’s growth and further extend our leadership in the storage industry,” Iwata said.

“I look forward to collaborating with Dave in my new role to reinforce Hitachi’s global business strategy.”

While CEO changes sometimes portend trouble on the executive mantle, HDS said in a statement that the news comes at a time when HDS is experiencing very strong growth.

HDS, which competes with EMC and IBM in the market for high-end storage systems, attributed the growth to the success of its TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform, a high-end storage system with advanced virtualization perks.

HDS also cited its HiCommand storage management software and midrange offerings as key contributors to its bottom line.

Hitachi’s storage revenues for the December 2005 quarter were $755 million, a 35 percent increase from the quarter a year ago.

Many storage vendors fared well in 2005. According to IDC, the storage market in general enjoyed a strong quarter of growth.

The sector posted its strongest growth in years in the fourth quarter of 2005, with external storage system sales growing 17.9 percent from the same quarter a year ago.