Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, provider of Application Optimized Storage solutions and a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., today announced the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform won all five categories in the second annual Diogenes Labs-Storage magazine Quality Award for Enterprise Storage Arrays.

Presented by Diogenes Analytical Laboratories, Inc. and TechTarget’s Storage magazine, the Quality Awards were determined by the results of an empirical survey of 371 Storage magazine subscribers identified as managers, administrators, and other end-users of storage systems. The Hitachi Universal Storage Platform garnered top rankings among the five leading enterprise storage systems that were evaluated on the basis of five key areas: sales-force competence, product features, initial product quality, product reliability, and technical support.

“Hitachi Data Systems has consolidated its claim as the top-rated high-end array vendor by repeating as the winner of the Diogenes Labs-Storage magazine Quality Awards,” said Rich Castagna, editor-in-chief, Storage, and Phil Goodwin, president, Diogenes Analytical Laboratories, Inc., who jointly directed the survey. “Congratulations to Hitachi Data Systems for retaining bragging rights for another year.”

“Last year we received top honors in four of the five categories," said Brenda Peffer, vice president of Global Marketing, Hitachi Data Systems. "This year, Hitachi storage users helped us not only repeat, but build on that tremendous success, earning us first place across the board with a new win in the sales-force competence category. This is tremendous validation for our consultative sales approach which has helped us deliver sophisticated business solutions to customers.”

The other vendors rated in the survey include HP, EMC, IBM and Sun Microsystems and placed second, third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Diogenes Analytical Laboratories, Inc., is an organization that helps IT buyers reduce the inherent risk and uncertainty associated with technology purchases by providing research, strategy development, price negotiation assistance, and product and technology reviews. Storage magazine is a monthly publication that provides IT executives, managers, and staff with in-depth analysis and forward-looking guidance on managing, storing, networking, and safeguarding the data at the core of large organizations.