SAN FRANCISCO - April 11, 2007 - The MULTOS™ Consortium, an open 17-member international industry group which governs the MULTOS™ operating system and its interoperability worldwide, today announced the entry of MULTOS into the U.S. Government market with the Hitachi dual-interface MULTOS smart card with StepNexus PIV Application. Hitachi is the first MULTOS implementer to receive certification for FIPS 140-2 from the U.S. government.

"We are proud to receive certification for another important worldwide market. Because of MULTOS' open standards and supply chain, the Hitachi MULTOS card will be a prime choice for agencies and contractors wanting to minimize the economic impact of complying with FIPS 201, said Shigeyuki Ito, Executive Vice President, Smartcard Solutions Operation, Security Systems Division of Hitachi. "In particular, we optimized PIV to fit on a 32KB smart card, the only certified offering of its kind."

The MULTOS platform is already in use in several of the largest biometric ID card implementations worldwide, including the Hong Kong National ID, Japanese Residential ID, and Turkish Military ID. More than 75 million smart cards are already deployed and in use through 100+ issuance partners. Governments are validating MULTOS' proven second-sourcing, as well as enforced firewalls which allow multiple agencies to share a single card yet maintain privacy over their respective applications and data.

"Government agencies are finding that MULTOS guarantees interoperability as additional cards enter the market" said John Wood, CEO of StepNexus, which manages interoperability approvals. "There is no lock-in to a specific vendor, and no proprietary operating system; it is a smart, future-proof choice with support from every major card management system."

About MULTOS™:
MULTOS™ is the world's leading open standard multi-application operating system for smart cards, whose development is overseen and provided by the MULTOS Consortium, comprised of 17 smart card and silicon manufacturers, card management system providers, integrators, and payment schemes. A range of applications including digital identity, authentication, biometrics, payment, loyalty, and contactless applications may securely co-reside on a MULTOS powered chip.

About Hitachi:
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 356,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2006 (ended March 31, 2006) consolidated sales totalled 9,464.8 billion yen ($80.9 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at www.hitachi.com

About StepNexus:
StepNexus enables a new world of secure services. Its foundational STEP™ technology protects digital content during delivery to and while stored on everyday STEP-enabled devices, including smart cards, PCs, and handsets. StepNexus' security service allows global enterprises, banks, governments, content providers and consumers to manage digital access to information wherever it flows, ensuring content and applications are available only to the intended audience and specific device.

For more information visit www.stepnexus.com

Contact:
Thomas Tse
Golin Harris
ttse@golinharris.com
415.274.7915