News Releases

7/19/2010

GazoPa Answers, A Visual Q&A site, Enters Beta Testing

--Application Utilizes Hitachi’s GazoPa Similar Search Engine Technology--

TARRYTOWN, NY – July 19, 2010 – Hitachi America, Ltd., today announced that their newly developed visual Q&A site, GazoPa Answers, is entering beta testing. GazoPa Answers allows users to ask questions visually using photos and drawings. Typical Q&A sites accept questions by text, but some questions may not be easily described by text such as ‘What’s this?’ Where’s this?’ and ‘How can I fix this? These types of questions can best be answered using images. GazoPa Answers allows users to ask questions by uploading images or drawings. Users can search for answers using GazoPa’s similar image search engine, and they can also ask other users to provide answers to questions through an online community.

Since GazoPa Answers allows users to upload multiple photos, users can ask multiple choice questions such as ‘Which handbag is most appropriate for a formal meeting?’ and ‘Which dress is prettier?’ The application helps users to easily find answers to daily questions and to solicit input from others.

GazoPa Answers integrates GazoPa’s similar image search technology. Hitachi plans to release more applications that utilize similar image search technology in the future. This application represents the next generation in search technology.

For detailed information about GazoPa, please visit its website http://answers.gazopa.com

About GazoPa Answers

GazoPa Answers is a visual Q&A site that enables users to ask and answer questions visually. GazoPa Answers allows users to ask questions by uploading images or drawings. Users can search for answers using GazoPa’s similar image search engine. They can also ask other users to give answers to questions through an online community. For more information, visit http://answers.gazopa.com.

ABOUT GazoPa

GazoPa is a web image search engine service released by Hitachi that uses features from an image to search for and identify similar images. In addition to images found using keyword searches, GazoPa enables the use of users’ own photos and drawings, and images found on the web, as search keys to locate similar images from our database. In addition to supporting photos, GazoPa also supports the search of video thumbnails. For more information, please visit http://www.gazopa.com

ABOUT HITACHI

Hitachi America, Ltd., headquartered in Tarrytown, New York, a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., and its subsidiary companies offer a broad range of electronics, power and industrial equipment and services, automotive products and consumer electronics with operations throughout the Americas. For more information, visit www.hitachi-america.us. For

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 360.000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2009 (ended March 21, 2010) consolidated revenues totaled 8,968 billion yen ($96.4 billion). Hitachi will focus more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems, power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated materials and key devices that support them. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company’s website at www.hitachi.com.