MULTOS-Based Biometric Recognition Technology Named

“Breakthrough Innovation of the Year” at CT/ST 2006

SAN FRANCISCO – May 2, 2006 – CT/ST Conference – Card Technology Magazine today announced that its international panel of experts named Hitachi Ltd., (NYSE: HIT) the 2006 recipient of its annual “Breakthrough Innovation” award in recognition of Hitachi’s deployment of finger vein biometric authentication technology, powered by the StepNexus™ MULTOS™ smart card platform.

The advanced finger vein authentication technology developed by Hitachi relies on clearly identifiable and unique pattern of veins in a finger. Without physically touching a scanner, a user’s identity is verified while dramatically increasing security and fraud detection.

Speaking at the awards ceremony Shigyuki Itoh, executive vice president of the Smart Card Solutions Department, Security Systems Division at Hitachi said, “I am honored to receive this award on behalf of the development team at Hitachi who have worked persistently to develop a biometric authentication technology that can be readily accepted and well received by our customers.”

StepNexus MULTOS smart cards support matching the finger vein image within the secure confines of the smart card. Leveraging the multi-application capabilities of MULTOS, the finger vein application can be issued alongside the EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) payment application of the card issuers.

“StepNexus congratulates Hitachi on this award and its dedication to maximizing security by using the world’s most secure smart card technology, MULTOS,” said John Wood, CEO of StepNexus. “Hitachi clearly recognized that if they were to be serious about security and fraud prevention, they needed the most secure technology.”

Hitachi Finger Vein Scanners have been adopted by members of the Japanese banking community. The scanners are currently being deployed around Japan for accountholder authentication in eight Japanese banks including Kyoto bank, Joyo bank, and Fukuoka Bank.

This prestigious smart card industry award is bestowed annually to the newest and most significant and innovative use of smart card technology implemented during the previous year.

MULTOS: The Platform for Government and Financial Services

As StepNexus’ flagship smart card system, MULTOS is the world’s highest security, open standard smart card platform and the Global MULTOS Key Management Authority. It allows card issuers and application providers to share space on a single chip platform. A range of applications ranging from payment, authentication, digital identity, biometrics, loyalty, and contactless ticketing may securely reside on a MULTOS powered chip. More than 50 million MULTOS smart cards have been issued in more than 30 countries, in projects ranging from banking, national identity, campus security, secure ID and transit.

About Hitachi:

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 355,879 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2005 (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 http://www.hitachi.com

About StepNexus:

StepNexus is a joint venture between Oak Hill Venture Partners, Keycorp, Hitachi and MasterCard International, dedicated to extending trusted environments to remote devices. StepNexus acquired all intellectual property and operations for MULTOS – the world’s highest security, open standard smart card platform and the global MULTOS KMA (Key Management Authority). The company also owns Nectar™, the first implementation of Microsoft .NET on smartcards. StepNexus’ secure packets content delivery mechanism enables device issuers of any StepNexus platform to permit third-party content providers to deliver additional services while maintaining security and the trusted environment. For more information visit www.stepnexus.com