Swiss University Safeguards Mission‑Critical Academic Operations with Cyber Resilient, Unified Data Infrastructure from Hitachi Vantara

FHNW relies on Hitachi Vantara block and object storage for up to 4x faster ransomware-resistant backups and cyber recovery in minutes instead of days, saving 40% in cost and energy consumption

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 25, 2026 – Hitachi Vantara, the data storage, infrastructure and hybrid cloud management subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), today announced that the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) is modernizing its IT infrastructure with a hybrid cloud solution from Hitachi Vantara. In collaboration with Swiss IT service provider Sonio AG, the university implemented an integrated block and object storage architecture that seamlessly connects on-premises systems and cloud services, while delivering maximum data resilience against cyber threats.

For more information about Hitachi Vantara Virtual Storage Platform One, please visit:
https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/products/storage-platforms/data-platform

With more than 14,000 students, 3,200 employees, and 57 bachelor's and master's programs, FHNW is one of the largest universities of applied sciences in Switzerland and depends on reliable, fast, and secure access to data. Today, the university protects over 1,100 virtual machines, approximately 350 TB of data, and more than 150 TB of M365 cloud data. With support from Hitachi Vantara, FHNW is experiencing backup transfers that are now up to 4x faster, and ransomware‑resilient recovery operations that previously took days can now be completed in minutes.

“Data sits at the heart of our teaching, research, and administrative operations,” said Patrick Gebhard, System Engineer Data Center at FHNW. “Restoring deleted data used to be a long, manual process tied to short retention time on disk and an inefficient way to copy restore points. Now we can recover the right data within minutes during interactive support sessions with our users. The experience is faster, smoother, and significantly improves service quality and user satisfaction.”

Predictable Business Continuity and Protection Against Cyber Threats
The solution combines a Veeam Backup & Recovery solution with Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) block storage arrays as primary backup repositories. By leveraging Veeam’s Copy Job functionality, backup data is written directly to an object storage solution with Object Lock enabled, enforcing immutability for a 30-day retention period. This means that once a backup is written, it cannot be modified, encrypted, or deleted – by anyone – until the retention window expires. This architecture delivers a fully cyber-resilient backup copy strategy, purpose-built for archiving and long-term recoverability and ensures the availability of teaching, research, and administrative operations in the event of cyber incidents or other disruptions.

In addition, the efficient primary backup storage solution reduces cost and power consumption by 40% – a significant contribution to FHNW's sustainability goals. FHNW was also able to operate its backup infrastructure with 40% fewer tape drives.

At the heart of a modern, hybrid cloud data foundation is Hitachi Vantara’s Virtual Storage Platform One (VSP One), a unified data storage platform designed for high performance, AI-driven data management and cyber resilience, including a 100% data availability guarantee. It features a single data plane and includes block, file, and object storage solutions.

Michael Roth, General Manager Switzerland at Hitachi Vantara, said, "Object storage, such as VSP One Object, is increasingly becoming the foundation of modern IT infrastructures – not only for backups, but also for AI workloads and data analysis. By partnering with Hitachi Vantara, FHNW has built a scalable data foundation that can grow with its requirements."

Protection against cyber threats
"With the Hitachi Vantara storage solution developed by our partner Sonio, we can finally follow backup best practices such as the 3-2-1 rule," summarizes Gebhard. "All in all, we benefit from faster backup performance and improved resilience against cyber threats and other security risks."

Sasa Gržinić, Head of Marketing & Partner Management at Sonio AG, adds: "With our comprehensive expertise in cloud and data solutions, we understood exactly what FHNW needed. Hitachi Vantara object storage provides the university with new object storage capabilities to optimize and standardize operations and helps the IT team adapt to changing regulatory requirements and innovate."

To learn more about Hitachi Vantara’s storage solutions, please visit: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/products/storage-platforms.

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About Hitachi Vantara
Hitachi Vantara is transforming the way data fuels innovation. A wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd., Hitachi Vantara provides the data foundation the world’s leading innovators rely on. Through data storage, infrastructure systems, cloud management and digital expertise, the company helps customers build the foundation for sustainable business growth. To learn more, visit www.hitachivantara.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd.
Through its Social Innovation Business (SIB) that brings together IT, OT (Operational Technology) and products, Hitachi contributes to a harmonized society where the environment, wellbeing, and economic growth are in balance. Hitachi operates globally in four sectors – Digital Systems & Services, Energy, Mobility, and Connective Industries – and the Strategic SIB Business Unit for new growth businesses. With Lumada at its core, Hitachi generates value from integrating data, technology and domain knowledge to solve customer and social challenges. Revenues for FY2024 (ended March 31, 2025) totaled 9,783.3 billion yen, with 618 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 280,000 employees worldwide. Visit us at www.hitachi.com.

HITACHI is a trademark or registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. All other trademarks, service marks, and company names are properties of their respective owners.

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