OREANDA-NEWS. April 18, 2012. Hitachi Consulting, a leading provider of IT consulting and management consulting solutions and services, today announced it has acquired PRIZIM Inc., an award-winning management consulting firm dedicated to sustainability audit, consulting, training and managed service solutions. The acquisition will strengthen Hitachi Consulting's sustainability offerings, and better position the company for growth in the Public Sector along with other key industries including Communications, Media & Entertainment, Consumer Products, High Technology, Energy and Manufacturing. This move will strengthen consulting capabilities that share common goals with Hitachi Ltd.'s Social Innovation Business strategy and Smart Cities initiative.

"This acquisition is an important building block in our quest to strengthen our management consulting business with high value solutions and services," said Phil Parr, President and CEO of Hitachi Consulting. "PRIZIM's industry-leading services and high level of sustainability expertise is a great complement to our existing Environmental Sustainability Solutions. As we combine these attributes with our deep industry knowledge and strong enterprise application technology capabilities, we can look forward to expanding and deepening our client engagements."

"We are seeing an exciting trend where more companies are recognizing that sustainability can be a business driver to increased revenue, improved operating margins and recurring cost savings," said Todd Price, Senior Vice President of Hitachi Consulting's Environmental Sustainability Solutions practice. "Our Environmental Sustainability practice has already gained momentum and industry recognition. Now with the addition of PRIZIM's capabilities, intellectual property and the outstanding pedigree of the team, Hitachi Consulting can rapidly meet our client's growing demand for sustainability services."

"The acquisition of PRIZIM is an important step in the execution of our strategy for serving the Public Sector," said John Bush, Senior Vice President of Hitachi Consulting's U.S. Public Sector practice. "Both federal civilian and defense agencies are making sustainability an essential component of their mission and operations. PRIZIM's federal government experience, combined with Hitachi Group's solutions for energy, water and infrastructure, provides outstanding value for the government's sustainability agenda."

Headquartered in Maryland, PRIZIM is a professional services firm specializing in sustainability with approximately 45 employees. The company helps organizations seeking superior sustainability performance with a wide range of services including environmental assessment and auditing; strategy, scientific, and technical consulting services; training and facilitation; and outsourced support. PRIZIM's clients include companies in the private sector; federal, state, and local government agencies; hospitals and universities; nonprofit organizations; and foreign governments and businesses.

"Because our companies share similar values along with a steadfast commitment to providing high-quality, personalized client service, I am confident that our employees will thrive in Hitachi Consulting," said Frank Priznar, Founder and CEO of PRIZIM Inc., and who has now become a Hitachi Consulting Senior Vice President and Senior Sustainability Executive. "We remain client focused and are excited to continue our important mission of offering highly-focused sustainability consulting services to our clients. Sustainability issues are often global issues and now with the additional deep data and information systems capabilities of Hitachi Consulting combined with the unique Social Innovation Business infrastructure solutions of Hitachi Ltd., we have a global platform to more effectively deliver client solutions."

PRIZIM has received numerous awards for outstanding performance, integrity, leadership, and employee welfare, and its staff are widely recognized sustainability experts and thought leaders. PRIZIM operations are ISO 14001 certified.