Hitachi Unveils TMLink XBRL Tool
-- XBRL 2.1 Compliant Tool Provides End Users the Capability to Port XBRL Financial Information Directly into Microsoft Excel --
BRISBANE, Calif., April 26, 2005 – Hitachi America, Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), today introduced TMLink, an XBRL 2.1 compliant tool that provides end users the capability to port XBRL financial information directly into Microsoft Excel. With TMLink, end users can perform examination and analysis on XBRL financial data and generate customized financial reports. TMLink uses Web Services to access the taxonomies and the instances which can either be stored locally, over a network, or on the Internet. TMLink runs on all versions of Microsoft Excel – 2000, XP, and 2003.
TMLink is the first data-agnostic, easy-to-use XBRL consumption, rendering, and analysis tool that complies with the XBRL 2.1 specification and works within Microsoft Excel. Besides being data agnostic, TMLink offers users the flexibility of importing XBRL data from anywhere and creating user-defined analysis templates. With its use, TMLink makes analyzing financial data and generating analysis reports as simple as using Microsoft Excel. As a result, TMLink can save tremendous time for regulators, analysts, and auditors in reporting and analysis activities.
In announcing the TMLink product, Toshimi Takahashi, vice president of the Information Division of Hitachi America, Ltd., said "TMLink, which can consume XBRL data locally or remotely, will revolutionize the evaluation of financial content by eliminating the need for human intervention. The use of Web Services to access taxonomies and instances brings unprecedented capabilities for end users to analyze financial information captured in XBRL format."
XBRL is rapidly becoming the de facto standard for defining, exchanging and storing financial business information by regulators, stock exchanges, statistical offices, banks, and corporations across the world. Many regulators will be introducing mandatory filing of financial statements in XBRL including the FDIC in the U.S. and the Bank of Japan. Other regulators such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have begun accepting voluntary filing of XBRL documents in April 2005.
Information reported in the XBRL format can be simply exchanged, extracted and compared without human intervention. This capability allows for more efficient financial reporting with increased transparency and data accuracy and lower costs by eliminating data re-entry. Information in XBRL is automatically readable by computers, which results in the ability to automate data analysis.
Hitachi is an active member of XBRL International, an international non-profit consortium of more than 250 companies, organizations and government agencies responsible for developing and maintaining XBRL, and promoting its global adoption. Hitachi is participating at the 11th XBRL International Conference, April 26-29 in Boston, Mass. Interested parties are invited to attend and learn more about XBRL from Hitachi representatives. For more information on the conference, please go to http://www.xbrl.org/.