- Longtime Otari Japan executive Mr. Nick Higashino becomes President of Otari USA Sales Inc., further underscoring ongoing company expansion and growth -

Otari, Inc. (Otari Japan), a leading manufacturer of professional audio products for over 38 years, announced today that a newly established corporation, Otari USA Sales Inc., would take full responsibility of the sales and support activities in North and South America, effective November 1, 2003. A longtime Otari Japan executive Mr. Nick Higashino has been appointed as the President of Otari USA Sales Inc.

Higashino plans to relocate to the U.S. from Japan, where he has worked with Otari Japan since the foundation of the company. Higashino's first order of business will be to review current product sales channels, in order to expand the market for both Otari professional audio and industrial duplication products through Otari USA Sales Inc. In addition, Otari USA will broaden its service to customers, releasing sophisticated new pro audio machines for recording, postproduction, and A/V archiving, as well as Otari industrial equipment relating to the manufacture of audio cassettes, video tape, data tape, and CD-R/DVD-R duplication.

"The recent technological growth and success of Otari Corporation has given us the opportunity to build a U.S.-based sales team that will capitalize on the strength of the Otari brand across North and South America, offering both new and established products for the pro audio market. I am very excited to assume this position at Otari USA Sales Inc." Concurrent with this transition, Otari USA Sales Inc. will relocate to new sales and support offices in Chatsworth, CA, in the middle of December 2003.

Otari, Inc., established in 1965 in Tokyo, Japan, first specialized in the manufacturing of high-speed audio tape duplicators. The company's research on magnetic recording resulted in a series of renowned master recorders, most notably the MTR-90 and MTR-10. For almost 40 years, Otari has been a leading manufacturer of professional audio products for the broadcast, post-production, music recording and live sound markets, including analog and digital recorders, mixing consoles, as well as high-speed industrial audio and video cassette loading and duplication systems.