The European Comission this week announced that Philips Electronics has changed its licensing conditions for recordable CD technology. The move will likely translate into price drops in CD-Rs. A number of parties had complained about licensing terms from Philips, which led to a probe by European authorities, now dropped. The Dutch company, currently charging USD 0.025 per disc, agreed to clearly identify CD-R patents to other firms.
Western Digital has added a 120 GB model to its stylish Passport USB drive lineup. The devices use Scorpio 2.5 inch EIDE HDs offering 12 ms read and 2.0 ms track-to-track seek time. The drives have a 2 MB buffer and work at 5,400 rpm. A shock-absorbing case and Data Lifeguard tools are combined to protect against damage and data loss. Suggested retail price is USD 200. The Passport is also availble in 40 GB, 60 GB and 80 GB capacities.
Western Digital has launched a new 500 GB Caviar SE16 hard drive. The SATA unit features four 125 GB platters, spins at 7,200 rpm and integrates 16 MB of cache. Average seek times are 8.9 ms (read) and 10.9 ms (write) with an average nominal latency of 4.2 ms. Suggested retail price for the HD, which will begin shipping January 31, is USD 350.
Memorex plans to release in April a new series of CD-Rs and DVD-Rs called Pro Gold Archival Media with estimated lifespans of 300 and 100 years. The disks mix 24-karat gold layer, scratch-resistant coating and improved dye to avoid the effects of ultraviolet light, humidity and heat. Packs of five 52x CD-Rs and 8x DVD-Rs will cost USD 20 and USD 25 respectively. Memorex last week announced that it is set to be bought buy Imation for USD 330 million.
Imation has reached an agreement to acquire Memorex for USD 330 million in cash. An additional USD 5 million to USD 45 million could be granted depending on financial performance. “We are gaining a powerful consumer brand and global market share leader in recordable CDs and DVDs as well as an experienced management”, said Bruce Henderson, Imation chairman and CEO. The sale is expected to close by the middle of the second quarter of 2006.
Japanese Fujitsu has formed a partnership with American Cornice to enter the market for 1.8-inch HDs used in portable players, video cameras and notebooks. The companies expect to launch the first such product, with 120 GB of storage capacity, in the first half of fiscal 2007. In the mobile PC segment, Fujitsu plans to offer 200 GB and 7,200 rpm drives, as well as incorporate perpendicular recording technology during fiscal 2006.
Set to be acquired by Seagate, Maxtor this week added new models to its OneTouch III external drives, with capacities ranging from 100 GB to 500 GB. The company had announced 600 GB and 1 TB Turbo Edition devices last October. New models contain disks spinning at 7,200 rpm and have 8 MB (100 GB and 200 GB) or 16 MB buffer (all others). Suggested retail prices range from USD 160 for the 100 GB drive with USB 2.0 interface to USD 480 for the 500 GB triple interface solution (USB 2.0/FireWire 400/FireWire 800).
Broadcom this week announced a high definition audio/video decoder chip compliant with both Blu-ray and HD DVD blue laser formats. The BCM7411D supports H.264 and VC-1 compression standards. The company, which also presented a reference platform (BCM97438) for the development of players, expects the chip to enable production of equipment compatible with both formats.
Cornice has announced new Dragon micro hard drives measuring only 30x40x3.5 mm and weighing 10.5 grams. Inversely, the devices are now available in 8 GB and 10 GB capacities, up from 4 GB and 6 GB. Transfer rate is said to average at 6 MB/s. The drives, equipped with a protection technology called CrashGuard, are aimed at mobile phones, media players and handhelds.
Pioneer this week unveiled its first Blu-ray drive. The BDR-101A, aimed at professional users and early adopters, is expected to hit the market in the first quarter of 2006. The drive will record BD-R disks at 2x and DVD-R/+R at 8x. Current BD-R media have a maximum capacity of 25 GB, but should be able to hold up to 50 GB (dual-layer). Rival HD DVD will be initially available in 15 GB and 30 GB versions.
German site Alternate is selling a new 150 GB Raptor hard drive from Western Digital. The series is comprised of original SCSI-class units equipped with Serial ATA interface. Resulting products run at 10,000 rpm with average read seek time of 4.5 ms. The new 150 GB HD has 16 MB of cache and support Serial ATA II and native command queuing (NCQ).
Seagate has reached a deal to acquire rival Maxtor for approximately USD 1.9 billion in stock. The resulting company is expected to save around USD 300 million annually in operating costs after the first year of integration. Maxtor had been losing money in four of the last five quarters. Barring problems with regulators or shareholders, the acquisition should be completed during the second half of 2006, with Seagate executives running the company from there on.
Longtime Blu-ray backer HP last week announced that it will also support the HD DVD format. The company had requested that the Blu-ray Disc Association adopt two customer-friendly technologies (Mandatory Managed Copy and iHD), but the call was ultimately rejected. Both features are included in the HD-DVD standard. First players and movies in both formats are expected to be released early next year.
Toshiba has delayed the introduction of its first HD DVD players in consequence of problems concerning Advanced Access Content System (AACS) licensing. The company is said to have completed the design of products for the US and Japanese markets and will start volume production as soon as the AACS matter is solved. Toshiba is the main supporter behind HD DVD. Rival companies backing Blu-ray are expected to present the finalized BD-ROM format at CES in Las Vegas.
Panasonic (Matsushita) is currently working on a new replicating process to produce Blu-ray disks with 50 GB of storage capacity. Spin coating technologies allows the company to obtain two recorded layers, each with 25 GB, on a single side of a BD-ROM. Panasonic is already manufacturing single layer disks on its pilot line, located at California, with yield rates above 80%.
