Verbatim and its parent company, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (Verbatim/MKM), announced today that it will begin shipping its new Blue-ray Recordable/Rewriteable media in early 2006 when hardware and software products supporting the formats are launched.

Produced at MKM's optical disc manufacturing facility in Mizushima, Japan, Verbatim initial products will include 25GB single layer media in both write-once (BD-R) and rewritable (BD-RE) formats. Verbatim/MKM has already supplied burner/recorder manufacturers and their software suppliers with engineering samples of its new high-capacity media for securing read/write compatibility.

The new Verbatim BD media will include a proprietary super-hard coat developed by MKM. This protective coating is a key technology for BD disc production since the BD data layer is close to the surface of the disc and not protected by a plastic substrate like DVD media. The new hard coat will protect the BD data layer from scratches and fingerprints without warping the disc, and allows the usage of the media in a bare disc form, without a cartridge.

In developing its BD-R and BD-RE media, MKM/Verbatim also leveraged its experience in producing 30GB UDO (Ultra Density Optical) blue laser media. The new Blu-ray media uses a structure similar to the UDO disc, which has delivered outstanding blue laser performance for more than a year and is widely used in optical libraries for legal, financial, healthcare and government applications.

Verbatim/MKM is a contributing member of the Blue-ray Disc Association (BDA).