"..Ricoh Corporation's Disc Media and Systems Center (DMS-C) division announced today a new technology roadmap that will combine DVD-ROM technology with three CD technologies in one relatively low-cost combination drive. Ricoh calls it the four in one power technology.

The CD-R/RW/DVD-ROM combination will allow users to read DVD-ROM and CD-ROM, write to CD-R and rewrite to CD-RW media. Ricoh's first planned combination drive will have a 6X CD-Recording speed, 4X CD-Rewriting, 24X CD-ROM reading and a 4X DVD-ROM reading speed.

Products based on the technology will appear in Japan during the fourth quarter of this year and soon will be announced in the U.S. Ricoh's plans for future product sets are to add rewritable DVD capabilities, with emphasis on the compatibility with DVD-ROM technology. In addition, Ricoh along with other major manufacturers, plans to adopt the 4.7 GB DVD media and drive standard.

Product announcements will follow later this year, after the planned software for the bundle has been thoroughly tested.."