Afreey, a Taiwanese technology company has announced it will begin volume production of multi-beam optical disc drives as early as the second quarter of 2002.
These new drives will lift the current speeds with about 200%. CD-ROM drives will be able to read at 100x speed, DVD drives will be able to read at 25x speed. Multi beam technology uses multiple lasers to read the discs.
Other companies like Lite-On Technology and Behavior Tech Computer (BTC) have been cooperating with the Opto-Electronics & Systems Laboratories of Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to develop multi-beam technology. However, with core technology from UK-based ZEN Research and DVD pick-up heads from Sanyo, Afreey claims to be ahead of the competition by one or two quarters. |
Once Afreey begins volume production, it will be able to offer super speeds. CD-ROMs of 56x speed will go up to 100x or higher, and 16x speed DVD-ROM drives will be able to read at 25x or higher.
Source: Digitimes.com
