Hitachi has double-speed DVD

Hitachi's Storage Products Group

(Brisbane, CA, http://www.hitachi.com) has announced a double-speed DVD-ROM drive. The GD-2000 (evaluation samples priced at $750) boasts a transfer rate of 2.76 MBs per second--twice the performance of first-generation drives.

The drive has the ability to read standard DVD and current CD media. Marketed primarily to OEMs to be built into PCs, the GD-2000 claims CD disc read rates of up to 20x (3 MBs per second) using constant angular velocity (CAV) technology.