Ricoh Corporation’s Disc Media and Systems Center division today announced a relatively low-cost combination drive that will combine DVD-ROM technology with three CD technologiesin one 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.

The new products will further Ricoh’s concept of the MultiMedia Printer, Ricoh’s director Tadatoshi Sakamaki said. “Desktop and mobile computing data storage products of the future will have even greater functionality than we have today. Both office and home users will prefer them because it is less costly and cumbersome than attaching multiple, single-function devices such as a high-capacity floppy disc device for backup, a CD-ROM and a DVD-ROM. We project that CD-R/RW/DVD- ROM combination drives will become standard offerings by major computer builders and manufacturers like Compaq, Dell and Gateway by 2001.”