Hitachi America, Ltd. today named Microboards Technology, Inc. as a North American distributor for the GF-1000 Series DVD-RAM drive. Microboards Technology will carry Hitachi’s standard rewritable DVD drives as part of its comprehensive portfolio of optical storage solutions.

Microboards Technology, which exclusively carries CD and DVD optical storage products, has more than a decade of experience in development, integration and marketing of optical storage products for the computer data storage, multimedia and audio recording industry. The company’s customers, including value-added reseller (VAR), system integrator and electronic systems retailers, now can source Hitachi’s 5.2 GB capacity, fully rewritable DVD-RAM drives for use in data storage applications. Microboards also plans to offer Hitachi’s DVD-ROM drives and next generation DVD-RAM products.

GF-1000 Series products are DVD Forum standard format drives, providing fully rewritable, removable storage on optical disc media with capacity of 2.6 GB per side (5.2 GB total with dual-sided media), and fast data transfer rates of up to 1.38 Megabytes (MB) per second. The drives also feature full read compatibility for all types of industry standard pre-recorded and recordable media including
DVD-ROM, DVD-R, CD-ROM, CD-R/RW, PhotoCD and Audio and Video CD.

Hitachi has received several awards for the GF-1000 Series and for the company’s role in defining the DVD Forum standard for DVD-RAM media, including EDN Magazine’s 1997 Product Innovation Award and a 1997 Research & Development 100 Award. In December 1999, the CNET Computers.com web site named the GF-1050 drive an Editor’s Choice.