The MP7060 is Ricoh's fastest CD-R/CD-RW drive combination, and has a 6X CD-Recording speed capability, 4X CD-R rewriting speed, and a 24X CD-reader. The Adaptec AVA-2903B, a plug and play SCSI PCI card, provides the I/O interface that optimizes these high CD-R and CD-RW data transfer rates.

"We are pleased that Adaptec's SCSI card is part of our latest CD-R/CD-RW solution, as this card ensures the boost in performance that our customers need," said Shinichi Okawa, senior vice president at Ricoh Disc, Media and Systems Center.

"Professionals in demanding environments require speed and reliability, and our AVA-2903B meets this requirement," said Jean-Eric Garnier, director of personal computing solutions for Adaptec.

Peripheral devices using the SCSI interface provide up to six times the speed of parallel port devices and USB peripherals. In addition to speed, SCSI technology includes a dedicated DMA processor which minimizes the possibility of buffer underruns when making CDs. This means that users are more likely to burn CDs successfully with SCSI CD-Rs then with USB or ATAPI CD-Rs.

According to a recent report written by CAPA, a system design and quality assurance testing company, SCSI is the I/O interface of choice because SCSI has more richness in types of peripherals it supports, as well as sheer numbers of peripherals, than any other I/O technology. SCSI peripherals include scanners, CD-ROMs and CD-recorders, hard drives, tape backups, and Zip and Jaz drives. Also, SCSI provides a connection for both internal and external devices.

Ricoh is the most recent in over a dozen design wins for Adaptec in the peripherals market within the last six months. Other SCSI design wins include Canon, Epson, TEAC and Plextor, where an Adaptec SCSI card is being bundled with best of breed CD-R and CD-RW drives, scanners and removable drives.

About Adaptec

Adaptec moves the world's information with host bus adapter, RAID and software products that speed data to and from computers, peripherals and networks. Founded in 1981 and with headquarters in Milpitas, Calif., Adaptec is a global design, manufacturing, sales, service and distribution company. More information on Adaptec and its products is available at http://www.adaptec.com.

About Ricoh DMS Center

Headquartered in Tustin, Calif., Ricoh Disc, Media and Systems Center (DMS), an operating unit of Ricoh Company LTD, Japan, is a major OEM and supplier of CD-R/RW drives, optical storage products, recordable media and related software products. DMS-C is one of the original consortium members who developed the CD-RW (rewritable) industry specifications, and the first manufacturer to market a CD rewritable disc drive. Ricoh holds many worldwide patents, including one for CD-RW media. Customer product inquiries and information requests can be directed to Ricoh 877/Ricoh RW (877/742-6479), or through the website http://www.ricohdms.com.