In 2004, Verbatim leveraged its leadership in advancing CD and DVD media technology to become the first to launch double-layer optical media. With this milestone, the capacity of DVD media increased to 8.5GB.
Following the launch of its first BD media in 2006, Verbatim became well-known for advancing recordable and rewritable Blu-ray disc technologies. These advancements enable users to benefit from higher speeds, dual layers and printable surface BD media—all with a proprietary, super-hardcoat protective finish developed by MKM.
Verbatim also offers 2X BD-R LTH Type media and will soon launch higher-performance LTH media featuring "Low to High" (LTH) in-groove recording. Compared to standard BD-R discs, which use inorganic dye, BD-R LTH discs use a patented organic AZO layer which Verbatim’s parent company, MKM, developed by drawing on its many years of success in developing organic AZO recording layers for CD-R and DVD-R media. The organic recording layer allows the LTH media to be manufactured on existing CD-R or DVD-R production lines with only minor adjustments, providing a more affordable solution to high-definition video storage.
One of the keys to Verbatim being first to deliver so many new optical media products is its affiliation with its parent company, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd., (MKM) and the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation Group (MCC), Japan's largest chemical company. With each performance increase, new manufacturing techniques must be developed in combination with dyes and chemistries that can be reliably written to at extremely high spin rates. As a result, MKM’s and MCC’s outstanding research and development of new dyes, coatings, base media technologies and manufacturing processes has clearly been an advantage for Verbatim.
2007 was also the year that Verbatim purchased substantially all of the assets of SmartDisk Corporation’s external hard drive (HD) and digital imaging business. “Verbatim recognized that consumers and business professionals need the full range of removable and portable storage options – optical, flash and hard disk,” recalled Randy Queen, Verbatim President. “The acquisition was part of Verbatim’s corporate strategy to capitalize on the growing PC external storage market and to complement its existing line of portable storage products.”
With the acquisition of SmartDisk, Verbatim continued to expand its product offerings and moved full-speed into the removable HDD and the consumer/small-medium business NAS markets. Recently, the company added the world’s first half-Terabyte 2.5” Portable Hard Disk Drive (HDD).
