AOpen Introduces World's First 4X DVD+RW/+R Drive; New AOpen DRW4410 DVD Burner Stands Alone -- Dramatically Enhances Users' Digital Lifestyles.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 2003

AOpen(R) Inc., well known worldwide as a leading and award-winning manufacturer of a wide range of PC components, today announced a snappy, cutting-edge new DVD burner that not only writes DVDs at 4X speed, but also is the first DVD drive on the market that has the ability to re-write DVD media at 4X speed.

"We at AOpen are excited about the impact that this drive is destined to have on the market and how it will revolutionize the way users can take advantage of DVD media in their expanding digital lives," said Sean Chang, optical product manager, AOpen Inc. Chang added that "we are especially thrilled to introduce this revolutionary new drive which is compatible with most DVD-ROMs and consumer DVD players -- adding to the significant value that it offers with its extended writing abilities."

AOpen is now shipping these new drives that feature the transfer of analog or digital video directly from camcorders or VCRs and also offer AOpen's JustLink technology to prevent buffer under-run errors -- ensuring nearly flawless disc burns every time.

The new DRW4410 4X DVD+RW/+R drive also includes all the software necessary to get users up-and-running quickly and easily:

-- NERO 5

-- PowerDVD

-- neoDVD4

-- Video Studio 7

-- InCD3

The new drive impressively burns a full DVD 4.7GB media disc in less than 15 minutes -- a significant improvement over previous 2X burners -- and it is also able to burn CD media in less than 4 minutes. The AOpen DRW4410 4X DVD+RW/+R drive is the ultimate solution for storage of all types of video, audio and data on both DVD and CD media -- at an affordable MSRP of $169.99 US.

The AOpen internal DRW4410 4X DVD+RW/+R drive features an ATAPI/E-IDE interface, has 2MB of data buffer memory and has an access time of 120ms for CD writing and 140ms for DVD writing.

     Data Transfer Rates for the AOpen DRW4410 4X DVD+RW/+R Drive:

     DVD     Write: 4X (DVD+RW/R)
             Read: 8X
     CD-R    Write: 24X
     CD-RW   Write: 10X
     CD      Read: 40X

The DRW4410 4X DVD+RW/+R drive may be mounted horizontally or vertically. The drive is 145.6mm wide, 41.6mm high and 191.4mm deep, weighs less than 1.2kg and comes with a 1-year standard warranty. More information about AOpen's new DRW4410 4X DVD+RW/+R drive can be found by calling 888/97-AOpen, extension 1275 or by email at: [e-mail]. Additional information can be found at the AOpen web site at: http://www.aopen.com/products/dvd+rw/DRW4410.htm.

About AOpen

Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, with AOpen America's headquarters in San Jose, Calif., AOpen America is the world's largest total PC component solutions manufacturer and a member of a $14 billion technology group. Leveraging more than 28 years of technology manufacturing experience and more than 1,000 Group patents, AOpen designs, manufactures and markets high-quality, state-of-the-art motherboards; housings; VGA cards; white-box notebooks; optical drives; multimedia headsets and headphones; multimedia and network solutions; as well as numerous other PC component products sold through VARs to institutional, corporate, education and government customers, and via retailers to small business and end-user customers.

Editor's Note: For additional information, evaluation units or executive interviews at AOpen, please contact Fred Gillaspy, InterSight Communications Corporation, 841/239-4292. More information about AOpen, AOpen Products, services, and business partners is available at: www.AOpen.com.

AOpen is a registered trademark of AOpen Inc. All other products, brand names or companies are trademarks or registered marks of their respective companies.