IO Data, Inc. will release two DVD±R drives, both capable of writing DVD-R discs at 8x, in the middle of December. There is the internal ATAPI "DVR-ABN8" drive to be released sometime between the 10th-20th for 26,500 yen, and the external USB 2.0 "DVR-iUN8" to be released the 20th-31st for 31,000 yen. Supported operating systems are Windows ME/2000/XP.
[1]
The drive is of NEC make, called the "ND-2500A." Supported writing speeds are DVD±R at 8x, DVD±RW at 4x, CD-R at 32x, and CD-RW at 16x. This is the first drive with 8x DVD-R writing capabilities.

While the DVD Forum has not finalized o­n the DVD-R 8x standard, IO Data has said "We think that now an actual drive has materialized, current hardware should be supported."

Also, media officially supporting DVD-R writing at 8x, or even DVD+R writing at 8x, is yet to be o­n sale. But, o­n IO Data's product page for this drive, they have presented the results of their operational verification. For DVD+R, Taiyou Yuuden, Mitsubishi Chemistry Media, or Ricoh has been confirmed to operate correctly. Their results for DVD-R will be presented in the near future.
[2]
The external unit, in addition to USB 2.0, has an original "iCONNECT" connector, which can be used with IEEE 1394 with the use of a seperate (not included) cable. The external dimensions of the drive are 162 x 268 x 50 mm (W x L x H) and weighs 1.7kg.

Included software is the Dolby Digital output supporting DVD authoring software, "DVD MovieWriter Advance SE," "B's Recorder GOLD BASIC Ver.7" writing software, "B's CLiP5" packet writing software, "Photoshop Album Mini" photo album software, "VideoStudio 7 SE" video editing software, and finally "Ulead DVD Player" for playback of DVD movies.

Original Article:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20031204/iodata.htm [3]

News Release (DVR-ABN8):
http://www.iodata.jp/news/200312/dvr-abn8.htm [4]

News Release (DVR-iUN8):
http://www.iodata.jp/news/200312/dvr-iun8.htm [5]

Product Information (DVR-ABN8):
http://www.iodata.jp/prod/storage/dvd/2003/dvr-abn8/ [6]

Producut Information (DVR-iUN8):
http://www.iodata.jp/prod/storage/dvd/2003/dvr-iun8/ [7]