On June 10, 2006, Panasonic will introduce a half-height internal Blu-ray Disc (BD) drive for desktop computers in Japan.

The LF-MB121JD BD drive can read and write single- and dual-layer BDs as well as DVDs and CDs. Prior to the introduction of the BD drive, Panasonic releases 2x-speed 25 GB and 50 GB non-cartridge BD-R (write-once) and BD-RE (rewritable) discs for PC drives on April 28.

The drive, complied with Blu-ray Disc Association’s BD-R, BD-RE and BD-ROM standards, can read and write single-layer 25 GB and single-sided, dual-layer 50 GB BDs. Supporting the three generations of optical discs, the 41.3-mm high internal BD drive is compatible with 11 different writable optical discs and 13 different readable optical disc formats.

It comes bundled with a wide variety of software to help users easily backup and archive a large amount of data, edit video and audio and intuitively drag and drop data for DVD and CD burning.

For use in low-profile drives, Panasonic introduces non-cartridge type (bare disc) 25 GB and 50 GB rewritable and write-once BDs for computers. The discs support recording and transferring data at 2x speed (maximum 72 Mbps), which approximates 6x write speed of DVD. The dual-layer BDs can store up to 50 GB of data.

Panasonic also makes available the half-height BD drive for desktop computers and slim-line slot and tray loading BD drives for notebook PCs for OEM clients starting this month.

Panasonic did not specify any price for the LF-MB121JD, but the local retailers expect it to be around ¥100,000 (US$862).

Three weeks ago, Panasonic has already announced the DMP-BD10, its Blu-ray Disc player, will ship in September for “under $1,500″.