Computer Graphics World recognizes GLINT and PERMEDIA 3D Chips with 1995 Editor's Choice Award; 3Dlabs Wins Special Technology Award for Enabling 3D Graphics Market

Business Wire, Jan 23, 1996

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 1996--3Dlabs Inc. today announced that it has been honored by Computer Graphics World, the industry's leading 3D/multimedia magazine, with a 1995 Editor's Choice Award for its GLINT and PERMEDIA 3D accelerator chips.

Both chips received the award in recognition of 3Dlabs' leadership position in 3D graphics technology and its pioneer role in bringing workstation-quality 3D to the PC and Macintosh platforms.

The January 1996 issue of Computer Graphics World describes the reasons for the award: "The world of 3D graphics got a big boost this year, in part because of the arrival of new 3D graphics accelerator chips from 3Dlabs. There's the GLINT chip targeted at high-end Open GL-based applications, and the PERMEDIA chip targeted at low-end consumer applications. With both chips spurring a boom in the development of 3D graphics boards, 3D has become a much more accessible technology."

"We are greatly honored by CGW's recognition of 3Dlabs and our contribution to the 3D market for personal computers," said Osman Kent, chief executive officer and president of 3Dlabs.

"GLINT and PERMEDIA are the first chips to ship in their respective markets, and the performance and technology breakthrough they represent has defined the leadership position in their categories. We have received widespread endorsements and design-ins throughout the graphics board market, and our announcements in 1996 will do even more to make 3D acceleration pervasive across many markets, including desktop PC and consumer electronics."

Technical Information

GLINT and PERMEDIA are two complementary 3D processor families from 3Dlabs. GLINT enables VRAM-based, workstation-class graphics with support for high-resolution displays with 32 bit color and Z buffers, and is used in PC boards aimed at the graphics professional. PERMEDIA is designed for the consumer market and brings no-compromise 2D, VGA and video acceleration with GLINT-class 3D performance to low-cost graphics boards.

The 3Dlabs GLINT 300SX processor incorporates a high-end workstation graphics subsystem in a single chip. GLINT is capable of processing 300,000 fully OpenGL-compliant polygons per second using deep 32 bit color and Z buffering and advanced rendering modes including anti-aliasing, multi-bit stencils and retained alpha-buffer translucency. The chip provides complete 2D and 3D acceleration and can drive up to 80 Mbytes of graphics memory for advanced display functionality.

PERMEDIA generates 25 million texture-mapped pixels-per-second with high quality, true-per-pixel perspective correction and full bi-linear filtering. PERMEDIA's well-balanced 3D capabilities also include rendering 500,000 50 pixel triangles-per-second with Gouraud shading, Z-buffering, fogging, blending, anti-aliasing, translucency and stencilling enabled. PERMEDIA contains a compact and highly optimized unified graphics engine, re-architected using technology developed for 3Dlabs' GLINT workstation-class graphics processors and conforms to PCI Bus (Version 2.1) specifications.

3Dlabs will be supporting the widest range of 3D APIs in the industry with the GLINT and PERMEDIA architectures. These include Microsoft's Reality Lab and Direct 3D, Apple's QuickDraw 3D and QuickDraw 3D RAVE APIs, Silicon Graphics' OpenGL, and Autodesk's Heidi -- allowing any 3D application to be accelerated by a 3Dlabs-powered board.

Company Information

3Dlabs is a worldwide supplier of merchant chips, software and core technology for 3D graphics. With over 10 years experience in 3D graphics, the company's products enable chip, board and system manufacturers to integrate advanced 3D capabilities into their products for such applications as multimedia, CAD, simulation, virtual reality, interactive TV and video games. 3Dlabs has consistently led the industry in being first to deliver successive generations of 3D devices that precisely meet the emerging needs of the 3D market. In a recent article the company was positioned as the "First member of the next generation of chip companies" by the influential Red Herring magazine. 3Dlabs Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, was founded in April 1994, and is privately owned. -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: 3Dlabs and PERMEDIA are trademarks, and GLINT is a registered trademark of 3Dlabs Inc. Ltd. Microsoft, Windows, Reality Lab and Direct 3D are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc. Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc. QuickDraw is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc. HEIDI is a trademark of Autodesk Inc. All other trademarks are acknowledged.

CONTACT: 3Dlabs Inc., San Jose

Neil Trevett, 408/436-3456

Email: neil.trevett@3dlabs.com

http://www.3Dlabs.com

or

Horizon Public Relations, Santa Clara

Jonathan Hirshon, 408/982-2555

Email: jh@horizonpr.com

http://www.horizonpr.com