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SGI and Nokia Announce Agreement to Develop 3D Standard for Mobile Devices
URL(s): www.sgi.com
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jul 15, 2002 - SGI (NYSE: SGI) and Nokia have signed an agreement to
cooperate on the development of a 3D standard suitable for all embedded mobile terminals, based on OpenGL(R), a vendor-neutral, multiplatform
graphics standard. Mobile phones, PDAs and other mobile devices are about to be transformed by the addition of 3D graphics, which will greatly
enhance the marketability of content services to consumers. The possibilities of these mobile terminals will be virtually unlimited, ranging from
top-selling interactive games, to video clips synchronized with text, to 3D global positioning systems (GPS), and 3D representations of buildings and
terrains.
Introduced by SGI in 1992, OpenGL marks its 10th anniversary as the industry's most widely used and supported 3D and 2D graphics application
programming interface (API). The creation of open industry standards in the exploding marketplace of embedded mobile devices benefits everyone
from software developers to consumers, since open standards ensure compatibility between hardware vendors.
The agreement between SGI and Nokia ties into an embedded devices standard that is being developed by the Khronos Group, a consortium of
digital media and graphics industry leaders. The Khronos Group is involved in developing and marketing a variety of media and graphics standards
for nonmobile devices including game terminals, set-top boxes and avionics. SGI and Nokia's agreement will enhance Khronos' embedded needs
overall and extend the value for developers who write to OpenGL and want their applications to run across products from cell phones to
supercomputers.
"This agreement leverages SGI's 20 years of graphics innovation and leadership alongside Nokia's expertise in mobile applications. Together, our
companies are the catalyst and focal point for providing the world with an embedded subset based on OpenGL, the most widely used graphics
standard in the world," said Shawn Underwood, director of marketing, SGI.
"The time to define open standards for mobile 3D graphics has arrived; the time is now," said Kari Pulli, senior research manager, Nokia. "We
support Khronos' work in OpenGL. We are also leading Java Mobile 3D Graphics API standardization, and it is critical at this juncture to avoid the
two approaches becoming incompatible. We look forward to working with SGI and to developing open standards that will benefit everyone."
The Khronos standard will complement the mobile Java(TM) standard currently being developed by an industry expert group representing major
mobile phone companies, operators, and content and technology providers through the Java Community Process (JCP).
SGI celebrates 20 years of graphics innovation and leadership and the 10th anniversary of OpenGL at SIGGRAPH 2002, July 23-25 in San Antonio,
Texas, with new version enhancements and demonstrations in the SGI booth #13063.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has
become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet
Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is one of the most broadly held companies in the
world with listings on six major exchanges. For more information, access www.nokia.com.
About the Khronos Group
The Khronos Group was founded in January 2000 by a number of leading graphics and digital media companies including 3Dlabs, ATI, Discreet,
Evans & Sutherland, Intel, SGI and Sun Microsystems to promote the creation and deployment of rich media through the creation of open standard
APIs to enable the authoring and playback of dynamic media on a wide variety of platforms and devices. Please go to www.khronos.org for more
information.
About OpenGL
The OpenGL graphics system specification allows developers to incorporate a broad set of rendering, texture mapping, special effects and other
powerful visualization functions and provides a graphics pipeline that allows unfettered access to graphics hardware acceleration. Since its
introduction by SGI in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry's most widely used and supported 3D and 2D graphics application programming
interface. OpenGL is available on all other major computer platforms, including IRIX(R), Solaris(TM), HP-UX, Compaq(R) Tru64(R) UNIX(R),
AIX(R), BeOS, Windows NT(R), Windows(R) 98 and Mac(R) OS.
About SGI
Celebrating its 20th year, SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc., is the world's leader in high-performance computing, visualization and the
management of complex data. SGI(R) products, services and solutions enable its technical and creative customers to gain strategic and competitive
advantages in their core businesses. Whether being used to design and build safer cars and airplanes, discover new medications and oil reserves,
predict the weather, entertain us with thrilling movie special effects or provide mission-critical support for government and defense, SGI systems and
expertise are empowering a world of innovation and discovery. The company, located on the Web at www.sgi.com, is headquartered in Mountain
View, Calif., and has offices worldwide.
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