From pierre@division.demon.co.uk Tue Oct 4 10:45:47 1994 Date: Tue, 30 Aug 1994 12:30:14 -0700 From: Pierre duPont To: scivw@hitl.hitl.washington.edu Subject: (Fwd) Press Release from Division Limited ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- From: Self To: ukvrsig@mailbase.ac.uk Subject: Press Release from Division Limited Date: Mon, 18 Jul 1994 16:41:23 Contact: Pierre duPont, Division +44 454 615554 Doug Schiff, Division +1 919-968-7797 Tim Hurley, HP USA +1 617-252-0606 Title: HP and Division Sign Virtual Reality Technology Agreement Subtitle: Companies will collaborate on R&D and marketing initiatives Bristol, UK - July 18, 1994 - Hewlett-Packard and Division have signed a strategic alliance and product development agreement that will strengthen the two companies' offerings in the growing market for virtual reality (VR) applications in computer-aided design (CAD), training and medicine. The agreement covers the following areas of collaboration: . Division's dVS distributed VR runtime environment and dVISE virtual world authoring and simulation development software will be ported to HP 9000 Series 700 workstations. . Division has integrated its PROVISION 10 virtual reality accelerator hardware with the HP Series 700 graphics workstations to create a new line of interactive, fully immersive virtual reality systems. . Division will act as a value-added reseller of HP workstations in virtual reality markets. . Division will offer virtual reality solutions to customers with applications in CAD; architecture, engineering and construction (AEC); training; simulation; medicine; and other areas. The two companies will also collaborate on future generations of high-performance graphics products based on HP's PA-RISC and Division's PixelFlow(tm) technology licensed from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Graphics performance is the principal barrier to widespread acceptance of virtual reality for mainstream applications," says Charles Grimsdale, Managing Director of Division Group plc. "We are devoting considerable research and development effort towards products that combine high levels of image fidelity with real-time interaction." "Virtual reality is swiftly emerging as an important technology in engineering and other key markets where HP has a leadership role," said Mark Canepa, general manager of the Advanced Systems Division in HP's Workstation Systems Group. "We've chosen Division as a strategic partner because they are widely recognized as the leader in the virtual reality industry, offering powerful and flexible solutions oriented toward the key markets we want to pursue." The agreement with HP will give Division access to a large customer base in what the company sees as its biggest market: CAD in industries such as automotive, aerospace, architecture and other product development areas. "We see virtual reality as the natural evolution of the human/computer interface for 3D graphics computing," says Grimsdale. "Already, we have demonstrated applications with tremendous return-on-investment potential in areas such as virtual automotive prototyping, interactive housing design, and concurrent digital pre-assembly of aircraft parts." Division's VR software -- dVS and dVISE -- will be available across the HP Series 700 product line and will take advantage of HP's entire family of graphics accelerators. These software products support a variety of 3D input and output devices, including stereo displays and 3D mice. They can also take advantage of distributed and multiprocessor computing environments. Customers using HP Model 715 or 735 workstations can create a fully immersive VR system by adding Division's PROVISION 10 virtual reality accelerator. PROVISION 10 is based on PIXEL PLANES technology developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It uses massive parallelism (8,192 processors) to deliver peak performance of 300k Gouraud-shaded, textured polygons per second. The system's pixel throughput is 997 megapixels per second. PROVISION 10 supports the true stereo output needed for head-mounted displays, and allows for an optional 3D audio capability. Fully immersive systems based on PROVISION 10 can be ordered immediately for delivery in the third quarter of this year. Division's virtual reality software will be available on HP workstations in the fourth quarter of this year. Pricing for a complete VR software environment, including interactive authoring software, starts at stlg4,400. PROVISION 10 starts at stlg14,000. Complete immersive systems based on Hewlett Packard workstations range from stlg26,000 to stlg70,000. The Division Group of companies specializes in providing virtual reality technology, products, and services for professional virtual reality applications. Headquartered in Bristol, England, Division has US offices in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Redwood City, California, and a major distributor in Japan. The company has sold integrated virtual reality systems and services to a world-wide customer base of professional users, who include British Telecom, GTE, Nynex, Glaxo, Shell, DoD, DRA, McDonnell Douglas, NASA, and Matsushita. Its shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange. HP is the second largest computer supplier in the United States, with computer revenue in excess of $15.6 billion in its 1993 fiscal year. Hewlett-Packard Company is an international manufacturer of measurement and computational products and systems recognized for excellence in quality and support. The company's products and services are used in industry, business, engineering, science, medicine and education in approximately 110 countries. HP has 97,000 employees and had revenue of $20.3 billion in its 1993 fiscal year. ============================================================= email: dupontp@division.demon.co.uk Pierre duPont phone: +44 454 615554 Marketing Director fax: +44 454 615532 Division Limited 19 Apex Court, Woodlands, Almondsbury, Bristol BS12 4JT UK