Trident Raises the Ante in AGP Market; AGP Sideband Support Significantly Boosts 3D Graphics Performance And Achieves Better Texture Management
Business Wire - March 10, 1997 07:00
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 1997--Trident Microsystems (NASDAQ:TRID) announced today that its 3DImge 985 graphics controller will be used in advanced AGP graphics boards from Diamond Multimedia and Number Nine.
With this announcement, Trident completes another step in its goal to bring the market the benefits of the complete AGP specification
for a superior 3D, MPEG2, video and TV-Display capabilities.
Diamond Multimedia is the leading add-in board manufacturer with the value-added expertise required to design, manufacture and
supply the volume AGP-based products required by leading system OEM's.
Number Nine, another top add-in multimedia board manufacturer will also be using Trident's 3DImge 985 graphics controller which
includes Trident's rCADE3D rendering engine with SGRAM support, on-chip setup engine and video processing.
AGP, Intel's new Accelerated Graphics Port, is a dedicated bus interface that is tightly linked to the host. It will offer a significant
increase in data transfer rates over the existing PCI bus. The bus will move data at 133MHz with transfer rates up to 500MB per
second.
Because Trident is the only chip manufacturer to date to offer sideband addressing and remote texture storage in main system memory,
resulting in a 20 to 50% performance improvement while using a smaller frame buffer. Other AGP solutions on the market, without
sideband addressing or remote texture storage can only offer a PCI/AGP solution that falls short of the true AGP performance
standards.
The AGP standard is predicted to reach 10 percent of the $1.5 billion graphics platform market by the end of 1997, and is expected to
accelerate to 70% of the market during the same period in 1998. By partnering with the leading board suppliers, Trident expects to help
enable and accelerate this trend. Because of the rapid deployment of AGP that is expected in the second half of 1997, the first
AGP-enabled systems will consist of add-in boards onto an Intel P6 platform.
"Being the first on the market to offer a no-compromise AGP solution, and partnering with the leading graphics board manufacturers in
the world, has given Trident a significant market edge. We see sales of the 3DImge 985 as a leading indicator of where the graphics
market will be going," stated Frank Lin, president and CEO of Trident. "More and more the successful business model in this very
competitive market will be the group that can get the most advanced devices first onto the market by linking the leading players to the
most advanced technologies."
"We are pleased to be working with Trident to exploit the potential of the AGP bus," according to David Watkins, vice president and
general manager, visual systems, Diamond Multimedia. "And we believe that Trident's multimedia extensions, including leading 3D,
video and MPEG2 and TV-Display, play perfectly into the Intel P6 and AGP performance characteristics."
"Number Nine is excited about Trident's efforts to embrace the full potential of AGP," said Phil Parker, director of corporate
communications at Number Nine. "We believe that Number Nine products based on Trident technology will offer significant value to
our clients in the areas of 3D, video and AGP performance."
Trident Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:TRID), with headquarters in Mountain View, California, designs, develops and markets
integrated circuit graphics controllers and multimedia video processing chipsets for IBM-compatible PCs which significantly enhance
graphics display. Trident products are sold through a network of OEMs and system integrators worldwide.
Diamond Multimedia is driving the Internet multimedia market by providing interactivity and connectivity solutions for home, business
and professional desktop computer users, enabling them to create, access and experience compelling new media content from their
desktops and through the Internet. Diamond accelerates multimedia from the Internet to the hard drive with products that include the
Stealth and Monster series of media accelerators, the Fire series of professional 3D graphics and SCSI accelerators, and the Supra series
of modems and ISDN adapters. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Diamond's common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market
under the symbol DIMD. Diamond's website is at WWW.diamondmm.com .
Number Nine Visual Technology Corporation is a leading innovator and supplier of high-performance visual technology solutions,
jincluding video/graphics accelerator subsystems, chips and productivity enhancing software. Number Nine is a publicly held company
headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts and on the internet at nine.com .
Forward-Looking Information
The statements made herein regarding the incorporation of Trident products in add-in cards are forward-looking statements. The actual
availability and sales of such products could vary substantially as a result of a variety of factors, including the Company's ability to
supply and support its customers, the ability of the Company's customers to manufacture and ship products incorporating the
Company's products, as well as the availability of other products and resources. Trident's performance depends upon the overall
markets' reaction to its technology, feature sets, pricing and delivery schedules. Further information regarding these and other risks is
described from time to time in the Company's SEC reports.
Note to Editors: Trident is a registered trademark of Trident Microsystems, Inc. 3Dimage and rCADE3D are trademarks of Trident
Microsystems, Inc. All other product names or trademarks are property of their respective owners.
CONTACT: Trident Microsystems, Inc.
Peter Brown, 415/943-3761
pbrown@tridmicr.com
WEB:tridentmicro.com
or
Diamond Multimedia
Joan Huang, 408/325-7236
or
Number Nine
Phil Parker, 617/674-8513
REPEATS: New York 212-752-9600 or 800-221-2462; Boston 617-236-4266 or
800-225-2030; SF 415-986-4422 or 800-227-0845; LA 310-820-9473
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