(COMTEX) B: S3 and Creative Join Forces to Aggressively Attack the OE
B: S3 and Creative Join Forces to Aggressively Attack the OEM, Retail and
Systems Integrator Channels
SANTA CLARA, CALIF. (March 1) BUSINESS WIRE -March 1, 1999-- Creative
Announces New 3D Blaster Savage4 Card with AGP 4X, S3TC,
32MB, Flat Panel and DVD Playback
In a major press conference today in San Francisco, S3(R) Incorporated
(Nasdaq:SIII) and Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq:CREAF) announced
their first strategic relationship and plans to secure design wins
throughout the OEM, retail and systems integrator (SI) channels.
As part of this plan, Creative announced and demonstrated its new 3D
Blaster Savage4 card, which is based on S3's industry-first AGP 4X
accelerator with S3 Texture Compression (S3TC).
"The combined strengths of S3 and Creative represent a major force for
competitors to contend with in the market," said Ken Potashner,
president and CEO of S3 Incorporated. "Our goal is to secure design
wins among the top ten PC OEMs and based on our combined engineering
expertise, technical excellence and customer support infrastructures,
we expect to win a number of those designs." Industry Rallies Around
S3's Savage4 Accelerator
S3's Savage4 accelerator has been widely received by both AIC and top
ten PC manufacturers. Since launching the accelerator in February, S3
has secured design wins with Diamond Multimedia, Number Nine Visual
Technologies, ELSA and Hercules among others. The company plans to
announce additional design wins over the next several weeks.
Added Potashner, "Today's announcement is another major step towards S3
becoming the number one market leader. With the addition of Creative,
we have secured design wins with all of our major AIC customers as well
as with three out of the top five PC OEMs." The S3 and Creative
Relationship
S3 and Creative bring complimentary strengths to their relationship,
including engineering and design expertise, proven high-volume
manufacturing capacity, brand recognition, legacy OS support,
high-performance/stable drivers, technical excellence and graphics
innovation such as Creative's special graphic effects (shadowing) and
S3's texture compression. Their manufacturing strengths in particular
will enable them to increase quality-control and deliver a competitive
cost structure at very high-volumes. S3's manufacturing strength comes
from being the only top five graphics chipset company to have an equity
investment in a manufacturing facility, which guarantees capacity and
access to leading edge .25 and .18 micron process technologies.
Likewise, Creative is the only branded add-in-card company to have its
own manufacturing facilities in both the Far East and North America.
Targeted OEM and Retail Programs
S3 and Creative also announced comprehensive programs targeted at the
retail, OEM and SI channels. These programs are designed to leverage
the strengths of both Creative and S3 and pursue design wins at the top
OEMs and in the retail chain.
-- S3/Creative Top 10 OEM Design Win Program -- S3 and Creative have
established a comprehensive program to capture key design wins at
the top 10 PC OEMs. Facets of the program include joint sales and
marketing support, PR and worldwide press release distribution,
on-site field applications support, extensive hardware and
software testing, joint software development to ensure stable and
high-performance drivers and expansive channel programs.
-- S3/Creative Retail Branding Program -- S3 and Creative will
promote branding and end-user pull programs to build strong brand
recognition and demand for 3D Blaster Savage4 in the retail
channel. The companies will also work together on developer
relations, developer conferences, and targeted sales and
marketing support such as advertising, tradeshows and gaming
contests.
About Creative's New 3D Blaster Savage4 Card
Based on S3's Savage4 PRO graphics controller, Creative's new 3D
Blaster Savage4 delivers spectacular performance and stunning visual
quality using S3's patented S3TC texture compression. The 3D Blaster
32-bit 3D rendering, a full 128-bit 3D graphics engine and two 3D
rendering pipelines. In addition, 3D Blaster Savage4 features 32MB of
SDRAM, a 300MHz RAMDAC, and hardware-assisted DVD, all supported by
Creative's own drivers and utilities.
The 3D Blaster Savage4 is a dual-pipeline engine capable of
simultaneously processing and combining two textures, allowing software
developers the ability to create realistic, real-time visual effects
including bump mapping, environmental mapping and dual texturing. In
addition to gaming, the 3D Blaster Savage4 is a great choice for
general-purpose graphics applications such as word processing, Web
navigation, digital imaging and games. About the Savage4 Solution
Targeted at the commercial and consumer PC markets, Savage4 is designed
to deliver 3D rendering capabilities equivalent to high-end, niche
gaming solutions, as well as leading 2D graphics and video
acceleration. Built around a new 128-bit super-pipelined 3D engine, the
trilinear filtered single-pass multi-texturing, hardware accelerated
DVD, 32MB memory support and complete digital flat panel support.
Spanning all volume mainstream PC price segments, Savage4 comes in two
configurations: the Savage4 PRO and the Savage4 GT. Targeted for
mid-range volume PC markets, the Savage4 PRO offers industry-first AGP
4X technology, 143MHz memory support and up to a 32MB local frame
buffer, while the Savage4 GT offers AGP 2X technology, 125MHz memory
support and up to a 16MB local frame buffer for low-end PC markets.
About Creative Technology
Creative Technology Ltd. develops, manufactures and markets a wide
array of advanced multimedia solutions for the PC, entertainment,
education, music and productivity tools markets. Creative's products
are marketed through the OEM, systems integrator and retail channels
under a variety of trademarks, including the "Blaster" family name.
With the new Sound Blaster(R) PCI standard, Creative has produced a
solution that utilizes a combination of hardware and software for
near-perfect compatibility with existing DOS and Windows titles.
Creative's corporate headquarters and primary manufacturing are based
in Singapore, with sales, distribution and research and development
being carried out through an extensive, global network of subsidiaries
located in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. About S3
Incorporated
One of the largest suppliers of graphics and video accelerators in the
world, S3 Incorporated has established itself as a market leader in
technology excellence, core business strengths, strategic partnerships
and worldwide reach. Building on these strengths, S3 is committed to
delivering targeted products for the Personal Computer, Computing
Integration and Consumer Appliance Markets.
Note to Editors: Sound Blaster, Blaster, and 3D Blaster are registered
trademarks, and Graphics Blaster and Extreme are trademarks of Creative
Technology Ltd. in the U.S. and other countries.
Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set
forth in this press release, such as statements as to future design
wins, Savage4's competitive advantages, Savage4's production schedule,
and the availability of products incorporating Savage4, are
forward-looking statements that are subject to risk and uncertainties,
including the impact of competitive products and pricing and of
alternative technological advances, the ability of the company's
foundries to manufacture Savage4 products in a timely manner, the
ability of the company and Creative to achieve the goals of this
relationship, market acceptance of the company's, Creative's and its
customers' new products, customers' product marketing timelines,
design, competitive product and other factors that may affect current
and potential customers' decisions to use Savage4 product, and other
risks detailed from time to time in S3's SEC reports, including its
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 1998.
S3 is a registered trademark of S3 Incorporated. The S3 corporate logo
and Savage4 are trademarks of S3 Incorporated. Other marks referenced
herein are the property of their respective owners.
-0- gdr/sf*
CONTACT: S3 Incorporated
Kelly Morris, 408/588-8023 (Press)
kmorris@s3.com
Walt Amaral, 408/588-8007 (Investors)
wamaral@S3.com
s3.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMED COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS
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