Intergraph's new TDZ workstations with new RealiZm Graphics surpass 1 million 3D triangles/second.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 1996--Intergraph Computer Systems once again changes the landscape of the 3D graphics workstation market with the announcement today of its next-generation TDZ 3D Graphics Workstations -- TDZ-310, TDZ-410 and TDZ-610.

The new TDZs, incorporating Intergraph's new RealiZm 3D graphics, shatter previous performance records as the first Windows NT-based platforms to achieve 1.2 million lit, Z-buffered, Gouraud-shaded, 50-pixel 3D triangles per second.

RealiZm includes RenderGL, a new Intergraph-developed library of graphics extensions which work with the OpenGL graphics library (see separate RenderGL June 25 announcement). These new Pentium Pro/Windows NT-based TDZs models are priced thousands of dollars less than comparable RISC/UNIX-based systems, continuing Intergraph's price and performance leadership in the 3D graphics industry.

These new TDZ Workstations deliver real-time, interactive 3D graphics with no compromise in performance, texture quality, display resolution or picture color depth to users in a variety of 3D graphics markets. "No other graphics workstation, either UNIX- or Windows NT-based, delivers this level of 3D graphics capability," said Wade Patterson, president of Intergraph Computer Systems. "Through our new RealiZm 3D graphics with RenderGL, the new TDZs accelerate high-quality rendering faster than any other workstation on the market. Intergraph TDZs also accelerate the OpenGL, Heidi and Direct3D (when available) graphics libraries and offer up to four Pentium Pro processors to maximize the performance of multithreaded applications. With all these features and performance -- starting under $10,000 -- Intergraph once again raises the bar in high-performance, open and affordable 3D graphics workstations, enabling 3D graphics designers to work in realistic environments in real time."

No Compromise 3D Graphics

The power of RealiZm 3D graphics is offered in three models -- RealiZm Z10, Z13 and Z25. Each RealiZm model enables TDZ users to render complex, highly realistic models and animation at true color and at resolutions up to 1 million (Z10), 1.3 million (Z13) or 2.5 million (Z25) pixels -- without the performance slowdown or feature degradation experienced on competitor's workstations.

To each RealiZm model, optional hardware texture memory can be add so that bitmaps can be applied to 3D surfaces for added realism with minimal performance degradation. Texture memory is available in 4-, 8-, 16- and 64-MB modules, representing the widest selection of texture memory options on any vendor's graphics card in the industry. Additionally, Intergraph uses the highest-quality texturing algorithm available (tri-linear mip-mapping) to optimize the realism of textured objects.

To further enhance the performance of onscreen dynamics, the user can add an optional geometry accelerator. Capable of up to 840 Mflops, the geometry accelerator is dedicated to accelerating transformation and lighting and offloads this graphics processing from the CPU.

RealiZm's 3D graphics hardware was developed completely by Intergraph, a company with more than 20 years of experience in designing high-performance interactive graphics hardware. The RealiZm graphics team leveraged Intergraph's previous generation of high-performance GLZ graphics to engineer the record-breaking RealiZm graphics engine, which includes state-of-the-art, custom ASICs with more than one million gates.

Enhancing OpenGL Performance With New RenderGL Graphics

Libraries

To fully optimize the performance of RealiZm graphics, intergraph developed the new RenderGL graphics library. Available first with Intergraph TDZ workstations, RenderGL is a graphics library that enhances the OpenGL graphics library. With the combination of RenderGL and RealiZm graphics, users can now add unprecedented, extremely high-quality features to their 3D models and still render these models at highly accelerated speeds.

Leading-Edge Components in an Industry-Standard Architecture

Designed around Intergraph's own motherboard, Intergraph's new TDZ 3D Graphics Workstations include three new models incorporating one (TDZ-310), two (TDZ-410), or four (TDZ-610) Pentium Pro processors for optimal multiprocessing capability. In addition to the new RealiZm 3D graphics, these TDZs include new high-performance system components optimized to support fast 3D graphics display. These new features include the following:

-- Ultra SCSI disk subsystem. To provide ready access to the huge amounts of data associated with 3D graphics design and animation, the new TDZs use the Ultra-SCSI disk interface (sometimes called SCSI-3). With data transfer rates up to 20 MB/sec., Ultra-SCSI offers twice the disk performance of Fast SCSI-2 systems and 25 percent faster performance than Enhanced IDE.

-- Integrated 10/100Base-TX Ethernet. Since much of 3D graphics designers' and animators' 3D data resides on remote servers, the new TDZs provide a 100Base-TX Ethernet controller, which senses the network to automatically take advantage of 100 megabit/second data rates, when available.

-- 8X CD-ROM. An 8X CD-ROM provides fast access to the wealth of data and design libraries, which are often stored on CDs.

The new TDZs also include many features of the previous award-winning generation. These features include a PCI bus, 256-bit ECC memory, up to four 200 MHz Pentium Pro processors, hardware RAID (with TDZ-610), dual-screen support, and the Windows NT operating system.

Continuing the Tradition of Excellence

When Intergraph first announced its Pentium Pro processor/Windows NT-based TDZ workstations in November 1995, the landscape of the 3D graphics marketplace was forever changed. On an open platform, TDZs offer RISC/UNIX-class performance at a fraction of the cost. A variety of creative and technical professionals -- in markets such as mechanical CAD; visual computing (animation, visual simulation, multimedia, and games creation); architectural engineering and construction (AEC); and GIS/mapping -- have taken advantage of the benefits of the TDZ since their release. Here's what customers are saying about the TDZs:

-- Joe Johnson, Baxter Corporate Research, Round Lake, Illinois: "It used to take several UNIX-based workstations and generic PCs to do my job. Today, I can run all of my CAD/CAM applications -- including Pro/ENGINEER -- and office automation products, such as Microsoft Office, on a single desktop workstation. So, I've increased my productivity while minimizing costs."

-- Tim Miller, president and creative director of Blur Studio, Venice, California: "With the Intergraph TDZ workstations, our animators can work in 3D Studio MAX in true color mode at high resolutions without bogging down the display. They can even work in shaded mode -- with textures -- as they edit their models and animate, drastically speeding our ability to change and evaluate works in progress. The animators also love the blinding rendering speed of the multiprocessor systems. Something that took an hour to render on our 133 MHz Pentium processor-based PC now takes eight minutes or so. It lets us spend more time being creative and less time waiting for frames to render."

-- Bill Hite, vice president of Marshall Graphics Systems (North America's longest-standing SOFTIMAGE reseller), Nashville, Tennessee: "For SOFTIMAGE 3D, Windows NT on Intel processors is an excellent choice, and Intergraph's TDZ workstations are the most widely used for this platform. Intergraph provides a wide range of graphics options, which gives the SOFTIMAGE user a choice in dollars versus performance. The TDZ is a soundly built computer with an excellent chassis and very good performance."

-- Mark Munroe, president of The Image Producers, Inc., Canfield, Ohio: "When we heard that SOFTIMAGE 3D was being released on Windows NT, we jumped at the chance to move to a platform that was less expensive, more open, easily upgradeable, and had better performance. We chose Intergraph's TDZ as the best workstation with which to make the move to NT. The TDZ is a very impressive piece of hardware, and the performance with the Pentium Pro is spectacular. It was seven times faster than our previous RISC-based workstation. The ability to plug in a second 200 MHz processor on the motherboard and the GLZ graphics made the purchase decision an easy one."

TDZ workstations have also earned the respect of industry-leading vendors of 3D graphics software. TDZs are certified to run popular mechanical CAD applications such as Pro/ENGINEER, for example, and are increasingly popular platforms for Windows NT-based 3D animation packages, such as SOFTIMAGE 3D, 3D Studio MAX, and LightWave 3D. Here's what these software vendors are saying about TDZs:

-- Shirish Nadkami, director of marketing for SOFTIMAGE: "Intergraph's line of Pentium Pro processor-based TDZ and StudioZ workstations provide a very attractive platform for Softimage 3D customers, especially those who want to take full advantage of our mental ray multithreaded, distributed rendering solution. The features of OpenGL acceleration, up to four multiprocessors, first-class support, and a complete range of product offerings make Intergraph a solid choice for anyone who wants to unleash the power of Softimage."

-- John Ison, director of Product Management at Kinetix, the independent multimedia division of Autodesk: "Because 3D Studio MAX is highly multithreaded, users see a tremendous performance increase on multiprocessor machines. With up to four 200 MHz Pentium Pro processors, Intergraph's TDZ workstations offer the most multiprocessing power available for 3D Studio MAX."

-- Jim Parsons, director of Marketing and Business Development at NewTek, Inc.: "When NewTek animators first saw LightWave 5.0 running on the Intergraph TDZ system, they were amazed at the speed. The combination of LightWave 5.0 with the OpenGL graphics accelerators and multiple Pentium Pro processors in Intergraph's TDZ workstations provides an unbelievably powerful animator's platform."

Pricing and Availability

The new TDZ Workstations (TDZ-310, -410, -610) will be shown at SIGGRAPH `96 in New Orleans and will be available in August. Prices start at $9,995 for a TDZ-310 with a single 200 MHz Pentium Pro processor, RealiZm Z-10 graphics, 32 MB of RAM, 1 GB hard disk, and the Windows NT operating system.

Intergraph Background Information

Intergraph Computer Systems develops, manufacturers, sells and supports computer systems for the creative and technical desktop -- the combination of compatible applications and personal productivity tools in a single desktop computer. Hardware products include Pentium Pro/Windows NT-based graphics workstations and servers. A member of the Fortune 1000, Intergraph is the world's largest company dedicated to supplying interactive computer graphics systems. -0-

Note to editors: Intergraph is a registered trademark of Intergraph Corporation. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

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