---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUN INTRODUCES POWERFUL VISUALIZATION WORKSTATIONS SunFLASH Vol 20 #7 August 1990 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Give Developers and End Users A Range of Capabilities, From Image Processing to 3-D Graphics DALLAS --August 6, 1990-- At the Siggraph '90 conference today, Sun Microsystems unveiled visualization workstations powered by the new VX and MVX visualization accelerators. These new visualization models of Sun's powerful deskside SPARC(R) workstations deliver high performance across the full range of visualization techniques, including image processing, volume rendering, 3-D graphics and high-quality rendering. Such visualization capabilities have previously been available only on the most costly graphics supercomputers or on multiple special-purpose accelerators. These latest additions to Sun's visualization product line -- the broadest of any workstation vendor -- will be utilized by developers and sophisticated end users in areas such as medical imaging, remote sensing, earth resources, scientific visualization, pharmaceutical/chemical, geographic information systems and mechanical computer-aided design. The new SPARCstation(TM) VX models contain the single-board VX accelerator, which offers 40 MIPS and 60 peak MFLOPS (double precision). This accelerator has twice the performance and memory of Sun's TAAC-1(TM) accelerator, at a lower price. A multi-processor MVX board can be added to VX models to boost accelerator performance to 160 MIPS and 240 peak MFLOPS, or more than four to six times faster than the TAAC-1. Sun the Leader in Visualization Sun already offers a broad range of graphics hardware and software products, including the industry's fastest desktop 2-D graphics systems. Now, Sun has become the leader in visualization by offering a variety of technologies spanning graphics, imaging, rendering and animation. This is in contrast to other vendors, who specialize in only graphics or only imaging technologies. "Today's leading-edge applications require more than just lines and polygons used in graphics; they need the full range of visualization capabilities," said Mary Whitton, director of marketing for visualization products at Sun. "Our focus is on making visualization more accesible to mainstream applications by integrating technologies, simplifying use, increasing performance at the high end and lowering the cost of entry-level products." With the introduction of its visualization workstations, Sun now offers visual computing solutions in a wide range of price points. These solutions begin at under $20,000 for a 15.8-MIPS desktop SPARCstation 1+ running SunVision(TM) software up to a 22-MIPS SPARCstation 470VX with the MVX for under $120,000. Accelerators Boost SunVision Performance An important feature of systems including the VX and MVX is that they boost the performance of SunVision applications by two to 15 times. SunVision visualization software, which will be shipped beginning in August, and XGL, Sun's 2-D/3-D graphics software library (already shipping), are bundled with the VX. SunVision includes libraries and advanced tools for easy development of visualization applications. All SunVision visualization tools are easy to use, since they share OPEN LOOK(TM), an intuitive graphical user interface. In addition to using SunVision's tools and libraries, developers can take advantage of the robust C development tools that are bundled with the VX and MVX. With these tools, developers can harness the full processing power of the VX and MVX to extend the capabilities of SunVision or to develop new visualization software. Complex Tasks Made Easy With Sun's visualization workstations, applications can be developed and used to solve a range of complex technical problems. Potential applications include: radar data display to identify wind shear for improved aviation safety; radiation treatment planning for effective cancer treatment; seismic survey analysis to identify new oil deposits; photo-realistic product and architectural rendering for cost-effective design; satellite data display to help manage natural resources. The VX includes a 32-bit processor, program memory and two accelerated frame buffers on a single board, an industry first. The two are: a 16-megabyte, 32-bit frame buffer for image display and an 8-bit GX frame buffer for display of Sun's OpenWindows(TM) environment. The VX integrates the output of these two frame buffers for display on a single, high-resolution, 21-inch monitor. The VX is Sun's first product to support 1280 x 1024 pixel resolution. Additional performance can be gained by adding the MVX multi-processor board to VX systems. The MVX consists of four 32-bit processors, each with 4 megabytes of memory. The MVX processors and the VX processor transfer data over a high-speed block transfer bus that operates at 320 megabytes/second. Combined with the boards' processing capabilities, this transfer rate results in fast, interactive display of data and images. Prices, Availability Sun will offer two visualization workstations -- the SPARCstation 330VX and the SPARCstation 470VX -- for $55,900 and $86,900, respectively. The VX will also be available separately for all deskside SPARCstations and high-end SPARCservers as an add-in option for $24,000. The MVX can be added to a VX workstation for $30,000. Shipments will begin in early March 1991. Sun Microsystems, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a leading worldwide supplier of network-based distributed computing systems, including professional workstations, servers and UNIX(R) operating system and productivity software. ### TAAC, SunVision, SPARCstation, XGL and OpenWindows are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. OPEN LOOK is a trademark of AT&T. SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc., based on technology developed by Sun Microsystems. UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. All other products or services mentioned in this document are identified by the trademarks or service marks of their respective companies or organizations. For reader inquiries, telephone 1-800-821-4643 outside California. Inside California, call 1-800-821-4642. 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