Press Release
- 2004
ATI’s FireGL™ Graphics Technology
Drive
Jordan Grand Prix’s 3D Auto Design System
FireGL™ workstation graphics accelerator
improves design process
Friday October 8, 2004
MARKHAM, ON – ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT)
today announced that the Jordan Ford auto racing team is relying
on ATI’s FireGL™ workstation graphics accelerator
as a key component of the racing team’s new 3D auto design
system.
When even the smallest error in the design of its autos can
dramatically affect the team’s performance and success,
Jordan’s IT team carefully evaluated and tested a variety
of competing products before selecting ATI’s award-winning
FireGL workstation graphics hardware to install in 60 new CAD
workstations being used in its design offices.
“In addition to meeting our technical requirements, the
FireGL board’s compatibility with software applications
was crucial,” said Adrian Collinson, a Jordan IT analyst
involved in developing the new CAD system. “In making our
decision, we were looking for performance, stability and value-for-money.
We have all of those with FireGL.”
With its new design solution featuring ATI graphics technology,
Jordan is able to eliminate any design visualization errors of
the past, such as incorrect dimensions, and maximize its workstation
graphics capabilities in new ways that enhance reliability, accuracy
and speed of the entire design process for Jordan’s top-ranked
F1 cars.
The FireGL Visual Processing Unit (GPU) is designed to enable
users to create complex visual effects and designs when working
in Digital Content Creation (DCC), Computer-Assisted-Design (CAD),
Pre-Visualization and Geographic-Information-Systems (GIS).
“Our designers can come under huge amounts of pressure
to complete actions by certain deadlines,” said Jordan’s
CAD Manager, Mike McGee. “We are dealing with 3D assembly
models of between five and 500 complex parts. In the past, the
dynamic manipulation of such large assemblies was slow and imprecise.
With ATI’s FireGL, I can honestly say that graphics performance
is now the least of our worries and certainly better than we
ever had before.”
ATI’s FireGL graphics board is not only advancing the
capabilities of Jordan’s design team, it is also playing
a key role in helping design analysts who are using digital car
mockups to assess vehicle structure and optimize each car’s
mass, strength and stiffness, according to Jordan Design Analyst
Simon Gardiner.
“We have a real need for high-performance graphics,” Gardiner
said. “We have to be able to manipulate some pretty big
3D models so that we can see where and how much load to add and
examine the results of our analysis. We need, as near as possible,
real time rotation of the model, otherwise we lose time trying
to second guess. With FireGL, this is no longer an issue.”
For more information about ATI’s FireGL workstation graphics
products, please visit www.ati.com/FireGL.
Copyright 2004 ATI
Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. ATI and ATI product and product feature
names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc.
All other company and product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks
of their respective owners. Features, pricing, availability and specifications
are subject to change without notice.
About ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. is a world leader in the design and
manufacture of innovative 3D graphics and digital media silicon
solutions. An industry pioneer since 1985, ATI is the world’s
foremost visual processor unit (GPU) provider and is dedicated
to deliver leading-edge performance solutions for the full range
of PC and Mac desktop and notebook platforms, workstation, set-top
and digital television, game console and handheld markets. With
2004 revenues of US $2 billion, ATI has more than 2,700 employees
in the Americas, Europe and Asia. ATI common shares trade on
NASDAQ (ATYT) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ATY).
Contact Information
For media or industry analyst support, visit our Web site at
http://www.ati.com .
Other ATI Contacts:
Tenille Kennedy, Senior Consultant, Porter Novelli Canada, at
(416) 422-7163 or tenille.kennedy@porternovelli.com
For media inquiries:
Carrie Maynard ,
Public Relations Specialist, at
(905) 882-2600, Ext. 8181 or cmaynard@ati.com
For investor relations support, please contact:
Janet Craig, Director, Investor Relations, ATI Technologies Inc.,
at (905) 882-2600, Ext. 2631 or janet@ati.com