HPCwire: NVIDIA RealityServer Propels 3D Cloud Computing Using GPUs

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October 20, 2009

NVIDIA RealityServer Propels 3D Cloud Computing Using GPUs

First of its kind GPU-based cloud computing solution provides interactive, photorealistic 3D applications accessible from any Web connected device

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 20 -- NVIDIA, inventor of the graphics processing unit (GPU), and mental images, world leader in rendering technologies, introduced today the NVIDIA RealityServer platform for cloud computing, a powerful combination of GPUs and software that streams interactive, photorealistic 3D applications to any Web-connected PC, laptop, netbook and smart phone.

NVIDIA RealityServer -- the culmination of nearly 40 collective years of hardware and software engineering by NVIDIA and mental images -- enables developers to create a new generation of consumer and enterprise 3D Web applications, all with remarkable levels of photorealism.

Automobile product engineering teams will be able to securely share and visualize complex 3D models of cars under different lighting and environmental conditions.
Architects and their clients will be able to review sophisticated architectural models, rendered in different settings, including day or night.
Online shoppers will be able to interactively design home interiors, rearrange furniture, and view how fabrics will drape, all with perfectly accurate lighting.

The NVIDIA RealityServer platform is comprised of an NVIDIA Tesla RS GPU-based server running RealityServer software from mental images. While photorealistic imagery has traditionally taken hours or days to create, this first-of-its-kind, integrated solution streams images of photorealistic scenes at rates approaching an interactive gaming experience.

"This is one giant leap closer to the goal of real-time photorealistic visual computing for the masses," said Dan Vivoli, senior vice president at NVIDIA. "mental images fully embraced the concept of GPU co-processing to enable Interactive photorealism anywhere, any time -- something that was science fiction just yesterday."

RealityServer software utilizes mental images iray technology, the world's first physically correct ray-tracing renderer that employs the massively parallel CUDA architecture of NVIDIA GPUs to create stunningly accurate photorealistic images by simulating the physics of light in its interaction with matter. Because ray tracing is one of the most demanding computational problems, iray technology is designed to take advantage of the parallel computing power of NVIDIA Tesla.

"Everyone should experience the Web the way they experience the world, in 3D," said Rolf Herken, CEO and CTO of mental images. "RealityServer offers extraordinary opportunities and far-reaching implications for businesses and consumers, enabling us to interact with 3D content in the form and manner that our brains expect."

"NVIDIA RealityServer can revolutionize marketing and sales via the Web by enabling the world to interact with virtual products in a more realistic and unconstrained way," said David Kelly, CEO of mydeco.com, a UK-based designer furnishing site. "Our interactive 3D planner, which uses RealityServer, is what attracts customers to mydeco, and the immersive, real-life experience it delivers keeps them engaged."

"Some of the biggest problems we face in aviation research involve managing and visualizing massive datasets while keeping that data secure," said Fernando Toledo, manager, Virtual Reality Center, National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. "Using NVIDIA RealityServer for virtual prototyping, design reviews and remote visualization solves those issues. We are extremely impressed by its performance and ability to realistically render our large 3D CAD models over the Web without exposing our IP."

"NVIDIA RealityServer is an integral part of our 3D Scenes application on Facebook," said Mark Zohar, CEO of SceneCaster. "This unique and powerful GPU-based Cloud computing solution offers exciting opportunities for the delivery of realistic 3D applications and services."

Product Information

The NVIDIA RealityServer platform will be available Nov. 30, 2009. Tesla RS configurations start at eight GPUs, and scale to support increasing numbers of simultaneous users.

A developer edition of RealityServer 3.0 software will be downloadable free of charge, including the right to deploy non-commercial applications Nov. 30, 2009.

For more information about NVIDIA RealityServer, visit www.nvidia.com/realityserver or www.realityserver.com.

About NVIDIA

NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) awakened the world to the power of computer graphics when it invented the graphics processing unit (GPU) in 1999. Since then, it has consistently set new standards in visual computing with breathtaking, interactive graphics available on devices ranging from portable media players to notebooks to workstations. NVIDIA's expertise in programmable GPUs has led to breakthroughs in parallel processing which make supercomputing inexpensive and widely accessible. Fortune magazine has ranked NVIDIA #1 in innovation in the semiconductor industry for two years in a row. For more information, see www.nvidia.com.

About mental images

mental images, founded in 1986, is the recognized international leader in providing component and platform software for the creation, manipulation and visualization of 3D content. Its world leading rendering and other technologies are used by the entertainment, computer-aided design, architecture, scientific visualization, and other industries that require sophisticated images primarily as part of their software products and application services. mental images is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NVIDIA Corp. with headquarters in Berlin, Germany, a subsidiary in the United States, mental images, Inc., and a subsidiary in Melbourne, Australia, mental images Pty. mental images has a multinational staff of top qualified engineers exclusively dedicated to basic research and development in the area of 3D graphics and 3D Web Applications and Services technologies. For more information, visit www.mentalimages.com.

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Source: NVIDIA Corp.

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