NEWS BRIEFS

San Jose, CA — alt.software, the independent graphics development house for real-time accelerated graphics development, has become “the OpenGL developer of choice” for Quantum3D’s Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) systems and embedded technologies. Quantum3D and alt.software join together to design high-resolution color AMLCD and projection cockpit displays which are mounted in instrument panels for both fixed-wing and rotor-based military and civilian aircraft. These cockpit displays allow pilots to view an array of information including moving maps for navigation, enact weapons guidance and perform other aircraft management functions.

Quantum3D, through its exclusive technology agreement with 3dfx, supplies the Embedded Cockpit Display market with top-quality, industry-leading and open architecture graphics technology. Quantum3D’s unique technical and one-on-one engineering expertise, coupled with the performance and functionality advantages of 3dfx-based technology, offers avionics manufacturers distinct advantages over buying a COTS manufacturing kit. Together, Quantum3D and alt.software have a strategic partnership that is able to offer avionics customers a turnkey solution – with expert support for programs throughout the design cycle, high performance implementations of open architecture OpenGL software, advanced graphics chip technology at affordable prices and support for a wide range of form factors and processors. This combination has proven ideal for strategic avionics programs.

Honeywell Defense Avionics Systems (Teterboro, NJ) has already selected Quantum3D and alt.software to provide graphics accelerator design services and 3dfx VSA-100 chips for the AH-64D Apache Longbow’s Advanced High Resolution Color Avionics Display. The Color Image Processing Module (CIPM) and the Monochromatic Image Processing Module (MIPM) will use the Quantum3D designed graphics architecture to provide pilots with unparalleled display quality in the Army’s most successful attack helicopter.

Kaiser Electronics has also selected the Quantum3D and alt.software team. For the Kaiser program, Quantum3D is developing an advanced graphics subsystem as the backbone for Kaiser Electronics’ advanced display architecture. The Kaiser program also employs alt.software as the provider of OpenGL applications and drivers for the graphics subsystem.

“Embedded programs, in both general and avionics applications, in particular require a unique combination of high-performance and mission-critical support. In many cases, the system architecture, into which we must integrate the graphics subsystem, is platform specific and is not a Windows-based environment. Teaming together with alt.software, as our `OpenGL developer of choice’ for Quantum3D’s embedded programs allows Quantum3D to deliver the right solution at the right price point in the growing embedded market,” states Ross Q. Smith, VP of Marketing and Sales for Quantum3D. “Based on our experience with them, alt.software is the key player in this market and look forward to a long-term partnership with them.”

alt.software is the major developer of OpenGL implementations, applications, 2D and 3D accelerated drivers for embedded systems running various real-time operating systems such as VxWorks, ATINucleus, Microsoft Embedded CE and Microsoft Embedded NT products. With development contracts for web-appliance hardware, cockpit control display systems, applications, games and gaming devices, graphics display device drivers, and many others, alt.software is rapidly becoming the source for third-party software development.

OpenGL is a leading environment for developing portable, interactive 2D and 3D graphics applications. Since its introduction in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry’s most widely used and supported 2D and 3D graphics application programming interface (API), bringing thousands of applications to a wide variety of computer platforms. The OpenGL graphics system specification allows developers to incorporate a broad set of rendering, texture mapping, special effects and other powerful visualization functions and provides a graphics pipeline that allows unfettered access to graphics hardware acceleration.

Headquartered in Toronto with offices in Waterloo Ontario, and Mountain View, California, alt.software can be found on the Internet at http://www.altsoftware.com .

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