Saratoga, California USA – October 27, 2005 – Futuremark
Corporation today announced 3DMarkMobile06, a demanding graphics
performance benchmarking application for companies developing 3D
mobile-device hardware. 3DMarkMobile06 is the only product designed
specifically to benchmark next generation OpenGL ES 1.0 and 1.1 mobile
hardware.
Futuremark,
with over seven years experience developing 2D, 3D and system
benchmarking applications, understands the need for unbiased
performance measurement of mobile graphics hardware. With the release
of 3DMarkMobile06, mobile hardware developers, manufacturers and
reviewers will have the first benchmark intended to provide accurate,
consistent performance measurements of embedded graphics solutions.
Prior to the availability of a workload based benchmark the industry
has had to rely on unsubstantiated marketing claims and highly
theoretical performance specifications, rather than actual real-world
performance results. Credible performance testing will enable handset
manufacturers to select the best performing IP and design
implementations for their upcoming 3D enabled mobile devices.
"3DMarkMobile06
features future workloads and game programming technologies that
consumers will run in next-generation mobile 3D hardware," said Tero
Sarkkinen, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for
Futuremark. "It is important for all companies in the value chain to
evaluate how such hardware is able to support new content and services.
High-detail game content, for example, generates workloads that make
significant demands upon mobile 3D hardware. Companies that use our
tools in their product development cycle will be able to deliver better
performing hardware in the hands of the ultimate testers, the
consumer."
Developers, For Now
The version launched today,
3DMarkMobile06 Developers' Edition, is designed for use on development
3D hardware. It assists product development, design evaluation, and
mobile hardware media reviews of next-generation devices. In addition
to extremely gruelling 3D game tests, the new benchmark provides an
array of feature tests including: image quality; and pixel, vertex,
post and CPU processing. With these tests, hardware and prototype
device performance can be tested, evaluated and compared in a fair and
consistent manner.
3DMarkMobile06
Developers' Edition contains minimal interface and can use a simple
command-line interface or basic text configuration file to run each
test individually or batched. The performance results are displayed in
frames-, polygons- or texels-per-second.
With
source-code licensing, technology developers can port the
3DMarkMobile06 to their platform. Futuremark published binaries allow
developers to test hardware on common platforms. And, mobile hardware
reviewers will be able to test next-generation products as those
development boards and devices become available.
OpenGL ES, 3D for mobile hardware
Created by the Khronos
Group and its consortium of industry members, OpenGL ES API enables
the authoring and playback of dynamic media on a wide variety of
platforms and devices. OpenGL ES is a royalty-free, cross-platform API
for embedded 3D graphics hardware on handheld devices. Derived from
subsets of desktop OpenGL, it provides a powerful and flexible
low-level interface between software and graphics acceleration with
profiles for floating-point and fixed-point systems. OpenGL ES 1.0 and
1.1 are for fixed function hardware, offering acceleration, image
quality and high performance on handhelds. Futuremark, a contributing
partner in the Khronos Group, has previously developed benchmarks
targeted to measure the performance of devices with software
implementation of OpenGL ES.
"Futuremark
is providing great momentum for Khronos and OpenGL ES with their
release of 3DMarkMobile06" said Neil Trevett, Khronos President and
Chairman of the OpenGL ES Working Group. He added "This
state-of-the-art benchmark raises the bar with high-detail game content
workloads and delivers a variety of performance tests that are perfect
for benchmarking next generation mobile 3D hardware. This will be a
crucial tool to enable the industry deliver compelling 3D-enabled
handhelds that are fast, powerful, efficient and built to handle the
demands of next-generation OpenGL ES applications."
"Futuremark
has been at the leading edge of graphics' benchmarking since 1998, and
is looked upon as the primary qualifier for graphics performance on
various platforms," said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of the Tiburon CA
based market research firm Jon Peddie Research. "Futuremark is bringing
this experience to the handheld platform and specifically to test the
new processors that will accelerate OpenGL ES 1.0 and 1.1.
3DMarkMobile06 paves the ground for follow-up products from Futuremark
targeting OpenGL ES 2.0. Ultimately, this will help the industry
deliver 3D performance and shaders to the handheld market that will
enable amazing life like applications, rivalling game consoles."
Futuremark industry partners comment on 3DMarkMobile06
Developed
in cooperation with members of Futuremark's Handheld Benchmark
Developer Program, 3DMarkMobile06 has garnered broad support from
industry leaders. Handheld BDP members include ARM, ATI, Bitboys, DMP,
Falanx, Imagination Technologies, Intel, Khronos Group, NVIDIA and
Symbian.
"SPMark04
has become the de facto standard for measuring the performance of
mobile 3D graphics processors and we use it regularly with our
customers. We expect the new 3DMarkMobile06 to attain the same status
and become the leading mobile graphics benchmark in 2006", said Petri
Nordlund, CTO, Bitboys.
"Futuremark
not only benefits our clients by providing credible performance numbers
in real life applications, it also allows us to develop competitive
graphics IP" said Tatsuo Yamamoto, President and CEO, DMP Inc. based in
Tokyo Japan. He also added "We found 3DMarkMobile06 very useful in
flushing out all performance and compatibility related issues in the
early stages of development. We are very pleased to be part of
Futuremark's licensing program."
David
McBrien, VP Business Development, Imagination Technologies said
"Advanced 3D graphics will rapidly become the norm for mobile handsets;
our PowerVR technology alone is enabling over 18 devices, from
Freescale, Intel, Philips, Renesas, Samsung , Sunplus and TI, with
console-class mobile 3D performance. The key competencies for mobiles
devices will be features, performance and power-efficiency.
3DMarkMobile will be a valuable measure of both features and overall
system performance."
"3D graphics and multimedia content demand rapid advancements in mobile
technology and as these devices evolve, so will the need for a
performance measurement and rating system," said Glenn Schuster,
director of partner programs for the mobile GPU business at NVIDIA.
"Futuremark has been a leader in the field in 3D graphics benchmarking
on various computing platforms for several years, and we look forward
to having a comprehensive tool to help ensure a compelling and
enjoyable experience is delivered to mobile consumers around the
world."
"Increasingly,
consumers are choosing phones with cool graphics. Symbian is working
with the industry to enable mobile handset manufacturers to use the
latest and greatest graphics acceleration technology." said Bill
Pinnell, Product Manager Multimedia, Gaming and Graphics, Symbian.
"Futuremark's 3DMarkMobile06 is the first standards based benchmark
available that enables the whole industry to evaluate the performance
of new hardware with the real-world content that will be appearing on
phones"
Availability
3DMarkMobile06 Developers' Edition will be
available in November, 2005 via source-code licensing to Futuremark's
BDP members. Compiled versions will be available, on request, to media
and others. Futuremark will offer binary versions of the benchmark for
Windows (i386), Windows CE (ARM) and Symbian (ARM) platforms. The
binaries will be built using the latest, publicly available SDKs for
each platform. Consumer version of 3DMarkMobile06 will be launched
separately when there are enough handsets with hardware accelerated 3D
graphics available for consumers.
Source: Futuremark Press Release
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