NVIDIA 2008 Annual Report Download - page 8

GPU Business
Our GPU business is comprised primarily of our GeForce products that support desktop and notebook PCs, plus memory products. Our GPU business is
focused on Microsoft Windows and Apple PC platforms. GeForce GPUs power PCs made by or distributed by most PC OEMs in the world for desktop PCs,
notebook PCs, PCs loaded with Windows Media Center and media extenders such as the Apple TV. GPUs enhance the user experience for playing video games,
editing photos, viewing and editing videos and high
- definition, or HD, movies. GPUs also enable the rich visual user interfaces of the Windows Vista and Apple
OS X operating systems. The combination of the programmable Unified Shader GPU with Microsoft Corporation
’ s, or Microsoft ’ s, DirectX 10 high - level shading
language is known as DirectX 10 GPUs. Combined with the ability to directly access the GPU via the new Windows Vista applications from Microsoft Office to
Web 2.0, applications can now incorporate improved quality through 3D effects.
We believe we are in an era where visual computing is becoming increasingly important to consumers and other end users of our products. Our strategy is
to promote our GeForce brand as one of the most important processors through technology leadership, increasing programmability, and great content
experience. In fiscal year 2009, our strategy was to extend our architectural and technology advantage with our GeForce GPUs.
The GeForce GTX 280 and 260 GPU products that we launched during fiscal year 2009 represent the second
- generation of our unified architecture. Based on
a comparison between the GeForce GTX 280 and the GeForce 8800 Ultra in a variety of benchmarks and resolutions, the GeForce GTX 280 and 260 GPUs deliver 50
percent more gaming performance over the GeForce 8800 Ultra GPU. Other significant product launches during fiscal year 2009 included the GeForce 9600 GT,
which provides more than double the performance of our GeForce 8600 GTS product; the GeForce 9800 GX2, which provides a new dual GPU board featuring Quad
Scalable Link Interface, or SLI, technology; and the GeForce 9800 GTX, which is a flexible GPU that supports both two
- way and three - way SLI technology.
We also launched the GeForce GTX 295 and GeForce GTX 285 which were designed based on Compute Unified Device Architecture, or CUDA,
technology. The GeForce GTX 295 is among the world
’ s fastest dual GPU solutions featuring the power of two GeForce GTX 200 GPUs on a single card. The
GeForce GTX 285 is among the world
’ s most powerful single GPU solution and works efficiently in complex DirectX 10 environments with extreme HD resolutions.
We also shipped notebook products from the GeForce 100M Series, which includes the GeForce G105M and the GeForce G110M to meet the performance demands
of today
’ s visual computing applications. The GeForce G105M is over 55 percent faster than our previous product in the mainstream segment, while the GeForce
G110M is 35 percent faster than our previous mainstream GPU.
In fiscal year 2009, we completed our acquisition of Ageia Technologies, Inc., or Ageia, an industry leader in gaming physics technology. Ageia's PhysX
software is widely adopted in several PhysX
- based games that are shipping or in development on Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and
gaming PCs. We believe that the combination of the GPU and physics engine brands result in an enhanced visual experience for the gaming world. Subsequent to
our acquisition of Ageia, we launched the GeForce 9800 GTX+, GeForce 9800 GT, and GeForce 9500 GT GPUs, which provide support for our PhysX physics
engine and CUDA parallel processing across a wide range of price segments. Electronic Arts, THQ and 2K Games, a publishing label of Take
- Two Interactive
Software, have licensed PhysX technology as a development platform which will be available for use by each of the companies
’ studios worldwide.
Our share of the standalone desktop GPU category decreased from 64% to 63% in fiscal year 2009, according to the December 2007 and December 2008 PC
Graphics Report from Mercury Research, respectively. Our share of the standalone notebook category decreased from 75% to 63%, according to the December
2007 and December 2008 PC Graphics Report from Mercury Research, respectively.
Professional Solutions Business
Our PSB is comprised of our Quadro professional workstation products and other professional graphics products, including our Tesla high
- performance
computing products. Our Quadro brand products are designed to deliver the highest possible level of performance and compatibility for the professional
industry. The Quadro family consists of the Quadro Plex Visual Computing System, or VCS, Quadro FX, Quadro CX and the Quadro Night Vision Systems, or
NVS, professional workstation processors. Quadro products are recognized by many as the standard for professional graphics solutions needed to solve many of
the world
’ s most complex visual computing challenges in the manufacturing, entertainment, medical, science, and aerospace industries. NVIDIA Quadro products
are fully certified by several software developers for professional workstation applications and are designed to deliver the graphics performance and precision
required by professional applications.
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