NVIDIA 2008 Annual Report Download - page 9

We believe that recent years have experienced an increasing level of global adoption for the computer
- aided design approach of product creation. We have
achieved a leading position in the professional graphics category by providing innovative GPU technology, software, and tools that integrate the capabilities of
our GPU with a broad array of visualization products.
During fiscal year 2009, we launched several new Quadro solutions. These included the Quadro FX 3600M Professional, which is among the highest
performing notebook GPUs, and the Quadro Plex D Series, a dedicated desk side VCS system that, alternatively, can be configured using two Quadro Plex D
systems for a 3U configuration that fits a standard 19” rack environment. At the SIGGRAPH 2008 conference, the Quadro Plex D2 system set a new milestone in
computer graphics by demonstrating the world
’ s first real - time fully - interactive ray tracer. We also launched five new Quadro FX notebook GPUs that spanned
from ultra - high performance to ultra mobility, as well as the Quadro CX, the industry ’ s first accelerator for Adobe ’ s Creative Suite 4, or Adobe CS4, content
creation software. Adobe CS4 software has added optimization to take advantage of GPU technology. The Quadro CX is specifically designed to enhance the
performance of the Adobe CS4 product line and to give creative professionals the ultimate performance and productivity.
During fiscal year 2009, we also we launched the Tesla C1060 computing processor and the Tesla S1070 computing system, which is among the first teraflop
processors and has a 1U system demonstrating up to four teraflops of performance. Tesla is a new family of GPU computing products that delivers processing
capabilities for high
- performance computing applications, and marks our entry into the high - performance computing industry. The Tesla family also consists of
the C870 GPU computing processor, the D870 Deskside Supercomputer and the S870 1U Computing Server. We believe we are in an era of GPU computing, where
our CUDA parallel processing architecture can accelerate compute
- intensive applications by significant multiples over that of a central processing unit, or CPU,
alone. NVIDIA CUDA is a general purpose parallel computing architecture that leverages the parallel compute engine in our graphics processing units to solve
many complex computational problems in a fraction of the time required on a CPU. There are currently over 25,000 developers around the world using CUDA. In
order to program using the CUDA architecture, developers can, today, use C, one of the most widely used high
- level programming languages, which can then be
run at great performance on a CUDA enabled processor. We expect other languages to be supported in the future, including FORTRAN and C++.
With CUDA, we are able to speed up general purpose compute
- intensive applications like we do for 3D graphics processing. Developers are able to speed -
up algorithms in areas ranging from nano molecular dynamics to image processing, medical image reconstruction and derivatives modeling for financial risk
analysis. Over 100 universities around the world now teach parallel programming with CUDA and many PC OEMs now offer high performance computing
solutions with Tesla for use by customers around the world, including Motorola, Chevron, GE Health Care and even General Mills, the consumer products
company. Researchers use CUDA to accelerate their time
- to - discovery, and popular off - the - shelf software packages are now CUDA accelerated.
MCP Business
Our MCP business is comprised of nForce core logic and GeForce mGPU products. Our nForce and GeForce mGPU families of products address the core
logic market. Core logic is the computer
’ s “central nervous system,” controlling and directing high speed data between the central processing unit, or CPU, the
GPU, storage, and networks. High quality, long
- term reliability, and top performance are key customer demands of core logic suppliers.
During fiscal year 2008, we announced a new technology named Hybrid SLI. This technology combines the multi
- GPU technology with a powerful and
energy
- efficient engine. When GeForce add - in graphics cards are connected to GeForce mGPUs, Hybrid SLI kicks in, combining their processing power to deliver
an improved experience. The technology is application aware so, depending on the processing demands of each application running on the host PC, the discrete
GPU may be completely shut down in order to save power.
During fiscal year 2009, we shipped Hybrid SLI DX10 mGPUs – the GeForce 8000 GPU series. The GeForce 8000 GPU series includes GeForce Boost Hybrid
SLI technology, which is designed to double performance when paired with a GeForce 8 series desktop GPU. We also extended the reach of SLI technology into
the performance category with the launch of our NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI MCP, a highly rated overclockable platform for Intel Corporation, or Intel,
processors.
During fiscal year 2009, we launched the GeForce 9M series of notebook GPUs that enables improved performance in notebooks with Hybrid SLI
technology and PhysX technology. We also launched SLI for Intel Broomfield CPU platforms. When paired with the nForce 200 SLI MCP, Intel
’ s Bloomfield CPU
and Tylersburg core logic chipset will deliver NVIDIA three - way SLI technology with up to a 2.8 times performance boost over single graphics card platforms.
In fiscal year 2009, we launched the GeForce 9400M mGPU along with Apple Inc., or Apple, for their new lineup of Mac notebooks. The GeForce 9400M
integrates three complex chips – the northbridge, the input
- output network processor, and the GeForce GPU into a single chip and, as a result, significantly
improves performance over Intel integrated graphics. Apple
’ s MacBook and MacBook Air notebook computers come standard with the GeForce 9400M. Apple ’ s
MacBook Pro notebook computer comes standard with the hybrid combination of two GeForce GPUs
- a GeForce 9400M for maximum battery life and a GeForce
9600M GT for high performance mode. We also launched the GeForce 9400 and 9300 mGPUs for Intel desktop PCs. These new mGPUs set a new
price/performance standard for integrated graphics by combining the power of three different chips into one highly compact and efficient GPU.
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