Joint development agreement will enable millions of Java users to easily employ OpenGL for wide range of graphics needs
Announcement posted by SGI Australia 30 Jul 2003
For the first time, the two most widely accepted software platforms in the graphics industry OpenGL and Java(tm) will work seamlessly together. SGI (NYSE: SGI) and Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today jointly announced an agreement to cooperate on developing Java bindings to the OpenGL application-programming interface (API).
OpenGL is the industry-leading, cross-platform graphics API, and the onlymajor API with support for virtually all operating systems. SGI is working with Sun to enable millions of Java users to easily use OpenGL for their graphics needs. The development of Java bindings will also benefit OpenGL application developers, because they will be able to write applications in a cross-platform environment.
"Working with Sun to enable OpenGL graphics application developers to use Java creates an excellent opportunity for both developers and consumers," said Shawn Underwood, director of marketing, Visual Computing Systems, SGI. "We will have two cross-platform standards operating together: Java and OpenGL. This effort will enable tens of thousands of developers, who write graphics applications, to gain the many benefits of the Java technology."
"Java and OpenGL together will make a powerful win-win combination for graphics developers everywhere," said John Fowler, chief technology officer, Software, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "The power of OpenGL and the wide deployment of Java means graphics developers will now bring together the best of two worlds: Java and graphics."
The development of these bindings will involve submissions to the Java Community Process (JCP) and the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB). The JCP is an open organization of international developers and licensees whose charter is to develop and revise Java technology specifications, referenc implementations and technology compatibility kits. The ARB is an industry-wide organization that governs the evolution and ongoing development of OpenGL, a technology originally created by SGI, as an open, platform-independent standard for professional-quality 3 graphics.
Mobile Devices Manufacturers Standardize on Java and New OpenGL ES Standard
With the recent OpenGL ES announcement by the Khronos Group, a consortium of digital media and graphics industry leaders, the benefits of creating Java bindings to OpenGL extend beyond desktop applications to those for mobile devises. OpenGL ES standard specifies well-defined subset profiles of OpenGL to enable small-footprint embedded mobile devices with advanced graphics capabilities.
"Khronos strongly applauds the cooperation between Sun and SGI as we can leverage this work to enable the OpenGL ES API to be driven from small footprint Java applications - creating a unique opportunity for the embedded graphics market," said Neil Trevett, senior vice president of market development at 3Dlabs, secretary of the Khronos Group and chairman of the OpenGL ES Working Group. "The coming together of Java and OpenGL ES will enable advanced 3D graphics on a huge variety of embedded platforms."
With a vendor-neutral, multiplatform graphics standard based on OpenGL ES and Java, mobile phones, PDAs and other mobile devices will be transformed by the addition of 3D graphics, which will greatly enhance the marketability of content services to consumers. Later this fall, "mobile terminals," as some manufacturers are beginning to refer to them, will be featuring name-brand, quite complex 3D games. The possibilities of these mobile terminals will be virtually unlimited, ranging from top-selling interactive games, to video clips synchronized with text, to 3D global positioning systems (GPS) and 3D representations of buildings and terrains.
About OpenGL
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. Since its introduction by SGI in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry's most widely used and supported 3D and 2D graphics API. OpenGL is available on all other major computer platforms, including IRIX, Solaris* OE, HP-UX, AIX, Windows NT, Windows 98 and Mac OS X. An industry-wide architecture review board governs the evolution and ongoing development of OpenGL. With broad industry support, OpenGL is uniquely positioned to leverage the continuing improvements of graphics hardware.
About the Java Community Process
Since its introduction in 1998 as the open, inclusive process to develop and revise Java technology specifications, reference implementations, and technology compatibility kits, the Java Community Process program has fostered the evolution of the Java platform in cooperation with the international Java developer community. The JCP has over 650 company and individual participants; more than 200 Java technology specifications are in
development in the JCP program out of which 46 percent are in final stages.
For more information on the JCP program, please visit http://jcp.org
About Sun Microsystems
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision-"The Network Is The Computer(tm)"-has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.
About SGI
SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc., is a world leader in high-performance computing, visualization and networked data storage for scientific, engineering and creative users. SGI is a global company with a global vision: to provide the technology leadership that enables some of the most significant scientific and creative breakthroughs of the 21st century. SGI's mission is to provide leading-edge solutions that are mission-critical
to customers in the government and defense, sciences, manufacturing, energy and media markets. SGI's innovative products provide a powerful, flexible, feature-rich and highly-scalable data infrastructure that delivers greater efficiencies and productivity to meet the next class of challenges our customers will explore. For more information about SGI products, services and solutions, users can call (800) 800-7441 or visit www.sgi.com.
-end-
Silicon Graphics, SGI, OpenGL, IRIX and the SGI logo are registered trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Solaris and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Mac OS is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
OpenGL is the industry-leading, cross-platform graphics API, and the onlymajor API with support for virtually all operating systems. SGI is working with Sun to enable millions of Java users to easily use OpenGL for their graphics needs. The development of Java bindings will also benefit OpenGL application developers, because they will be able to write applications in a cross-platform environment.
"Working with Sun to enable OpenGL graphics application developers to use Java creates an excellent opportunity for both developers and consumers," said Shawn Underwood, director of marketing, Visual Computing Systems, SGI. "We will have two cross-platform standards operating together: Java and OpenGL. This effort will enable tens of thousands of developers, who write graphics applications, to gain the many benefits of the Java technology."
"Java and OpenGL together will make a powerful win-win combination for graphics developers everywhere," said John Fowler, chief technology officer, Software, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "The power of OpenGL and the wide deployment of Java means graphics developers will now bring together the best of two worlds: Java and graphics."
The development of these bindings will involve submissions to the Java Community Process (JCP) and the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB). The JCP is an open organization of international developers and licensees whose charter is to develop and revise Java technology specifications, referenc implementations and technology compatibility kits. The ARB is an industry-wide organization that governs the evolution and ongoing development of OpenGL, a technology originally created by SGI, as an open, platform-independent standard for professional-quality 3 graphics.
Mobile Devices Manufacturers Standardize on Java and New OpenGL ES Standard
With the recent OpenGL ES announcement by the Khronos Group, a consortium of digital media and graphics industry leaders, the benefits of creating Java bindings to OpenGL extend beyond desktop applications to those for mobile devises. OpenGL ES standard specifies well-defined subset profiles of OpenGL to enable small-footprint embedded mobile devices with advanced graphics capabilities.
"Khronos strongly applauds the cooperation between Sun and SGI as we can leverage this work to enable the OpenGL ES API to be driven from small footprint Java applications - creating a unique opportunity for the embedded graphics market," said Neil Trevett, senior vice president of market development at 3Dlabs, secretary of the Khronos Group and chairman of the OpenGL ES Working Group. "The coming together of Java and OpenGL ES will enable advanced 3D graphics on a huge variety of embedded platforms."
With a vendor-neutral, multiplatform graphics standard based on OpenGL ES and Java, mobile phones, PDAs and other mobile devices will be transformed by the addition of 3D graphics, which will greatly enhance the marketability of content services to consumers. Later this fall, "mobile terminals," as some manufacturers are beginning to refer to them, will be featuring name-brand, quite complex 3D games. The possibilities of these mobile terminals will be virtually unlimited, ranging from top-selling interactive games, to video clips synchronized with text, to 3D global positioning systems (GPS) and 3D representations of buildings and terrains.
About OpenGL
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. Since its introduction by SGI in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry's most widely used and supported 3D and 2D graphics API. OpenGL is available on all other major computer platforms, including IRIX, Solaris* OE, HP-UX, AIX, Windows NT, Windows 98 and Mac OS X. An industry-wide architecture review board governs the evolution and ongoing development of OpenGL. With broad industry support, OpenGL is uniquely positioned to leverage the continuing improvements of graphics hardware.
About the Java Community Process
Since its introduction in 1998 as the open, inclusive process to develop and revise Java technology specifications, reference implementations, and technology compatibility kits, the Java Community Process program has fostered the evolution of the Java platform in cooperation with the international Java developer community. The JCP has over 650 company and individual participants; more than 200 Java technology specifications are in
development in the JCP program out of which 46 percent are in final stages.
For more information on the JCP program, please visit http://jcp.org
About Sun Microsystems
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision-"The Network Is The Computer(tm)"-has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.
About SGI
SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc., is a world leader in high-performance computing, visualization and networked data storage for scientific, engineering and creative users. SGI is a global company with a global vision: to provide the technology leadership that enables some of the most significant scientific and creative breakthroughs of the 21st century. SGI's mission is to provide leading-edge solutions that are mission-critical
to customers in the government and defense, sciences, manufacturing, energy and media markets. SGI's innovative products provide a powerful, flexible, feature-rich and highly-scalable data infrastructure that delivers greater efficiencies and productivity to meet the next class of challenges our customers will explore. For more information about SGI products, services and solutions, users can call (800) 800-7441 or visit www.sgi.com.
-end-
Silicon Graphics, SGI, OpenGL, IRIX and the SGI logo are registered trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Solaris and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Mac OS is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.