INTEL RELEASES MMX™ TECHNOLOGY DETAILS TO SOFTWARE COMMUNITY TO DRIVE
NEW MULTIMEDIA, GAME AND INTERNET APPLICATIONS
New Technology Garners Broad Industry Support
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. -- March 5, 1996 -- Intel Corporation
today released details to the software community of its
MMX technology, a major enhancement to the Intel
Architecture. With MMX technology, software developers will
deliver a new generation of higher-performance multimedia
and communications applications, and further advance the PC
as the premier computing and entertainment platform.
The public release of MMX technology allows tools
vendors, software developers, independent hardware vendors,
and system manufacturers to collaborate and prepare products
that will take advantage of the new technology.
"The proliferation of multimedia software, growth of
the Internet, and new storage technologies such as DVD allow
the PC to continue as a broad-based platform for home and
business," said Fred Pollack, an Intel Fellow. "Pentium®
processor-based systems were the springboard for innovative
multimedia applications. Pentium processors with MMX
technology will accelerate the rate of technology
innovation."
He said today that the home computing market segment
consumes most multimedia software, and within that segment,
games, education and entertainment applications are prime
candidates to take advantage of MMX technology. MMX
technology will be integrated into the Intel Architecture
beginning with a Pentium processor code named P55C, which
Intel expects to have in initial production in the fourth
quarter of this year. MMX technology will also be
integrated into succeeding generations of Intel processors.
The volume ramp for processors with MMX technology will
occur in 1997. A number of software titles using MMX
technology will begin appearing later this year, and wide
availability is expected in 1997.
Pollack delivered the keynote speech on the opening day
of IntermediaWORLD, a venue for software and hardware
vendors who provide tools, materials and services used to
create interactive digital content and programming. A number of software development
vendors outlined plans for tools to support application development with MMX technology.
Microsoft discussed plans to provide MMX technology support in its newly announced Direct3D*
API, a set of API services for real-time, interactive 3-D graphics; ActiveMovie*, its next-generation
video technology; and its Visual C++ compiler. Macromedia, Criterion, IBM, NuMega, and Powersoft were
also among leading tool suppliers announcing support. In addition, many key application software,
independent hardware, and system vendors indicated today their support for MMX technology.
A list of vendors follows this release.
MMX Technology Benefits and Details
In his keynote, Pollack said MMX technology will
enhance users' experience on the Internet by enabling higher
quality, high-performance technologies for graphics, video
and audio. "PCs that use MMX technology will help make it
possible for users in the next few years to dial up friends,
relatives or colleagues on the Internet with
video conferencing equipment, share applications, and watch
full-length movies with stereo sound all at once. While we
can do this to varying degrees today on specially configured
PCs, MMX technology will enable this kind of usage on
standard PC platforms at today's popular system price
points."
Pollack explained that processor performance
improvements are typically derived by boosting clock
frequencies and using microarchitecture techniques such as
branch prediction, superscalar execution, and
superpipelining. In addition to these traditional means,
Intel added 57 powerful new instructions to its architecture
to speed up certain compute-intensive loops in multimedia
and communications applications. While the loops typically
occupy 10 percent or less of the overall application code,
they can account for up to 90 percent of the execution time.
MMX instructions process multiple data elements in
parallel using a technique called Single Instruction
Multiple Data (SIMD). In simulations and preliminary tests
on development systems, Pollack said performance benefits
have ranged from 50 to 400 percent, depending on the
application.
MMX instructions will also scale with succeeding
generations of Intel Architecture processors. Once developers
integrate the new extensions into their applications, PCs based on multiple
Intel processor generations will benefit. Programmers need only modify a
small portion of their code to reap performance benefits. They simply
include their own enhanced subroutines or call MMX technology-enabled
drivers and library routines through existing application programming interfaces (APIs).
Because MMX technology consists of general-purpose
instructions, it will enhance performance for a large body
of multimedia and communications software and maintain
complete compatibility with the Intel Architecture. This
technology is also fully compatible with existing operating
systems and application software.
Planning for MMX Technology
Developers who are interested in obtaining additional
information about MMX technology, including a Programmer's
Reference Manual, should consult Intel's site on the World
Wide Web at URL
http://www.intel.com/pc-supp/multimed/mmx/index.htm.
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a
leading manufacturer of personal computer, networking and
communications products.
MMX(tm) Technology Tool Provider/Application Developer Statements of Support
Technology Independent Hardware Vendors
Public Relations Contacts
MMX™ Technology Tool Provider/Application Developer Statements of Support
March 1996
Microsoft Corporation
"We're excited about the promise that Intel's MMX(tm) technology brings to multimedia and communications on the PC.
Microsoft has been working closely with Intel to best exploit MMX technology in our tools and operating systems software.
We will provide MMX technology support in our recently announced Direct3D and ActiveMovie products. We will also ship
our Visual C++ compiler with MMX technology support shortly. We believe these APIs and tools provide an excellent path
for application ISV's to develop compelling titles using MMX technology. In the future, we expect to find new ways to
utilize this technology in Windows, and to make the use of a PC more exciting and compelling," said Paul Maritz, Group
Vice President, Platforms, Microsoft Corporation.
Macromedia
"Macromedia’s authoring tools, used in conjunction with Intel’s MMX(tm) technology, will be a major boom for the multimedia,
graphics, video and on-line communities," said Joe Dunn, Macromedia’s vice president of product management. "Macromedia
will be working closely with Intel to support MMX technology in our key products including new Director 5."
Adobe
"Intel’s new MMX(tm) technology represents an exciting step forward that will ultimately benefit our customers with significant
performance enhancements that lead to real productivity gains," said Dave Pratt, senior vice president and chief operating
officer at Adobe. "We are committed to supporting the MMX technology in future versions of our applications beginning with
Adobe Photoshop - the industry standard image editing software, and Adobe PhotoDeluxe - the new digital photo editing
application from our consumer products group."
Books That Work
As the premier publisher of design and visualization products for the home and the garden, Books That Work relies heavily
on 3D graphics performance," said Dan Levin, President of Books That Work. "Intel’s new MMX(tm) technology will enable us
to build exciting and powerful products that deliver a new level of graphics performance. Books That Work plans to
incorporate and support MMX technology in the development of forthcoming software applications."
Criterion Software Inc.
"Criterion Software is pleased to announce its support and commitment to Intel's new MMX(tm) Technology" said Mike King,
Executive Vice President at Criterion. "We are incorporating support for this technology into RenderWare(tm) to enable
our 700+ licensed developers to benefit from the faster 3D rendering performance, made possible by the new MMX technology."
Epic MegaGames Inc.
"For an action game developer wanting to push performance limits, we're very excited about Intel's MMX(tm) technology.
It allows us to take PC games to new heights of realism in graphics and sound that were previously not possible."
"By taking advantage of the MMX(tm) instructions, we're able to achieve
a 4-times improvement in graphics handling that allows our action games to utilize ultra-realistic 16.7
million color modes where previously we could only use 256 colors."
"With today's best console games already being ported to the PentiumÒ processor, one can just imagine what kind of
games are possible with MMX(tm) technology," said Mark Rein, Vice President of Epic MegaGames.
IBM
"Future releases of IBM's Voice Type* products will include support for Intel's Pentium(R) processors with
MMX(tm)technologies. The MMX technology, combined with onboard audio capability, will provide enhanced
performance without the need for special adapter cards or DSPs.
In addition, MMX technology-enabled platforms will allow developers to incorporate voice recognition
in graphically demanding applications such as games, education titles and productivity software.
Adding advanced voice recognition capabilities will enaboe users to interact with your applications easily,
naturally, and efficiently, keeping their eyes and hands free for essential tasks. "
Intel Corporation - Indeo(R) Video Interactive
"Intel Corporation will deliver an enhanced version of Indeo(R) video interactive utilizing MMX(tm) technology.
This new version of Indeo video interactive will provide developers more headroom to further integrate video into
their applications. Multiple video streams, the increased ability to manipulate video ‘sprites’ and larger frame
sizes at increased frame rates are just a few of the benefits MMX(tm) technology will provide to applications developers."
Iterated Systems
"Iterated Systems is glad to be an early supporter of Intel's MMX(tm) technology.
By exploiting the capabilities of MMX technology, we expect a rapid and profound
performance gain across our line of video and imaging products for network computing.
Working with Intel and its development partners, Iterated's imaging tools will enable a new level
of graphic communication for users of the Internet and other client-server networks," said John R. Festa,
President and CEO of Iterated Systems.
Omniview Inc.
"Omniview Inc. is pleased to announce its support and commitment to Intel’s MMX(tm) technology," said H. Lee Martin,
Omni President and Founder. "Omniview will integrate its 360 degree visualization software, called PhotoBubbles,
with MMX technology. In doing so, our customers will be able to widely distribute compelling, photorealistic tours
for a multitude of ‘Location on Demand’ applications."
On-Live
"We believe that MMX(tm) technology will make a huge difference in the performance of our products," said Rod McGregor,
CEO of On-Live. "3D applications, such as On-Live place a huge demand on the processing power of PC’s. Even though
we are seeing a doubling of performance roughly every 18 months from Intel, we expect MMX technology to represent a
quadrupling in performance for our class of applications."
ParaGraph International
"ParaGraph International will support Intel’s new MMX(tm) technology. Our dream is to create a Virtual Time Machine,
which will enable people to travel in history. With MMX technology, we expect to accelerate our rendering and multimedia
software by at least a factor of three. This will help make our dreams for Virtual Home Space Builder(tm) and Alter Ego(tm) a
reality. Intel’s MMX technology will deliver the R in VR for our customers," said Stephan Pachikov, President and CEO,
ParaGraph International.
Pegasus Imaging Corporation
Pegasus Imaging Corporation plans to develop imaging development kits that use Intel’s MMX(tm) technology to enable high
speed viewing and manipulation of graphics and images within multimedia developer’s applications. By developing tools
that support MMX technology, our customers will be able to successfully develop and accelerate the availability of
compressed color images using Pegasus’ incredible compression for 1 bit to 24 bit images. Pegasus’ support of MMX
technology will allow developers to implement better, smaller, and faster color image applications. "We expect that
our image decompression and color optimization routines will achieve at least a twofold increase in speed through
access of the MMX technology," said Steve Mann, Vice President of Research & Development at Pegasus.
Powersoft Corporation
"Powersoft Corporation has announced a commitment to deliver a version of Watcom C/C++ that supports Intel’s new MMX(tm)
technology. This support will enable development of lightning fast applications that exploit the capabilities of the
MMX instruction set and that leverage the industry-leading optimization technology of Watcom C/C++. Watcom C/C++ will
feature complete debugging support (including MMX technology register display and the disassembly of MMX instructions)
as well as a functional interface from C/C++ that generates in-line MMX instructions."
QSound Labs, Inc.
"QSound Labs, Inc. is pleased to announce its support and commitment to Intel’s new MMX(tm) technology. QSound Labs plans
to incorporate this new technology into its QMixer95 SDK which will enable developers to implement more powerful three
dimensional audio processing in their applications. By developing our tools in support of MMX technology, our developer
customers will be able to provide superior audio realism on PC’s with MMX technology support."
Vicarious, Inc.
Vicarious, Inc. is pleased to announce its support and commitment to Intel’s new MMX(tm) technology. Intel’s MMX technology
allows us to create reference products that kids can get excited about and will want to use. MMX technology enables us
to integrate such features as enhanced video, 3D, and a collaborative Internet experience, which really brings our reference
products to life. We plan to be at the forefront of companies delivering products based on MMX technology.
Virage Inc.
"The new MMX(tm) technology from Intel gives Virage a high performance environment for showcasing our Visual Information
Retrieval (VIR) system. Virage is pioneering an entirely new class of search and retrieval capabilities for image-driven
markets such as stock photo, ad agencies, multimedia productions companies, medical imaging, and publishers. To be
successful, we need an architecture such as the Intel’s MMX technology will enable Virage’s VIR to provide rich, more
interactive computing for end users," said Paul Lego, CEO, Virage, Inc.
MMX™ Technology Independent Hardware Vendors
March 1996
Analog Devices Inc.
“We are excited that Intel has adopted multimedia processing as a cornerstone for PC motherboard architecture.
Intel’s command of microprocessor and motherboard design, in conjunction with Analog Devices’ broad base of audio,
video and communications technologies insures that the dream of Digital Convergence will become a market reality,”
said Ray Stata, Chairman & CEO, Analog Devices, Inc.
“MMX technology provides the perfect foundation for signal processing integration into the PC architecture.
These instruction set enhancements, together with continuous time oversampling I/O and the intelligent application
of hardware acceleration, will produce scaleable multi-audio solutions with standard setting cost structures and many
new and useful features on the desktop,” said Dave French, Vice President and General Manager, DSP and Computer
Products, Analog Devices Inc.
“MMX technology and multi-audio will make advanced multimedia and communications ubiquitous in the home and in the
office,” said John Croteau, Director of Strategic Marketing, Analog Devices Inc. “New PC capabilities such as
operating Digital Video Disk players as well as enhanced Internet performance and DSVD-based audio and video
conferencing introduce new audio sources requiring advance I/O demand as well as the raw power of MMX technology.”
“MMX technology enables the prolific integration of audio on the PC motherboard. Users are about to encounter
low-cost multi-audio solution capable of delivering a new level of performance and value to the PC OEM as well
as to the end user,” said Jim Moore, Director of Computer Products, Analog Devices Inc.
ATI
“End-users will experience dramatic improvements in 3D graphics and video performance when using ATI products that
have been optimized for Intel’s new MMX™ technology. ATI is working closely with Intel to maximize the benefits
of the MMX technology on our 3D RAGE™ and ATI-264VT family of multimedia accelerators. Applications such as video
conferencing, 3D gaming and video capture with all benefit from Intel’s MMX technology and ATI accelerators,” said
Henry Quan, V.P. Marketing.
Cirrus Logic
“Cirrus Logic believes that Intel’s MMX™ technology will create new marketing opportunities for multimedia
solutions that work in conjunction with the host processor. To that end, we see new opportunities for systems
optimized to take full advantage of the MMX technology and Cirrus Logic’s silicon solutions,” states George Alexy,
senior vice president of marketing for Cirrus Logic.
Creative Labs, Inc.
“Creative Technology eagerly anticipates Intel’s volume shipments of silicon with MMX (tm) technology.
Creative has consistently used host based media processing software to reduce the cost of Sound BlasterÔ,
3D BlasterÔ, Modem BlasterÔ, and Share VisionÔ products. We expect to deliver further feature enhancements and
cost reductions in Creative’s products by utilizing the MMX instruction set concurrent with volume silicon
availability,” said Rich Sorkin, Vice President, Strategic Business Division, Creative Technology, Ltd.
Crystal Semiconductor
“Crystal is pleased to announce its support and commitment to Intel’s new MMX™ technology. Crystal’s plans
include the development of integrated circuits and supporting software that are optimized and complementary to
this important new technology. We are excited about the opportunity this technology provides to companies such
as Crystal to allow new price/performance options for its customers.”
ESS Technologies
“ESS Technology is pleased to announce support and commitment to develop products supporting Intel’s new MMX™
technology and ESS AudioDrive audio mixed-signal processors, end-users’ PC multimedia experience will be significantly
enriched.”
S3
"Intel's new MMX technology sets a new baseline for multimedia performance that complements S3's newest generation
of 2D and 3D accelerators," said Michael Nell, vice president of corporate marketing, S3. "From this new baseline,
S3 will further extend PC multimedia capabilities through hardware acceleration of WaveTable audio, MPEG decoding
and video conferencing."
Yamaha
“Yamaha applauds Intel on their introduction of MMX™ technology on all future Pentium® processors.
This step demonstrates Intel’s commitment to advancing the performance of multimedia applications.
Yamaha has a long history of commitment to improving the Multimedia PC experience and we are excited about working
with Intel to develop new audio, graphics and communications hardware and software that can take advantage of the
MMX technology.”
Tool ISVs Supporting MMX™ Technology
March 1996
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