NEC Selects SGS-THOMSON's RIVA 128 3D Multimedia Accelerator for Its Next Generation PC98-NX Series of Personal Computers

October 23, 1997 4:39 PM ET

PC98-NX Featuring RIVA 128 Supports Microsoft PC97 Hardware Design Guide and Intel's Visual Computing Initiative

St.Genis, France -- October 28, 1997 SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics N.V. (NYSE:STM) announced today that NEC Corporation is using the RIVA™ 128 3D Multimedia Accelerator in the Next Generation PC98-NX Series of Desk Top Personal Computers. NEC, the largest supplier of PCs to the Japanese Market announced the PC98-NX as a Next Generation PC for the Multimedia Network Age. The PC98-NX represents a new worldwide standard for PCs that fully supports Microsoft's PC97 Hardware Design Guide and Intel's Visual Computing Initiative. NEC has integrated RIVA 128 onto the motherboard and uses the RIVA 128 in Pentium® II based PC98-NX Desktop Systems. The NEC design uses the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) to give increased bandwidth between RIVA 128 and system memory, delivering leadership 3D graphics and 2D graphics combined with superior video.

"By using the RIVA 128 in combination with Pentium II processors and AGP, we were able to meet our objective of delivering high quality and high performance Visual Computing to our PC98-NX customers,ö said Mr. Katsumi Fujinami, Senior Manager, NEC Corporation. "RIVA 128's support of standards allowed us to develop the PC98-NX series to set a worldwide standard for Multimedia Network Computing."

"We are delighted with NEC's selection of the RIVA 128 for the PC98-NX series," said Keizo Shibata, President of SGS- THOMSON Microelectronics KK. "This validates our strategy of working with the market leaders when we develop new products. The PC98-NX, featuring RIVA 128, will allow Japanese PC Consumers access to leading multimedia performance."

"Working with an industry leader such as NEC helped us ensure that RIVA 128 had the performance level and support of standards that is required. With the PC98-NX Series, NEC has given consumers access to interactive 3D graphics, superior leading 2D graphics and great video," said Tim Chambers, Director of SGS-THOMSON's Graphics Business Unit.

"RIVA 128 has catapulted to the top ranks among board and system OEMs in both its PCI and AGP incarnations," said Andy Fischer, Senior Analyst at Jon Peddie Associates of Tiburon, CA. "The NEC design win is significant as it represents the first time a vendor has integrated a high-end AGP solution on the motherboard, as opposed to taking the add-in board approach."

RIVA 128 combines advanced interactive 3D graphics acceleration and industry leading 2D graphics acceleration, with superior video and imaging capabilities into a single-chip mainstream Multimedia Accelerator. Capable of 20 billion operations per second, and using a 128-bit 'fast and wide' architecture, the RIVA 128 complements Intel's Pentium II and AGP platform to meet the immense computational requirements of interactive visual computing.

SGS-THOMSON is a global independent semiconductor supplier with strong European roots, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:STM) and on the Bourse de Paris. It designs, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs) and discrete devices used in a wide variety of microelectronics applications, including telecommunications systems, computer systems, consumer products, automotive products and industrial automation and control systems.

RIVA is a trademark of SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics, Inc. and NVIDIA Corporation. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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