Introducing Independence™, 4th-gen, Open Architecture Image Generator

We just heard from a very happy Barbara Kohn at Quantum3D®. She told us, "I wanted to make sure you were aware of this announcement. Quantum3D has introduced Independence, the industry's first 4th generation image generator for vis sim and training. With its high performance and unsurpassed image quality, Independence is ideal for demanding fixed wing and helicopter mission rehearsal and precision flight training application requirements.

"Quantum3D will be at I/ITSEC demonstrating Independence. We've already announced first customer win: the US Army's CH-47F Transportable Flight Proficiency Simulator. We'll be making more customer announcements at the show." [...and ANN will be there --ed.]

Quantum3D has now announced Independence, the first 4th generation Image Generator (IG). Independence's 4th generation design employs a unique "system level" implementation of Quantum3D's Parallel Rendering Architecture (PRA™) that provides industry leading realtime performance, unmatched full scene anti-aliased (FSAA) image quality and essential features that far exceed the capabilities of competitive IGs - all while preserving the open architecture and value proposition benefits that are the hallmark of Quantum3D products.

Four nines? Four nines.

Independence is also the first IG to feature "enterprise class" computing capabilities including "four-nines" high availability, Intrinsic Pre-Planned Product Improvement (IP3I) and comprehensive IG Management software (IGM™)-all of which are designed to ensure longevity of the system and reduce the user's total cost of ownership. IGM is a comprehensive suite of system administration tools that greatly simplify IG configuration management, housekeeping and runtime management tasks via an intuitive graphical user interface. IGM provides hierarchical access and control of the IG- including all of the system's scalable performance and image quality features. Independence's 4th generation design uniquely supports IP3I by accommodating the ready insertion of new technology at the subsystem level. Independence's IP3I capability addresses technology obsolescence issues that confront other IGs by enabling continuous performance and feature improvement over the life of the system. Independence is also the first IG to achieve 0.9999 ("four nines") effective availability. Independence's high availability, which enables the system to continue operating after subsystem failures, results in significantly reduced IG downtime-typically by a factor of ten, when compared with 3rd-generation or proprietary IGs.

"With the ability to harness multiple NVIDIA Quadro4 graphics processors powering a single display, Quantum3D's Independence is making a new standard of rendering performance possible," said Jeff Brown, director of workstation product management at NVIDIA Corporation, the leaders in visual processing solutions. "By leveraging our top performing and market share leading Quadro4 professional graphics technology, Quantum3D is able to deliver the highest standard of visual quality to meet the strict requirements of its aviation customers and their training applications."

The first major win for Independence is the U.S. Army's CH-47F Transportable Flight Proficiency Simulator (TPFS), which is being integrated by J. F. Taylor, Inc. under contract to the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Manned Flight Simulator Facility at NAS Patuxent River, MD. The CH-47F program, with requirements for sustained 60 Hz frame rate on high-resolution, large area, geo-specific terrain with dense cultural features and large numbers of moving models and special effects, is typical of the types of applications that will benefit from Independence' performance, image quality, special effects, high availability and unique P3I capabilities.

"The CH-47F TFPS visual integrated product team selected Quantum3D's Independence IG for its performance and anti-aliasing capabilities," said Jonathan M. Tonkyro, Computer Scientist at J.F. Taylor. "Independence with nVSensor has allowed us to satisfy or exceed our training requirements."

Lead-time for standard Independence configurations is approximately 45 days ARO. First customer shipments begin this month.

FMI: www.quantum3d.com/press%20releases/10_17_02_IDX.htm, www.iitsec.org