Based in Sunnyvale, California, the company was established from a buy-out of Dupont Pixel Systems in 1994, the company later went public in 1996. As an earlier pioneer in delivering 3D graphics to the personal computer, 3DLADS processors helped revolutionize the market with the GLINT 300SX graphics processor, the industry’s first single-chip 3D-enabled graphics device. The company continued its innovative ways with Gamma, the first-chip graphics geometry designed for the PC, and catered to budgeting customers with Permedia, the first entry-level priced OpenGL accelerator. Formerly a member of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board, 3DLABS played an integral role in the development of OpenGL 2.0 and the continuous evolution of the OpenGL API.
3DLABS DMS processors are built on a multi-core architecture. This low-power structure includes dual ARM cores for handling basic CPU tasks along with a fully programmable SIMD array processor to handle the heavy lifting for demanding media processing tasks such as 2D and 3D graphics, image processing and floating point. The first 3DLABS DMS processor was launched in November of 2006, offering support for devices equipped with embedded Linux 2.6.
With the introduction of DMS processors, 3DLABS made the decision to halt the development of its workstation graphics cards for the PC. Instead, the company has totally committed its focus to its low-power, media-rich application processors. While the manufacturer no longer develops or sells PC graphics cards, it still offers support for legacy graphics cards under warranty conditions. A number of 3DLABS drivers can be downloaded from the company website.
It has been a long and prosperous road for 3DLABS and its feature-rich product line. As technology continues to evolve, this company is sure to play a leading role deploying additional lines of innovative products.