Futuremark Releases Mobilemark 2006

Saratoga, California USA – October 27, 2005 – Futuremark Corporation
today announced 3DMarkMobile06, a demanding graphics performance
benchmarking application for companies developing 3D mobile-device
hardware. 3DMarkMobile06 is the only product designed specifically to
benchmark next generation OpenGL ES 1.0 and 1.1 mobile hardware.

Futuremark, with over seven years experience developing 2D, 3D and
system benchmarking applications, understands the need for unbiased
performance measurement of mobile graphics hardware. With the release
of 3DMarkMobile06, mobile hardware developers, manufacturers and
reviewers will have the first benchmark intended to provide accurate,
consistent performance measurements of embedded graphics solutions.
Prior to the availability of a workload based benchmark the industry
has had to rely on unsubstantiated marketing claims and highly
theoretical performance specifications, rather than actual real-world
performance results. Credible performance testing will enable handset
manufacturers to select the best performing IP and design
implementations for their upcoming 3D enabled mobile devices.

“3DMarkMobile06 features future workloads and game programming
technologies that consumers will run in next-generation mobile 3D
hardware,” said Tero Sarkkinen, Executive Vice President of Sales and
Marketing for Futuremark. “It is important for all companies in the
value chain to evaluate how such hardware is able to support new
content and services. High-detail game content, for example, generates
workloads that make significant demands upon mobile 3D hardware.
Companies that use our tools in their product development cycle will be
able to deliver better performing hardware in the hands of the ultimate
testers, the consumer.”

Developers, For Now The version launched today, 3DMarkMobile06
Developers’ Edition, is designed for use on development 3D hardware. It
assists product development, design evaluation, and mobile hardware
media reviews of next-generation devices. In addition to extremely
gruelling 3D game tests, the new benchmark provides an array of feature
tests including: image quality; and pixel, vertex, post and CPU
processing. With these tests, hardware and prototype device performance
can be tested, evaluated and compared in a fair and consistent manner.

3DMarkMobile06 Developers’ Edition contains minimal interface and can
use a simple command-line interface or basic text configuration file to
run each test individually or batched. The performance results are
displayed in frames-, polygons- or texels-per-second.

With source-code licensing, technology developers can port the
3DMarkMobile06 to their platform. Futuremark published binaries allow
developers to test hardware on common platforms. And, mobile hardware
reviewers will be able to test next-generation products as those
development boards and devices become available.

OpenGL ES, 3D for mobile hardware Created by the Khronos Group and it’s
consortium of industry members, OpenGL® ES API enables the authoring
and playback of dynamic media on a wide variety of platforms and
devices. OpenGL ES is a royalty-free, cross-platform API for embedded
3D graphics hardware on handheld devices. Derived from subsets of
desktop OpenGL, it provides a powerful and flexible low-level interface
between software and graphics acceleration with profiles for
floating-point and fixed-point systems. OpenGL ES 1.0 and 1.1 are for
fixed function hardware, offering acceleration, image quality and high
performance on handhelds. Futuremark, a contributing partner in the
Khronos Group, has previously developed benchmarks targeted to measure
the performance of devices with software implementation of OpenGL ES.

“Futuremark is providing great momentum for Khronos and OpenGL ES with
their release of 3DMarkMobile06” said Neil Trevett, Khronos President
and Chairman of the OpenGL ES Working Group. He added “This
state-of-the-art benchmark raises the bar with high-detail game content
workloads and delivers a variety of performance tests that are perfect
for benchmarking next generation mobile 3D hardware. This will be a
crucial tool to enable the industry deliver compelling 3D-enabled
handhelds that are fast, powerful, efficient and built to handle the
demands of next-generation OpenGL ES applications.”

“Futuremark has been at the leading edge of graphics’ benchmarking
since 1998, and is looked upon as the primary qualifier for graphics
performance on various platforms,” said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of
the Tiburon CA based market research firm Jon Peddie Research.
“Futuremark is bringing this experience to the handheld platform and
specifically to test the new processors that will accelerate OpenGL ES
1.0 and 1.1. 3DMarkMobile06 paves the ground for follow-up products
from Futuremark targeting OpenGL ES 2.0. Ultimately, this will help the
industry deliver 3D performance and shaders to the handheld market that
will enable amazing life like applications, rivalling game consoles.”

Futuremark industry partners comment on 3DMarkMobile06

Developed in cooperation with members of Futuremark’s Handheld
Benchmark Developer Program, 3DMarkMobile06 has garnered broad support
from industry leaders. Handheld BDP members include ARM, ATI, Bitboys,
DMP, Falanx, Imagination Technologies, Intel, Khronos Group, NVIDIA and
Symbian.

“SPMark04 has become the de facto standard for measuring the
performance of mobile 3D graphics processors and we use it regularly
with our customers. We expect the new 3DMarkMobile06 to attain the same
status and become the leading mobile graphics benchmark in 2006”, said
Petri Nordlund, CTO, Bitboys.

“Futuremark not only benefits our clients by providing credible
performance numbers in real life applications, it also allows us to
develop competitive graphics IP” said Tatsuo Yamamoto, President and
CEO, DMP Inc. based in Tokyo Japan. He also added “We found
3DMarkMobile06 very useful in flushing out all performance and
compatibility related issues in the early stages of development. We are
very pleased to be part of Futuremark’s licensing program.”

David McBrien, VP Business Development, Imagination Technologies said
“Advanced 3D graphics will rapidly become the norm for mobile handsets;
our PowerVR technology alone is enabling over 18 devices, from
Freescale, Intel, Philips, Renesas, Samsung , Sunplus and TI, with
console-class mobile 3D performance. The key competencies for mobiles
devices will be features, performance and power-efficiency.
3DMarkMobile will be a valuable measure of both features and overall
system performance.”

“3D graphics and multimedia content demand rapid advancements in mobile
technology and as these devices evolve, so will the need for a
performance measurement and rating system,” said Glenn Schuster,
director of partner programs for the mobile GPU business at NVIDIA.
“Futuremark has been a leader in the field in 3D graphics benchmarking
on various computing platforms for several years, and we look forward
to having a comprehensive tool to help ensure a compelling and
enjoyable experience is delivered to mobile consumers around the
world.”

“Increasingly, consumers are choosing phones with cool graphics.
Symbian is working with the industry to enable mobile handset
manufacturers to use the latest and greatest graphics acceleration
technology.” said Bill Pinnell, Product Manager Multimedia, Gaming and
Graphics, Symbian. “Futuremark’s 3DMarkMobile06 is the first standards
based benchmark available that enables the whole industry to evaluate
the performance of new hardware with the real-world content that will
be appearing on phones”

Availability 3DMarkMobile06 Developers’ Edition will be available in
November, 2005 via source-code licensing to Futuremark’s BDP members.
Compiled versions will be available, on request, to media and others.
Futuremark will offer binary versions of the benchmark for Windows
(i386), Windows CE (ARM) and Symbian (ARM) platforms. The binaries will
be built using the latest, publicly available SDKs for each platform.
Consumer version of 3DMarkMobile06 will be launched separately when
there are enough handsets with hardware accelerated 3D graphics
available for consumers.

About Futuremark® Corporation

Futuremark ® Corporation is the leading provider of performance
analysis software and services for PCs and smartphones. Futuremark® is
known around the world for its benchmark products, including the
3DMark® and PCMark® Series and SPMark(TM) (with more than 30 million
copies distributed worldwide) and value-added services powered by a
database of over 12 million real life benchmarking results. Futuremark®
maintains offices in Saratoga, California and Helsinki, Finland. For
more information, please visit http://www.futuremark.com.

© 2005 Futuremark® Corporation. 3DMark®, PCMark® and SPMark(TM)
trademarks and logos, Futuremark® character names and distinctive
likenesses, are the exclusive property of Futuremark Corporation.
OpenGL® and the oval logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Silicon Graphics, Inc. in the Untied States and/or other countries
worldwide. All other trademarks are property of their respective
companies.