Avi Singh, Product Marketing Manager
ELSA Inc.
408-919-9100 ext. 140
avis@elsa.com

Compaq Expands ELSA GLoria Synergy+ Offering With Professional Workstations

Advanced AGP ELSA GLoria Synergy+ to Deliver High Performance 2D and 3D Acceleration for New Compaq Professional Workstation AP500

Santa Clara, CA (September 15, 1998) - ELSA today announced that Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) will expand its offering of the advanced AGP version of the award-winning ELSA GLoria Synergy^™, GLoria Synergy+, to the new Compaq Professional Workstation AP500. This is in addition to the existing Compaq Professional Workstation AP400 and AP200 that integrate the ELSA solution. GLoria Synergy+ provides high performance 2D and 3D graphics acceleration and multiple monitor support in Windows NT® 3.51 and 4.0. The Compaq Professional Workstation with the GLoria Synergy+ is targeted at computer-aided design, digital content creation, electronic design automation, geographic information systems, and financial markets.

Recent Awards:

The ELSA GLoria Synergy was recently awarded Five Stars from CADALYST magazine in the issue on "The last word on 2D Graphics Cards." The review stated that "if you're looking for high performance for 2D AutoCAD work, an excellent warranty, and a great price, the << GLoria Synergy>> is the card for you." The ELSA GLoria Synergy was the highest performer for both AutoCAD R13 and AutoCAD R14 and exceeded the competition on price and warranty.

The ELSA GLoria Synergy also achieved distinction in delivering top results for the Compaq Workstation in the CADENCE article, "Pentium II 400MHz Workstations Make Their Debut." The review stated that "one significant advantage of Compaq . . .with ELSA graphics card is that ELSA supplies enhanced AutoCAD R13 and R14 drivers that are faster than the built-in drivers."

ELSA GLoria Synergy

The award-winning ELSA GLoria Synergy+ is an integrated 2D and 3D AGP graphics controller with 8MB of SGRAM, a 250MHz RAMDAC for resolutions up to 1920 x1200 in High Color and a 90MHz chip clock speed for superior performance. Equipped with the PERMEDIA 2™ processor from 3Dlabs (NASDAQ: TDDDF), the product also allows multi-screen operations with the ELSA Gloria Synergy range of products. ELSA GLoria Synergy+ is certified for leading professional applications with support for OpenGL^® Direct3D^®, and HEIDI^® in hardware. It also supports Microsoft Windows 95^®, Microsoft Windows 98^®, and Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0.

ELSA Software Advantage

The ELSA Software Advantage provides Compaq Professional Workstations products with the performance and productivity advantage for AutoCAD^®, 3D Studio MAX^®/VIZ^®, Adobe Photoshop^®, MicroStation^®, OpenGL, and financial applications. ELSA's OpenGL technology with anti-aliasing support achieves a CDRS-03 performance of 32.3 as compared to 14.94 for the Dynamics Picture 202, or 14.1 for ATI Rage Pro Turbo. In addition, ELSA POWERdraft^™ is the only driver worldwide delivering hardware acceleration for both AutoCAD R13 and R14. ELSA MAXtreme^™ for 3D Studio MAX R2, and 3D Studio VIZ R2 gives users enhanced 3D graphics performance. ELSA Desktop, a multi-monitor utility, provides users the flexibility and functionality they need for finance, CAD and image processing applications.

"ELSA is pleased to be expanding our product offering in the Compaq Professional Workstation solutions," said Uli Theissen, president of ELSA Inc. "The GLoria Synergy+ delivers the value-added CAD software and multiple monitor support in addition to high-performance 2D and 3D graphics performance required by Compaq Professional Workstation customers."

"The GLoria Synergy+ delivers the no-compromise performance and affordability that users expect from a Compaq Professional Workstation," said Les Crudele, vice president and general manager of Compaq's Workstation Ddivision." "The GLoria Synergy+ provides excellent performance for technical and creative professionals who work in a mixed 2D and 3D environment. In addition, it also delivers ELSA's value-added CAD and multi-monitor drivers to ensure the stability and graphics power our customers demand."

ELSA Information

ELSA AG is a stock company based in Aachen, Germany, with subsidiaries in Santa Clara (California, USA), Taipei (Taiwan), and Tokyo (Japan). Founded in 1980, ELSA has built up a world-class reputation for applying advanced engineering expertise to computer graphics and data communications products. Technological competence, German standards of quality, leading-edge products and services backed up by excellent support: These are factors which firmly place ELSA at the forefront of the market today.

The ELSA logo is a registered trademark of ELSA AG. All names mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.