November 5, 1998 - The Aachen, Germany-based computer graphics and data communications manufacturer ELSA is well established in the computer peripherals market. The precursor of the ELSA AG, Beisch Electronics, already developed the first accelerated graphics card for PCs in 1982. Since then, it has become impossible to ignore the high-performance graphics boards from ELSA which are equipping professional PC workstations, especially for the CAD market.

The way to success for 3D graphics accelerators, opening up a new dimension of performance, began with the first ELSA GLoria in 1995. A universally applicable, professional graphics board hit the market with the ELSA GLoria Synergy™ in 1997, which has high-performance features both in 2D and 3D applications. Today, the flagship of the GLoria line, the ELSA GLoria™-XXL, is one of the top products for demanding applications in the field of high-end 3D CAD and digital content creation.

The user target group profits from these 16 years of experience, because they want to do one thing above all with their graphics systems: earn money. Consequently, productivity and economic efficiency are the keywords, which go beyond purely technical features.

For this reason, ELSA puts special emphasis on individually adapted software, which takes full advantage of the reserves within ELSA's own hardware designs and provides additional productivity advantages. ELSA invests a large share of its development work into this sector.

The result of this philosophy is the ELSA Software Advantage, which was developed especially to meet the needs of professional users. It contains its own software drivers and tools, which support the hardware features of the graphics board and the software employed by the user. It includes the leading operating systems (Windows^® 95, Windows^® 98, Windows NT^®, OS/2 Warp 4, Linux), 3D standards (OpenGL^®, HEIDI, Direct3D) and professional CAD and visualization applications.

As the only graphics board manufacturer in the world, ELSA developed with ELSA POWERdraft™ a dedicated driver for hardware acceleration of the AutoCAD^® (the leading design software) releases 13 and 14. Using this driver in relevant application tests, performance leaps were achieved offering four times the character speed of the AutoCAD R14 standard. The driver includes special, convenient features, which make work in AutoCAD even more productive, among others a Cockpit as a control center and the view saving function MultiView.

ELSAview 3D™ is ELSA's ingenious 3D viewer, which is based on OpenGL for numerous CAD and visualization programs, VRML and Open Inventor files. This lets you display and vary 3D models with realistic photographic quality in real time and save them as bitmap or VRML 1.0 files. ELSAview 3D can also be integrated completely into AutoCAD and Autodesk^® Mechanical Desktop with a special function range, or you can use it independently of programs.

ELSA MAXtreme™ improves productivity with 3D Studio MAX/VIZ R2.x. With this unique software, ELSA is also the only graphics board manufacturer in the world that avoids awkward switching between two standard drivers, which should be installed parallel otherwise. ELSA MAXtreme combines and optimizes the advantages of the HEIDI software acceleration with the hardware acceleration of the OpenGL driver in one single ELSA driver, which improves performance and productivity.

Within the framework of the ELSA WINman Suite, ELSA provides practical tools such as Application Settings, which optimizes the configuration of a graphics system to the employed software automatically, and ELSA Desktop, which lets you define the settings and arrangement of up to six monitors.

The ELSA Software Advantage is exclusively available for ELSA graphics boards and its range of features are adjusted for the respective board. It is part of the standard package for the ELSA GLoria Synergy, ELSA GLoria-L/MX, ELSA GLoria-XL and ELSA GLoria-XXL graphics boards. ELSA customers can get software updates (even for older graphics boards) via the ELSA online media (Internet, LocalWeb) and the ELSA WINNERware CD-ROM free of charge around the clock.

In close cooperation with customers and suppliers, ELSA already ensures in advance of development that the high demands on performance features can be fulfilled according to ELSA specifications. This results in innovative solutions customized to meet user needs.

As one of the first companies in this market segment, ELSA has expanded the range of functions of its high-end graphics boards with additional features. This includes the integration of video-in/out on the ELSA GLoria Synergy, which lets users connect videos and televisions, enables professional presentations with projectors and allows low-cost videoconferencing via Internet. The top-of-the-line models ELSA GLoria-XL and ELSA GLoria-XXL are equipped with stereo shutter glasses, a technology for 3D views and virtual reality, which has applications in the multimedia sector and also provides advantages for 3D construction and design. For example, the ELSA GLoria-XL is used as a reference graphics board for developing stereo applications in the software industry.

Multi-screen systems are one of ELSA's core areas of competence. ELSA has sold such systems on the CAD market since the end of the eighties and has expanded their applications since the introduction of the MS Windows^® operating system. New, expanded multi-screen functions make it possible to connect up to six monitors to one computer and "administer" them conveniently and individually. With these functions, ELSA also supports applications in such areas as financial analysis, music production, machine control and software development in addition to the conventional CAD market.

Internationally leading PC workstation manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard and Compaq, which demand uncompromising quality from their suppliers, integrate ELSA graphics solutions into their top-of-the-line models for a reason. The respected US trade journal, CADENCE (10/98), confirmed the advantages of such decisions in a recent test, "Pentium II 400-MHz Workstations Make Their Debut," with the two workstations that had the best results. In the test, there were "...two workstations [Note: HP Kayak XA-s and Compaq AP400] equipped with ELSA graphics boards. One significant advantage of Compaq [...] with ELSA graphics card is that ELSA supplies enhanced AutoCAD R13 and R14 drivers that are faster (by approx. 25 percent) than the built-in drivers."

The special performance advantages of the ELSA solutions are pointed out regularly in tests of graphics boards. Graphics boards in the ELSA line have won a total of ten international distinctions and test victories until now in 1997 and 1998. The ELSA Software Advantage is one of the decisive criteria, which distinguishes the ELSA graphics solutions from their competitors. This is an important factor, which should not be underestimated—despite the impression often given in public that simply using a specific graphics processor provides quality enough.

ELSA has gained an excellent reputation in specialist circles with the high-performance graphics boards of the GLoria line and the ELSA Software Advantage, and it is one of the leading manufacturers in this branch. Its long years of experience in the graphics market, innovative and high-quality products, competent support and far-ranging services with six-year warranties make ELSA the first choice for equipping professional workplaces. And ELSA ECOMO monitors also achieve excellent display results meeting the most demanding requirements and ensuring an ergonomic environment for productive and successful work.

You can get more information about ELSA graphics solutions in the Internet (www.elsa.com) and from the ELSA Service Hotline at: +49-241-606-5112.

ELSA AG is a publicly traded 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 that firmly place ELSA at the forefront of the market today.

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

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