Sun's 3D-immersive virtual technology showcased at PTC's Warwick Collaboration CenterWarwick 24 Oct 2000 Sun Microsystems has demonstrated the first manifestation of its effort to develop flexible, scalable 3D solutions for the Collaborative Product Commerce (CPC) market. These solutions allow customers and system integrators to incorporate top quality virtual display technology at a fraction of the usual cost. The Sun Enterprise 450 workgroup servers, powered by the Sun Expert3 graphics accelerators, have been selected by PTC, the product development company and a leading provider of CPC solutions, to support its Collaboration Centre at the University of Warwick, UK.
PTC's Collaboration Centre is a 3D graphics environment that allows large audiences to view and interact with critical, product-related information through a large virtual display.
Trimension Systems, known for providing immersive technology for a wide range of applications, from planetariums to single Virtual Reality solutions, combines the display components of the Collaboration Centre Theatre at Warwick with a Sun Enterprise 450 workgroup server and Sun
Expert3D graphics accelerators to form an integrated solution. The solution connects to workstations and a PC that links demonstrators to the Internet and to PTC's suite of CPC applications.
Together, this configuration combines and blends images that drive three rear-screen projectors that illuminate a large 6 by 2 metre (16.6 X 5.6 feet) ReaCTor-Wall for an audience of up to 50. Displaying its versatility, the ReaCTor-Wall has been configured to drive anything from a single large X-window to a multi-image presentation, as well as support completely immersive 3D visualisation with large-scale data sets, overview presentations and multimedia applications.
"PTC uses its Collaboration Centre Theatres to present live demonstrations of scenarios that represent real-world manufacturing enterprises. Like any large corporation, reducing internal IT complexity is an ongoing goal for PTC", stated Mark Hodges, senior vice president of Industry and Reference Marketing at PTC. "Sun Microsystems' Sun Enterprise 450 server, combined
with Sun Expert3D graphics accelerators, offer a flexible, scalable product with cost-efficient benefits proven in our new Collaboration Centre Theatre at the University of Warwick."
Used primarily to exhibit PTC's CPC software solutions, including ProENGINEER, Windchill and its visualisation and virtual prototyping products, the Collaboration Centre Theatre at the University of Warwick showcases real-world scenarios focused on the aerospace, automotive and
shipbuilding industries.
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