QNX Showcases Embedded 3D Technology on New Freescale Media5200 Platform

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TELEMATICS DETROIT 2005, May 16 - QNX Software Systems, the global leader in operating system technology for the in-car telematics and infotainment market, today demonstrated its latest innovation for automotive computing: OpenGL ES 3D technology running on the new Freescale™ Media5200 development platform.The demo, featured this week at Telematics Detroit 2005, showcases how the QNX® Neutrino® realtime operating system (RTOS) and the Media5200 platform can cut development costs and speed time to deployment for companies building feature-rich 3D navigation and infotainment devices.

"Until now, 3D user interfaces were simply too difficult or too costly to deploy in most automotive systems," said Andrew Poliak, automotive business manager, QNX Software Systems. "But QNX Neutrino's optimized OpenGL ES offering, coupled with state-of- the-art video hardware on the Freescale Media5200 platform, clears the path for mass deployment of high-end graphics across a wide range of in-car multimedia and navigation devices."

OpenGL ES is the emerging standard for deploying 3D graphics in resource-constrained embedded systems. As the first RTOS vendor to implement native support for OpenGL ES, QNX is poised to enhance both the user experience and market adoption of navigation units, DVD receivers, and other graphics-intensive in-car applications.

To deliver hardware acceleration for interfaces based on OpenGL ES, the Freescale Media5200 platform integrates the new Fujitsu Coral PA graphics processor. In addition to delivering serious 24-bit 3D graphics, the processor supports dual displays for OEMs building systems that combine front-seat applications (e.g. navigation) and rear-seat entertainment.

Together, the QNX Neutrino RTOS and Freescale MPC5200 processors have already provided the foundation for some of the industry's most successful in-car telematics deployments, including Audi and Hyundai Autonet. In fact, QNX was the first OS vendor to join Freescale's mobileGT initiative, an alliance of vendors dedicated to delivering the latest telematics, navigation, and infotainment technologies to automotive suppliers and OEMs.

QNX's implementation of OpenGL ES is scheduled for commercial release in Q3 2005.

In-booth Demo at Telematics Detroit 2005

Attendees are invited to see the 3D demo in action at the Freescale booth.

QNX and In-car Electronics

Besides providing the ultra-reliable QNX Neutrino RTOS, QNX offers an array of innovative technologies for the in-car computing market. These include a highly customizable framework for managing the power consumption of in-car electronics, instant-on technology for ultra-fast bootup times, an extensible multimedia framework, and a full-featured embeddable windowing system, the QNX Photon® microGUI®, for graphics-rich infotainment and navigation applications. QNX also offers the QNX Momentics® development suite, a highly integrated toolset for accelerating the entire telematics development cycle - from board bring-up to performance optimization.

More about the Media5200

The Media5200 development platform is based on the 885 MIPS, low-power MPC5200B processor. In addition to the Fujitsu Coral PA graphics chip, the Media5200 also has integrated GPS, 2 true PCI slots, a miniPCI slot for WiFi, and camera input. The MPC5200B can handle CPU- and DSP-intensive applications on a single, easy-to-manage core, including voice recognition, acoustic echo cancellation, compressed audio decoding/encoding, and video decoding. The Media5200 is suitable for developing and prototyping automotive entertainment and information systems, network gateways, industrial controllers, audio systems, video and data interpretation systems, telematics devices, hands-free phone modules, lane-departure warning systems, and a variety of other target systems.

About QNX Software Systems

With millions of installations worldwide, QNX Software Systems is the global leader in realtime, microkernel operating system technology. Companies like Cisco, DaimlerChrysler, Lockheed Martin, Panasonic, Siemens, and General Electric rely on QNX technology to build ultra-reliable systems for the networking, automotive, medical, military, and industrial automation markets. Founded in 1980, QNX Software Systems has offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Visit http://www.qnx.com.

QNX, Momentics, Neutrino, Photon, and microGUI are registered trademarks of QNX Software Systems in certain jurisdictions. All other trademarks and trade names belong to their respective owners.