At a time when users want faster computer performance, solution providers are finding a gold mine of efficiency using technology traditionally aimed at video gamers. High-end graphics boards are becoming a tool to soup up business computers.
"People are smart enough to know now that jacking up the CPU doesn't make you faster, just marginally faster," said Robb Auspitz, owner of Robb Auspitz Consulting, a Fort Washington, Pa.-based systems builder. "One way of being faster is having a beast of a graphics board in which you can offload information."
 Graphics boards are solving the need-for-speed dilemma in business computers, offering double the productivity for half the cost. |
Mike Healey, president of Ten Corp., Needham, Mass., said he builds graphics boards into his computers now as standard procedure because they can add value for a minimal cost.
In fact, Healey said he saves money by installing non-brand-name cards by vendors, such as Intel Corp. and Cardexpert Technology Inc., because there is not much difference in the performance of those cards and cards designed by gaming vendors, which can run as high as $800.
Additional software provides the 3-D capabilities found in the more sophisticated cards offered by vendors such as Alpha Processor Inc. (API) and Diamond Multimedia.
"We typically put 8-Mbyte cards into our business systems, even though you don't need to, because the cost is very small and it may pay off in two or three years," said Healey.
Market research confirms the trend. Graphics board revenue for business PCs was $60 million in 1999, compared with $7 million to $10 million for consumer PCs, said Jon Peddie, president of Mill Valley, Calif.-based Jon Peddie Associates, a market research and publishing firm.
This market traditionally has been divided into two segments: the gaming market, served by vendors offering 3-D graphics-rendering technologies, and the business market, which until recently has been served primarily by vendors offering 2-D graphics technologies.
Now the distinction between low-end graphics cards and high-performance cards is blurring, solution providers said.
Low-end graphics cards are hard to find in retail stores because the price of the higher-performing cards has come down so much, said Jerry Duffy, owner of Able Computer Repair, San Carlos, Calif.
Duffy suggests clients include graphics cards in their computers as standard-issue because the technology results in faster performance, particularly for clients doing a lot of work on the Internet, pulling up graphics-intensive Web pages.
"They think their computer has been juiced up, and [meanwhile] all we do is add graphics cards" for about $100 per computer, Duffy said.
However, traditional gaming graphics technology developers, such as 3dfx Interactive Inc., S3 Corp. and ATI Technologies Inc., seem to be more interested in consumers rather than business users, some experts said.
This is because the graphics integrated in business PCs are not terribly interesting, said Greg Harris, vice president of marketing at Cornerstone Peripheral Technology Inc. The Fremont, Calif.-based graphics technology developer is one of a few developers catering to the commercial sector.
"You don't hear as much [about] optimizing for the 2-D [technology], and that is because it's not nearly as sexy as 3-D games and doesn't look nearly as good at trade shows," Harris said.
Cornerstone provides graphics controllers for corporate and professional users and focuses its business on vertical markets that require sharp, high-resolution images, such as CAD/CAM, banking and finance.
Companies such as 3dfx, San Jose, will have to reposition themselves to play a stronger role in the business PC space, said Jon Peddie Associates' Peddie.
"[3dfx has] spent all its money positioning the company as a game-board or game-chip company and it has been successful at that, but that's a small market," he said.
"If [3dfx executives] want to go into other markets, then they have to have products to offer, which they don't have. And secondarily, they are going to have to remarket the company and reposition themselves so that when they call on the large OEMs like Compaq [Computer Corp.], Dell [Computer Corp.] and [Hewlett-Packard Co.], they have products that are appropriate for their needs," Peddie said.
However, some integrators disagree, claiming the need for better-performing computers has gaming technology nicely positioned for the business market.
Able Computer's Duffy said he recently installed graphics cards in all of the 500 computers at his client's law firm because company executives wanted faster-performing desktops in order to make their employees more efficient.
"Gaming cards are so fast. They were designed for the gaming industry but are good for the business environment because Windows is a graphical environment, so anything that will refresh the screen faster is great," said Auspitz.
For these reasons, companies such as Concord, Mass.-based API are paying close attention to the business PC graphics space. API chipsets are installed in workstations used by graphics professionals in the television and film workspace, said Pat Hart, marketing manager at API.
Business users of high-end applications are finding a wealth of sorely-needed speed in API's hardware, Hart said. "It's not the mainstream desktop architecture; it tends to really offer benefits to people who do high-end [graphics]," he said. "They don't use our chips because [they] produce a good display on their monitors,they use our chips because [they] can build graphics very quickly."
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