Intel Announces Platform Tools To Help PC OEMS And IHVS Shorten Development Time And Improve Product Performance

Intel Makes Available Internally Developed IPEAK Tools to Ease Technology Adoption and Platform Performance Tuning

INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM, SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 29, 1997 -- Intel Corporation announced today at its Intel Developer Forum three new Intel Performance Evaluation and Analysis Kit (IPEAK) tools which will help PC OEMs and IHVs dramatically improve analysis and diagnostic capabilities in platform integration and performance tuning. The IPEAK tools announced -- including a Graphics Toolkit, Storage Toolkit and Power Management Toolkit -- aim to assist PC OEMs and IHVs in shortening product time-to-market when adopting new platform technologies and standards, such as Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and industry power management initiatives. The tools also make it easier for IHVs and OEMs to understand performance issues which can be addressed in the design process to optimize product performance.

"Intel is launching the forum and these new toolkits as part of our effort to share the results of our R&D efforts with the industry and make it easier for hardware developers to integrate the variety of new and more complex technologies," said Dan Russell, director of platform marketing in Intel's Desktop Products Group. "We are getting excellent response from the hardware community as they strive to gain the relevant information and tools to bring the new technology to their customers as efficiently as possible."

IPEAK Tools Help PC OEMs and IHVs Adopt New Technologies
The IPEAK Power Management Toolkit has been developed to help PC OEMs and IHVs incorporate the Power Management specification in product design and system integration processes. The Intel Power Management Analysis Tool (IPMAT) is the first to be developed for the Power Management Toolkit. The tool makes managing all the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) and Instantly Available PC Power Management platform ingredients easier by having the mechanism to test for supported ACPI states at both the system and device system. The tools provide the abilities to qualify power management functionality, quantify power consumption and test the behavior of applications participating in Global System Power Management. The IPMAT can be used for vendor selection and qualification by checking for the ACPI power management support of hardware, devices, drivers and applications, as well as the resume latencies associated with the state changes.

Currently OEMs have no software to automate the testing of power management states and are conducting tests manually. With the IPMAT, testing can be completed more quickly, accurately and thoroughly, saving the developers days or sometimes months in development time.

IPEAK Tools Help PC OEMs and IHVs Improve Competitive Edge
The Storage Toolkit has been developed to help IHVs, PC OEMs and IT managers identify possible storage performance optimization at no cost or low cost in product designs, as well as select the best possible performance storage products at the same price point.

There are four tools in the toolkit: RankDisk, AnalyzeDisk, Win32 Tracing Kit and AnalyzeTrace. RankDisk provides the capabilities to compare relative device performance using relevant system-level workloads. With this tool, a vendor or customer can determine the best storage devices and controller to match the needs of their specific application workloads. AnalyzeDisk determines the performance characteristics of storage devices including seek profile and caching algorithm efficiency. Win32 Tracing Kit is a tool for collecting disk access reference information from various workloads. AnalyzeTrace, a tool complementary to Win32 Tracing Kit, provides the capability to analyze the disk access traces. By using the Win32 Tracing Kit and AnalyzeTrace, design engineers and system integrators can understand the workload environment and conduct product performance tuning for the market they serve.

The Graphics Toolkit has been developed to provide IHVs, OEMs and ISVs different levels of analytical and evaluation capabilities for graphics hardware and software. The toolkit currently consists of two sets of tools: the Graphics Performance Toolkit and the Intel Baseline AGP System Evaluation Suite (ISBASES).

The Graphics Performance Toolkit has been developed to help IHVs, PC OEMs and ISVs to have a better understanding of the performance issues related to both graphics hardware and graphics applications in order to optimize graphics performance. The toolkit provides the capability to analyze the performance characteristics of graphics controllers independent of applications to help IHVs, ISVs and PC OEMs tune product performance and choose better graphics products. In addition, the toolkit can analyze the content characteristics of graphics applications, enabling ISVs to write applications that take advantage of the latest and greatest graphics hardware technology, and IHVs to develop hardware to match the needs of graphics applications.

The IBASES is an integration and development tool that will assist PC OEMs, IHVs and ISVs in the adoption of AGP technologies and products. The tool provides several tests to evaluate AGP functionality and performance. The tests include: a texture test to stress the texture volume and throughput of AGP Adapters/Drivers and systems; an AGP system configuration "snapshot" to provide configuration information for AGP components; a Video Memory Monitor to capture and display video memory utilization during application execution; and an AGP Driver/Adapter test to validate the functionality, check video memory utilization of AGP graphics adapters and drivers via DirectX 5.0 APIs, and check for video memory corruption.

Intel is the first to announce the availability of these types of platform performance and integration analysis tools for PC OEMs and IHVs. The three tools will be available beginning in the first quarter of 1998.

The Intel Developer Forum is a three-day intensive forum providing hardware OEMs and IHVs in-depth information on Intel technologies and initiatives. More information on the Intel Developer Forum can be found at www.intel.com/idf.

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