Imagination Technologies unveils Vulkan demo on Android with Google at SIGGRAPH

Latest generation graphics API from Khronos delivers performance, power and usability benefits for mobile devices

SIGGRAPH, Los Angeles, 10^th August 2015 – Imagination Technologies (IMG.L) announces that on 11^th August 2015 at SIGGRAPH, it will demo an advanced prototype of the new Vulkan* graphics API on the PowerVR GPU enabled Nexus Player by Google running Android. The demo application uses Imagination’s PowerVR GPU and is designed to showcase the capability of Vulkan to meet the needs of the Android graphics developer community.

Vulkan, which is not yet publically available, will mark the entry of open standards consortium Khronos into the low-level graphics API field. The proposed API will be a lightweight, close-to-the-metal interface which will allow GPU driver software to exploit multicore and multi-threaded CPUs. It will also allow expert programmers for the first time to fully exploit the advantages of tile based renderers, the dominant architecture in the mobile industry. Vulkan will enable new levels of performance and efficiency for high-end graphics while coexisting with the widely deployed OpenGL ES APIs, which will continue to be the natural choice for programmers who prefer a higher-level interface.

This latest achievement follows Imagination’s Vulkan demonstration earlier this year against an early preliminary specification and represents the latest status of the evolving API by Khronos, taking into account the detailed inputs of Google and others over the subsequent months.

Says Neil Trevett, president of the Khronos Group: “Today, OpenGL and OpenGL ES provide access to billions of GPUs, and Khronos will continue to evolve and maintain these popular 3D APIs. The complementary Vulkan open standard API will deliver high-efficiency access to graphics and compute on modern GPUs, providing applications with direct control over GPU acceleration for maximized performance and predictability. We’re delighted that developers will be able to use Vulkan on Android devices.”

Says Peter McGuinness, director of multimedia technology marketing, Imagination: “Imagination is a major contributor to the Vulkan specification. We’ve been working closely with Google to integrate their input to the spec, using our PowerVR based platform. We are very enthusiastic that Google is embracing Vulkan on its Android products.”

Demonstration at SIGGRAPH
To learn more, and to speak with experts from Imagination and other Vulkan contributors, visit the Khronos ‘3D Graphics API State of the Union’ on Wednesday, 12^th August, from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live, Platinum Ballroom Salon F-H.

Editor’s Note:
*Based on an internal draft Khronos Specification, which may change prior to final release. Conformance criteria for this Specification have not yet been established.

About Imagination Technologies
Imagination is a global technology leader whose products touch the lives of billions of people across the globe. The company’s broad range of silicon IP (intellectual property) includes the key processing blocks needed to create the SoCs (Systems on Chips) that power all mobile, consumer and embedded electronics. Its unique software IP, infrastructure technologies and system solutions enable its customers to get to market quickly with complete and highly differentiated SoC platforms. Imagination’s licensees include many of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers, network operators and OEMs/ODMs who are creating some of the world’s most iconic products. See: www.imgtec.com.