At long last, are proud to present you with the answers to our latest industry interview, where industry company executives and representatives answer questions posed by our readers in our discussion boards at SharkyForums.

This set of questions has been answered by Dave Orton, President and COO of ATI Technologies, Inc. Many thanks go to the good folks at ATI for getting these questions answered and delivered to us.

LORD ORION asks:

What advantages do you hold over Nvidia for meeting supply of console graphics while simultaneously meeting PC graphics demands? After all, most companies that have tried to do both have run into difficulties.

Dave Orton: Very few companies have the focus on 3D and multi-media that ATI has. Along with partners such as IBM and NEC, ATI has developed game console graphics technologies for Nintendo's GameCube offering, now recognized as the leading console as we move into the 2001 fall consumer buying season. Leveraging these relationships has enabled ATI to successfully enter the mass consumer electronics and game console market without sacrificing its other graphics investments, development or operations. Most of the work on these game console graphics technologies was completed by ArtX prior to its acquisition by ATI last year, and the development team has since begun work on future graphics products.

ChrisChong asks:

Will ATi's graphics chipset for the GameCube include S3TC support, hardware bump-mapping, cube-environment mapping, anisotropic filtering, FSAA or any other significant improvements over the current consoles in the market? If so would they severely affect the performance of the console in any way (like the way the PS2 supposedly slows down when texture filtering is used)?

Dave Orton: ATI's advanced design greatly improves the state-of-the-art for console technologies, both in performance and feature set. Commonly needed/used features were architected to have little or no performance impact. This is a system designed with one thing in mind: high performance, feature-rich graphics to allow the developers to create the best content in the world.

Kelvrick asks:

Will ATI chipsets or technology be sold to other companies to be made in to 3rd party video cards again?

Dave Orton: ATI recently unveiled a new business strategy that will see the Company enter into manufacturing and distribution partnerships with leading original design manufacturers (ODMs) and add-in board manufacturers (AIBs) - a move that will significantly increase sales and distribution penetration of ATI graphics processor chip technologies worldwide. These partners will become the major suppliers of ATI technologies to system integrators (SIs) and distributors worldwide. ATI will continue to provide chips and board products to OEMs in the value, mainstream, high-end and workstation markets and will continue to support ATI branded products in the retail channel.

lostboy asks:

I recall having read recently that ATI made an agreement with Intel... Could you go into any detail on what Intel technologies will benefit ATI's graphics card line and also any news on an integrated chipset?

Dave Orton: The agreement grants each company rights to certain patents owned by the other. This will help ATI and Intel to incorporate new features and technologies into their products, significantly benefiting their customers. ATI has also negotiated the right to build integrated chipsets for Intel microprocessor platforms.