NVIDIA Recognizes University of Utah as a Cuda Center of Excellence

University of Utah is the Latest in a Growing List of Exceptional Schools
Demonstrating Pioneering Work in Parallel Computing

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and SALT LAKE CITY, July 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
NVIDIA Corporation, the worldwide leader in visual computing technologies, and
the University of Utah today announced that the university has been recognized
as a CUDA Center of Excellence, a milestone that marks the beginning of a
significant partnership between the two organizations.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020613/NVDALOGO)
NVIDIA(R) CUDA(TM) technology is an award-winning C-compiler and software
development kit (SDK) for developing computing applications on GPUs. Its
inclusion in the University of Utah's curriculum is a clear indicator of the
ground-swell that parallel computing using a many-core architecture is having
on the high-performance computing industry. The University of Utah is also the
second school to be recognized as a CUDA Center of Excellence along with the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Over 50 other schools and
universities now include CUDA technology as part of their Computer Science
curriculum or in their research.
Distinguished members of the University of Utah's faculty and alumni have
been behind a remarkable fraction of the graphics innovations made in the last
40 years, as well as pioneering companies such as Adobe, Evans & Sutherland,
Pixar and Silicon Graphics. Together, NVIDIA and the University of Utah will
continue this industry-changing work and deliver technologies that harness the
processing power of the GPU (graphics processing units) and the award-winning
CUDA programming environment.
"Often before a great discovery there is the creation of a new tool or a
tool that is used in a different way than before," said Chris Johnson,
director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute at the
University of Utah. "GPUs and the algorithms and software that they use are
today's tools and with them we are entering a golden age, where scientific
computing is going to truly change the way we do science and medicine."
As a CUDA Center of Excellence, the University of Utah will be using CUDA
technology extensively across three faculties: -- Scientific Computing and
Imaging (SCI) Institute
-- The SCI Institute has established itself as an internationally
recognized leader in visualization, scientific computing, and
image analysis. The overarching research objective of the SCI
Institute is to create new scientific computing techniques, tools,
and systems that enable solutions to important problems in
biomedicine, science, and engineering. For more information:
http://www.sci.utah.edu.
-- The School of Computing (until 2000 the Department of Computer
Science).
-- The School of Computing has a long history of distinguished
faculty and alumni who have made substantial contributions to
research and industry. For more information:
http://www.cs.utah.edu/school/history. The CUDA Center will play a
key role in the School's new Digital Media Initiative linking
Computing with Fine Art and Film and funded by the USTAR
Initiative
-- Center for the Simulation of Accidental Fires and Explosions (CSAFE)
-- As one of the Department of Energy's five Advanced Simulation and
Computing (ASC) centers, Utah runs detailed simulations of high
energy devices and hydro-carbon fires, designed to increase the
safety of dangerous material transportation and storage.

"The synergy of graphics combined with computational horsepower provided
by NVIDIA GPUs and the CUDA programming environment provides incredible
opportunities in science, industry and commerce," stated Dr. Steven Parker,
adjunct professor of computer science at the University of Utah and principal
research scientist at NVIDIA.
"The worlds of scientific computing and computer graphics owe a great deal
to the University of Utah and those who have passed through its halls," said
David Kirk, chief scientist at NVIDIA. "CUDA technology has the potential to
truly transform industries, as we have already seen in fields such as
medicine, geophysics and finance. With a school of Utah's caliber
incorporating it into their curriculum and across many of its research
facilities, I am personally very excited to see what advances can be made."
The CUDA Center of Excellence at the University of Utah will be using GPU
technology to make significant advances in a number of scientific
applications, including seismic data processing and visualization, MRI and
diffusion tensor image reconstruction, cardiac electrical wave propagation
simulation, combustion and fluid dynamics simulation, and several projects in
large-scale scientific visualization.
For more information on NVIDIA CUDA, visit CUDA Zone at
http://www.nvidia.com/cuda
About University of Utah
With a rich 151-year history, the University of Utah's mission of
teaching, research and service lives through its people and purposes. From its
beautiful campus in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City,
the university reaches out to its diverse student body from all 29 Utah
counties, all 50 states and 102 countries with top-rated academic departments,
competitive athletics, wide-ranging cultural offerings, and innovative medical
programs. In 2005 the University established the office of Technology Venture
Development to accelerate the entrepreneurial spirit at the University. Since
then, 61 companies have been launched from University technologies.
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) is the world leader in visual computing technologies
and the inventor of the GPU, a high-performance processor which generates
breathtaking, interactive graphics on workstations, personal computers, game
consoles, and mobile devices. NVIDIA serves the entertainment and consumer
market with its GeForce(R) products, the professional design and visualization
market with its Quadro(R) products, and the high-performance computing market
with its Tesla(TM) products. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara,
California, and has offices throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
NVIDIA's inaugural NVISION 08 conference will be held August 25-27, 2008 in
San Jose, California. For more information, visit http://www.nvidia.com and
http://www.nvision2008.com.
Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to,
statements as to: the CUDA Center of Excellence Program; the benefits of the
relationship between NVIDIA and the University of Utah; the performance,
impact and benefits of CUDA technology; and the impact of parallel computing
on the high performance computing industry are forward-looking statements that
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be
materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially include: our reliance on third parties to
manufacture, assemble and test our products; software defects; industry
adoption of a different software process for parallel computing; changing
industry standards; development of faster or more efficient GPU or CPU
technology; the impact of technological development and competition; changing
customer preferences or demands as well as other factors detailed from time to
time in the reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission
including its Form 10-Q for the period ended April 27, 2008. Copies of reports
filed with the SEC are posted on our website and are available from NVIDIA
without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future
performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by
law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking
statements to reflect future events or circumstances.
Copyright (C) 2008 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the
NVIDIA logo, GeForce, Quadro, Tesla, and CUDA are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other
company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with
which they are associated.
SOURCE NVIDIA Corporation

Andrew Humber of NVIDIA Corporation, +1-408-486-8138, ahumber@nvidia.com