Aiming to do what the entire 3D computer aided design industry has not achieved yet, Intel announced the formation of a 3D Industry Forum (3DIF) on the first day of its IDF Solution Conference in Barcelona.
The special interest group (SIG) wants to unite 3D CAD vendors in their use of one universal standard, to import and export CAD data to business applications and over the Web.
The standard is intended to be formulated by the fourth quarter this year, said Rick Benoit, Intel programme marketing manager, corporate technical group. Intel has approached Ecma International, a standards body, to propose the standard to the International Standards Organisation (ISO). Ecma was chosen for its alacrity in pushing standards through with ISO`s blessing, and its European and international presence.
Notably absent
A notable absence in the 3DIF grouping is AutoCAD, but Intel is forging ahead with members in end-user ranks (HP, Boeing), other CAD companies, independent software vendors of business apps (Adobe) and digital content creation companies.
Spokesmen believe universal need for 3D CAD exists today. "PCs are powerful enough, (European and US) bandwidth has increased sufficiently and the interest is there," Benoit added.
Who is winning?
Benoit said Intel was well placed to perform this unifying role. The company has global decentralised research and development undertakings (7 000 staff in 70 labs). It also immerses itself in identifying future usage models and needs for technologies, and "catalyses adoption" through special interest groups.
"We want to help companies unlock the wealth of data in their possession - CAD data is tough to implement in Web apps and costly to create," he said. Companies` hardware investments are also value-enhanced with this. And commentators would argue that Intel itself stands to gain from broad acceptance of high-end visualisation programs.
"The stars are aligned," said Benoit. "Apart from the technical building blocks that are in place, companies want this today. "3D can reduce time to market as well as costs. It is a powerful marketing and educational tool."
Features
The standard will support streaming and compression. It will be compatible with existing security software, and it will be open and extensible.
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