The UK arm of Silicon Graphics Inc has opened up a Reality Centre in its new building at Theale near Reading to enable UK firms to develop graphics products and applications. The company has poured ?2m into equipping the research facility with Silicon Graphics Onyx hardware and the idea is to run high quality demonstrations using some of the advanced technology available to get potential developers into thinking about what can be done with it. The UK has a strong grounding in virtual reality and graphics development and the Centre is designed to encourage this innovation and offer a place to develop and test ideas. The viewing area has a curved display screen to give a more realistic sense of actually being in the location projected and it has a cockpit that is re-configurable to simulate a variety of virtual environments such as a road vehicle for driver training. The firm sees the Centre as a long-term investment that will broaden use of graphics products and act as a catalyst to boost the market in which it has a large part of its business.
