pablo906 asks:

How has the loss of 3DFX in the market affected ATI, if at all?

Dave Orton: The departure of 3DFX from the market has been a positive development for ATI, particularly in the United States retail space. NPD Intelect's April 2001 video card sales data for the U.S. retail and distribution markets shows that 3DFX has dropped to 1 percent marketshare, while ATI has become the marketshare leader, with a 48 percent share in this space. The industry now is comprised of two strong competitors.

Duo asks:

What is ATI's response to the announcement of the GeForce 3 being available for the Mac? Will ATI counter Nvidia's invasion into the Mac market?

Dave Orton: ATI will continue to develop and market superior solutions for the full range of Mac platforms, including Apple's desktop and mobile products.

MadGat asks:

Will we see a Prosumer level board for artists and designers like the Quadro or FireGL? But with really GOOD 2D performance as well as good 3D?

Dave Orton: As you know, we recently acquired FireGL, which has been developing workstation graphic products for the last 15 years. With FireGL, we now have a complete range of 3D graphics products - the FireGL 2 and FireGL 4, for example - which have excellent price/performance numbers. Although I can't comment about unannounced products, it is reasonable to assume that we will expand that line in the future.

slipgun asks:

How many variants of the Radeon 2 will exist? How will they be initially priced?

Dave Orton: ATI typically doesn't discuss unannounced products or their features, functions or benefits in advance of their introduction. I believe you are referring to R200, our next-generation graphics engine. All I can tell you is that it is expected in the second half of this calendar year. R200 will deliver on our promise to accelerate the market introduction of industry-leading graphics technology.

bhw752k asks:

nVidia has been running on a 6 month product cycle for quite some time now. With Radeon2 appearing in June, that puts ATI very close to a twelve month product cycle. How does ATI plan to compete releasing one product every time the market leader releases two?

Dave Orton: Actually, we are releasing new technology every six to nine months. To maintain that schedule, we now have two separate design teams today, whereas a year ago, we had one. Our teams have a fantastic set of products in the pipeline.

Our thanks to Dave Orton, President and COO of ATI Technologies, and John Challinor, ATI's Director of Public Relations, for their cooperation and assistance in answering all our reader's questions.

Housen Maratouk
Managing Editor