The Application Performance Characterization (APC) project group plans to release its first benchmarks to the public and to report its first round of performance results by mid-July at SIGGRAPH '98. A minimum of two benchmarks will be released, one based on an application for mid- to high-level CAD/CAM users, and the other based on a games application that runs primarily on lower-level graphics systems. APC project group members include Compaq, Dell, Digital Equipment Corp., Dynamic Pictures Inc., Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Intergraph, Real 3D, and Sun Microsystems.

The APC project group was formed to address what its members think is a benchmarking void: Although there are a few ad hoc application-level benchmarks that focus on graphics and visualization, there has been no standardization to date, and a wider range of industry benchmarks are needed. The APC project group members believe that end users of these applications would benefit significantly from the creation and standardization of a broad-ranging set of such benchmarks.

The APC group is assessing applications in areas such as mechanical CAD/CAM/CAE, data visualization, visual simulation, industrial design, animation, architecture and games. Applications are being selected based on their graphical content and their importance within their market segments. The group is working with user groups, publications, application developers, and others who have already developed general-purpose application benchmarks.

"We’re not out to supplant existing application benchmarks," says Paul Martin of Hewlett-Packard, chair of the APC project group. "We want to work cooperatively with those who have developed previous benchmarks. We want to make certain, however, that the resulting benchmarks contain appropriate graphics workloads and standardized measurement criteria, review processes, and reporting formats."

Questions regarding membership and application benchmarking can be addressed to the APC project group at gpcapc-info@spec.org.

For more detailed information on the APC, go to the APC FAQ document.