AMD Collaborates with Aviary to Bring APU-Optimized Photo Editing Application to Windows 8
-- Includes software development Kit for Windows 8 on AMD-powered devices --
SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Mar. 18, 2013 – AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced a collaboration with Aviary to bring an optimized version of its popular photo editing tool to Windows® 8 PCs and tablets powered by AMD accelerated processing units (APUs). Backed by an investment through AMD Ventures, Aviary has optimized its new software development kit (SDK) for Windows 8 to take advantage of unique AMD APU architectural advantages. Aviary also has released its first Windows 8 app through the Windows Store to showcase the features and functionality of the Aviary SDK for Windows 8.
The new Aviary SDK offers software developers a library of photo editing effects and filters for the easy incorporation of the photo editor into applications. The SDK brings the simple yet powerful photo editing capabilities of Aviary to millions of new consumers, adding to the more than 35 million monthly[1] Aviary users across over 3500 partners. By implementing filters and effects in Windows 8 through the new heterogeneous compute language C++ AMP, computations are performed on the highly-parallel graphics processing unit (GPU) cores inside the AMD APU instead of the more serial central processing unit (CPU) cores, resulting in an average 11X performance improvement[2].
“Aviary is becoming the standard in mobile and online photo editing with over 3 billion photos edited thus far,” said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, Heterogeneous Applications and Developer Solutions, AMD. “By bringing Aviary to Windows 8, it enables the next billion photos across an even broader range of devices. AMD is committed to supporting the future of industry-changing innovators like Aviary through investment by AMD Ventures and by enhancing user experiences on our award-winning APU platforms.”
Aviary’s new Photo Editor for Windows 8, now available in the Windows Store, demonstrates the peak of Aviary’s capabilities. Optimized for AMD APUs, the app can now process the complete range of filters and effects instantaneously[3] - on average 16X faster than comparable processors[4].
"At Aviary, we've built the best SDK for photo editing, sharing and monetization. Having the direct support of AMD has allowed us to push even further ahead and expand to Windows 8," said Tobias Peggs, CEO, Aviary. "AMD's APUs allow us to enable the most processor-intensive photo effects we have ever been able to offer. They've helped to push our technology forward and, in turn, end users can push the limits of their creativity even further."
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About AMD
AMD (NYSE: AMD) is a semiconductor design innovator leading the next era of vivid digital experiences with its groundbreaking AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) that power a wide range of computing devices. AMD's server computing products are focused on driving industry-leading Cloud computing and virtualization environments. AMD's superior graphics technologies are found in a variety of solutions ranging from game consoles, PCs to supercomputers. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.
About AMD Ventures
AMD’s product strategy synergistically combines central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU) and accelerated processing unit (APU) technology to improve user experiences through a vibrant worldwide AMD developer ecosystem. This ecosystem includes new software, hardware, business models, consumer electronic devices, intellectual property, processes, support models and other new developments. Through AMD Ventures, AMD works with the companies in which it invests to enable differentiated solutions optimized on AMD hardware platforms.
About Aviary
Aviary powers the world's creativity by offering the best photo editing tools that developers can incorporate into their apps and websites. Twitter, Flickr, Photobucket, Walgreen's and thousands of other apps and services have integrated Aviary's photo editor so their users can enhance their images with photo filters, effects and other powerful editing features. With software development kits (SDKs) available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows 8 and HTML5, Aviary's robust and customizable photo editor can be installed with just a few lines of code.
Every month, over 35 million people use Aviary to edit their photos. In total, people have used Aviary's tools to edit over 3 billion photos (all numbers are exclusive of any Twitter data.)
Aviary is headquartered in New York City and is a startup backed by Spark Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Reid Hoffman, Joi Ito and others. For more information, visit www.aviary.com.
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The AMD Arrow logo is a trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
[1] All numbers are exclusive of any Twitter data.
[2] Test performed by AMD labs using a test script to measure the time to process the 19 filters from the Aviary SDK for Windows 8 on a .6 MP (953x648) thumbnail image. An AMD "Larne" reference platform system with upcoming AMD Elite Mobility Dual-Core A4-1200 Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon™ HD 8180 Graphics, 2x2GB of DDR3-1600MHz RAM, video driver 12.102.0.0 - 02/18/2013, Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (x64), build 9200 averaged 17.3 ms per filter with GPU acceleration turned on through the Microsoft DirectX 11 API and C++ AMP programming model versus 210.1 ms per filter in CPU-only mode. TEM-23
[3] Test performed by AMD labs using a test script to measure the time to process the 19 filters from the Aviary SDK for Windows 8 on a 0.6 MP (953x648) thumbnail image. An AMD "Larne" reference platform system with upcoming AMD Elite Mobility Dual-Core A4-1200 Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon™ HD 8180 Graphics, 2x2GB of DDR3-1600MHz RAM, video driver 12.102.0.0 - 02/18/2013, Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (x64), build 9200 achieved times ranging from 4 to 59 ms to process each filter with GPU acceleration turned on through the Microsoft DirectX 11 API and C++ AMP programming model. Any processing time <100 ms is considered to be "instantaneous." The 0.6 MP test image is representative to what an end user will observe immediately on thumbnail pictures within an application that makes use of the Aviary SDK. TEM-22
[4] Test performed by AMD labs using a test script to measure the time to process the 19 filters from the Aviary SDK for Windows 8 on a 0.6 MP (953x648) thumbnail image. An AMD "Larne" reference platform system with upcoming AMD Elite Mobility Dual-Core A4-1200 Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon™ HD 8180 Graphics, 2x2GB of DDR3-1600MHz RAM, video driver 12.102.0.0 - 02/18/2013 averaged 17.3 ms per filter with GPU acceleration turned on through the Microsoft DirectX 11 API and C++ AMP programming model. A Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, Model - 31P367923U with Intel® Atom™ Z2760 with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator graphics, 2GB of DDR3-1333 MHz RAM, video driver 9.14.3.1087 - 10/3/2012 averaged 304.3 ms per filter in CPU-only mode. The Intel device does not support DirectX 11, so must run the test in CPU-only mode. Both systems used Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (x64), build 9200. TEM-21
