Side Effects Software's Houdini to Support the Itanium 2 Workstation Platform from HP

Santa Monica, CA - Side Effects Software, developer of theaward-winning Houdini family of 3D software, announced support forItanium 2-based HP workstations. The Houdini family of 3D softwareincludes Houdini Master, Houdini Select, Houdini Halo and HoudiniEscape, all of which run on the new workstation platform.

Computer animators will reap the combined benefits of Houdini'screative technology, along with the quality and innovation of HPworkstations running on the Itanium 2 processor. Animators will be ableto take advantage of the processor's 64-bit addressing to achievecomplex visual effects faster and more efficiently than on previous32-bit platforms.

"Our customers are always pushing the boundaries of possibilities in3D animation," commented Paul Salvini, CTO, Side Effects Software. "TheItanium 2 processor combines impressive performance with thesignificant memory headroom that is required by top animation andeffects studios. It is our pleasure to have worked with Intel and HP inadvancing our user experience by supporting this new technology."

"With the combination of Side Effect's advanced 3D graphics andspecial effects software and the superior application and graphicsperformance found in the new Itanium 2-based HP workstations, digitalcontent creation customers will experience levels of performance unlikeanything in the past," said Jim Zafarana, worldwide marketing managerfor HP workstations.

The first release of the Houdini software loaded on Itanium 2-basedHP workstations will run on either Red Hat Linux 64-Bit Edition orMicrosoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition. For information on pricing andavailability of the Houdini family of 3D software running on Itanium2-based HP workstations, please call (310) 319-9876, or visit www.sidefx.com.