How hot is visual computing? So hot a speaker from virtual-reality startup Oculus VR couldn’t even make it to the podium at our annual GPU Technology Conference before his company was acquired.
After Facebook announced it was acquiring Oculus VR for roughly $2 billion Tuesday, GTC attendees crammed into a session where Oculus Chief Technical Officer Michael Antonov was to speak on how GPUs can be used to integrate the Oculus Rift headset into 3D environments.
One attendee described the purchase as a bargain, predicting that Oculus is the next big gaming platform, heir to a market that’s been dominated by the likes of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. Others offered other theories, such as the potential for Facebook to apply Oculus’ technology to its wildly popular social media site.
In only a few minutes, they hoped, they’d get some first-hand insight from one of the primary players.
The buzzing crowd held its collective breath as an NVIDIA employee walked to the front of the room and announced that Antonov had become ill and the session was canceled.
Disappointment from those looking for an opportunity to ask about what the acquisition meant for the future of Oculus – and visual computing — aside, the deal highlights just how promising computer visualization’s near future has become. And how the GPU is nestled comfortably at the center of the fast-growing trend.
by Tony Kontzer via NVIDIA
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