ATI seals deals to guarantee appeal

Accelerator card and board manufacturer ATI Technologies has signed OEM deals with IBM and Apricot to boost the market presence it has gained through Taxan's UK distributor channel.

ATI has launched its 3D Xpression accelerator board and 3D Rage chip and said the products helped it seal the Apricot contract which was signed last week. Gerd Queisser, European vice president of ATI, claimed the company's OEM and SI presence helped it become the largest graphics board supplier in Europe during 1995.

The OEM deal with IBM is intended to improve the video game and Cad capability of the Aptiva range. 'Apricot will also take on our product in June,' said Queisser. 3D Xpression is priced between u249 and u279, depending on the games that are included in the bundle.

ATI will continue to use distributors Frontline, Gem, Ingram Micro and Micro Peripherals, all of which carry Taxan products.