AMD today announced a remote graphics option for IT managers seeking to replace existing desktop workstations with energy-efficient solutions.

The ATI FirePro RG220 graphics card is designed to help IT managers reduce local power and cooling costs per user while limiting the amount of physical hardware at users' desks.

The FirePro RG220 is an integrated graphics card that includes display compression and IP transmission. It compresses dual-display graphic data at the host and outputs it over a regular IP network to a remote thin client device.

"Power consumption restrictions in crowded office buildings cause headaches for IT managers trying to find the right balance between energy efficiency, system performance and IT spend for the work environments they manage," said Janet Matsuda, senior director, Professional Graphics, AMD. "The ATI FirePro RG220 can be part of a secure, easy to manage solution, and is now available to enterprises that need to deploy updates to multiple users simultaneously, while still giving the end user the full PC experience they're accustomed to."



Features of the new ATI FirePro RG220 include:

--Low power consumption: a max power consumption of 35-watts per card.
-- High-Performance, reliable graphics: 512 MB of on-board graphics memory for graphics intensive applications that need to run on two displays at once.
-- Small form factor: measuring just half the length of a standard PCIe card, the ATI FirePro RG220 fits into smaller systems and only takes up one PCIe slot within a server.
-- Security: powered by the network, the ATI FirePro RG220 is part of a secure solution that stores user data behind the firewall and within the confines of the data center, helping to ensure that customer or corporate information is protected. Supports compression of information residing in the data center for transmission over regular IP networks to the end user's thin client system.
-- Virtualization: Utilizing Parallels Workstation Extreme (PWE), ATI FirePro RG220 offers a traditional graphics experience in a virtual environment, with the flexibility to also support multiple operating systems at each user's desk.

Features
* OpenGL 2.1 support
* DirectX 10.1 compliant GPU
* 512MB of memory
* Dual 1920x1200 display output
* Full support for USB devices

System Requirements
* Available PCI Express 2.0 x16 lane slot
* Microsoft Windows XP (32- or 64-bit) / Windows Vista (32- or 64-bit) / Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit)
* 256MB of system memory
* CD-ROM drive for software installation
* 350-Watt power supply or greater
* PCoIP-capable thin client device required for remote connectivity

Output Connectivity
* Dual Ethernet ports plus DMS-59 for dual DVI-D output (no VGA support on the host output side)
* Remote display options are determined by the output capabilities of the PCoIP thin client device

Warranty and Support
* Three year limited product repair/replacement warranty