Intel boost digital media expertise with Havok

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 16 September 2007 16:00

IT Industry - Market

Intel is to acquire Havok, a leading provider of interactive software and services used by digital media creators in the game and movie industries.

Havok's modular suite of software development tools is used by game and digital animation creators to build realistic video games for all types of hardware and digitally animated movies. According to Intel, the company's combination of superior technology and dedication to customers has led to its technology being used in more than 150 of the world's best-known game titles including BioShock, Stranglehold, Halo 2, Half Life 2, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Crackdown, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, MotorStorm and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Havok products have also been used to create special effects in several high profile movies including Poseidon, The Matrix, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and the Chocolate Factory.

According to Havok CEO, David O'Meara, "Intel's scale of technology investment and customer reach [will] enable Havok with opportunities to grow more quickly into new market segments with new products than we could have done organically. We believe the winning combination is Havok's technology and customer know-how with Intel's scale."

Renee J James, vice president and general manager of Intel's Software and Solutions Group, said: "Havok is a proven leader in physics technology for gaming and digital content, and will become a key element of Intel's visual computing and graphics effort."

Havok was founded in 1998 in Dublin and has offices in San Francisco, San Antonio, Stockholm, Calcutta, Munich and Tokyo. It will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel and will continue to operate as an independent business working with its customers in developing digital media content. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.