By Ian Sherr and Shara Tibken Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SAN JOSE, Calif. -(Dow Jones)- Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) said it plans to begin offering technology that will allow its chips to be shared by multiple devices over the Internet as it attempts to expand the market for its graphics processors. The company also introduced a couple of new graphics processors and a new cloud gaming platform that will allow companies to stream games to virtually any device without the lag that hampers current offerings. Nvidia is best known for chips called graphics processing units, or GPUs, that generate visual effects in videogames played on personal computers and consoles. The company on Tuesday hosted a graphics conference in Silicon Valley. Among the new offerings unveiled at the conference, Nvidia said, it developed a new functionality, called "VGX." The product will allow Nvidia's chips to work with Citrix Systems Inc.'s (CTXS) virtualization software in order to allow computers, tablets and servers to share Nvidia's graphics technology. Nvidia hopes the partnership will accelerate the use of virtual desktops, reducing latency and improving the performance. "You can use any device you want and you can access your applications," Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia's chief executive, said during the conference. By combining technology from Nvidia's chips with Citrix's virtualization technology, Nvidia said, advanced programs can be run on any manner of devices, including Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPad. By using a technology called virtual machines, which allow multiple desktops and applications to run together on a single computer, Nvidia said multiple people would be able to use its technology at a time. The technology also will allow users to access--via mobile devices or other gadgets--programs that require the stronger computing capabilities found on their PCs, such as videogames. For that, Nvidia said it created a technology called "GRID" that will be able to power games run through servers and streamed to computers and devices over the Internet at rapid speeds. An image created in a server and sent to a computer can now reach the screen in the same amount of time as a game console, such as Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Xbox 360. Nvidia said one of the first companies to partner on this new technology was Gaikai, which allows gamers to play titles over the Internet. "We've made advances that people didn't assume was possible," David Perry, chief executive of Gaikai, said at the conference. He added that the new technology would allow his company to offer more advanced games to its customers. The various technology introduced Tuesday comes as part of Nvidia's continuing effort to spread demand for its graphics chips beyond laptop and desktop computers, a segment facing worries about slowing growth and heightened competition from chips that integrate graphics with traditional processing. The company has a set of products, called Tesla, that are focused on the supercomputer market, and it has made a big bet on the mobile market with its products, called Tegra. Nvidia on Tuesday introduced new chips, with technology codenamed "Kepler," for its Tesla line of server chips. The company said those products make it easier for companies to integrate graphics technology into high-performance computers. Such machines perform tasks like weather forecasting and weapons research, and they're increasingly starting to use graphics processors in their systems. Nvidia, meanwhile, has been benefiting from strong demand for its newest technology in PCs. The company last week reported fiscal first-quarter revenue at the high end of its outlook and better-than-expected guidance for the current period. -By Ian Sherr and Shara Tibken, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6455; ian.sherr@dowjones.com
