Lenovo to Adopt Movidius VPU Technology for Next Generation VR Products

SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 7, 2016) - Movidius, world leader in ultra-low power machine vision technology today announced a strategic partnership to provide advanced vision processing technology to a variety of VR-centric Lenovo products.

The deal means that Lenovo will be able to source the advanced Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU) and custom computer vision algorithms for various virtual reality projects. Myriad 2 is an ultra-low power chip designed specifically for handling challenging vision-based tasks such as head tracking, gesture recognition, and blending multiple video streams into interactive VR video. Thanks to the small size and thermal footprint of Myriad 2, it's able to power extremely compact handheld and head-worn devices.

"Our technology was built to maximize machine vision performance in a sub-1 Watt power budget," says Movidius CEO, Remi El-Ouazzane. "In selecting Myriad 2 for their VR products, Lenovo is building devices designed from the ground-up for VR. We're very much looking forward to these no-compromise devices that will push VR adoption into the mainstream."

The Myriad 2 VPU features a flexible configuration of 12 high performance programmable vector cores, allowing Lenovo to implement custom algorithms to meet the needs of a wide range of products. With a built-in Image Signal Processor (ISP) and hardware accelerators, the Myriad 2 offloads all vision related tasks from a device's CPU and GPU, drastically improving performance while only consuming a single Watt of additional power.

"Lenovo has a long tradition of bringing innovative products to the market. Myriad 2 is unique in its ability to deliver the kind of vision compute performance we need for our next generation VR products," says Lenovo's Shanghai Research & Technology group Manager, Li Xiang. "We can build the products we want, without compromising on cost, size, performance or battery life."

The first Lenovo products featuring Myriad 2 are expected in 2^nd half 2016. More details to follow at Lenovo's Tech World event taking place June 9^th in San Francisco.

About Movidius

Movidius is the leader in high performance, ultra-low power computer vision technology for connected devices. By marrying sophisticated software algorithms to a powerful, purpose-built Vision Processing Unit (VPU), Movidius brings new levels of visual intelligence to smart devices. Movidius' dedicated machine vision solutions enable a new wave of intelligent and contextually aware devices including drones and AR/VR devices. With offices in Silicon Valley, Ireland, Romania and China, Movidius is a venture-backed company with investors including Atlantic Bridge Capital, Draper Esprit, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, and Summit Bridge Capital.

About Lenovo

Lenovo is a $46 billion global Fortune 500 company and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial, and enterprise technology. Our portfolio of high-quality, secure products and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode YOGA brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Moto brand), tablets and apps. Join us on LinkedIn, follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@Lenovo) or visit us at www.lenovo.com.