Hartford Group (Visiontek) Steps Out With ATi

[nekrosoft13]

Hoffman Estates, IL - December 17, 2002

Hartford Computer Group, a leading provider of technology products and services, today announced it has signed an agreement with ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT) to bring products based on their award winning RADEON? graphics products to North American markets. ATI Technologies appointed Hartford?s VisionTek division as a ?Premium Retail Partner? for North America. Hartford will offer a complete line-up of video graphics products based on ATI?s RADEON family of VPU?s with products ranging from entry-level graphics solutions to high-end gaming products for the hard core PC enthusiast.

ATI has been amassing numerous industry awards, including PC Magazine?s Award for Technical Excellence, from a broad cross-section of media sources with its new visual processing unit, the RADEON? 9700 PRO. ?With the 9700 PRO, ATI has demonstrated its technical strength in the high-end, where only graphics heavy weights can play? remarked Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie and Associates, the leading market research firm in multimedia and graphics. ?This marriage of the leading technology with what was the leading brand should be a damn potent combination and will no doubt get the industry?s attention.?

Many who follow the PC graphics industry had anticipated that Visiontek would attempt to reenter the market with NVIDIA-based products. ?In the past, VisionTek had always been closely associated with NIVIDA, but when we looked at the technology available from both suppliers, both at present and what?s coming over the next nine months, we felt we owed it to our loyal gamers to make the switch to ATI,? commented Tony Graffia Jr., president of Hartford Computer Group, Inc. ?ATI has the best performing products at every price point and we?re confident that they will retain that lead through the coming year.?

Hartford recently completed its acquisition of the VisionTek and XTASY brands. VisionTek launched the XTASY line of graphics products in February of 2000. The brand rose rapidly to claim the number one ranking in market share among consumer PC graphics card purchases in the U.S.

?We have been competing against VisionTek for the past 18 months and we are pleased to now have the brand supporting ATI exclusively,? related Rick Bergman, senior vice president, marketing and general manager, desktop, ATI Technologies Inc. "XTASY and RADEON are both associated with the ultimate gaming experience, and now consumers will have more choices when they go shopping for the best in graphics from ATI."

Hartford plans to make its new line of XTASY graphic products available through leading retailers and e-tailers in the first quarter of 2003. VisionTek?s graphics products will come with a limited lifetime warranty and toll free technical support. Hartford is honoring all XTASY retail product warranties to consumers who purchased VisionTek retail packaged products in the past and they are continuing to provide toll-free technical support on all current XTASY retail products purchased from VisionTek?s retailers.

Source

oh, and:D used to go to Hoffman Estates High School :D, the funny thing is that i never heard of that company before, but its was so close.