We are quickly approaching the debut of HDXPRT 2012. It will be the second version of HDXPRT developed under the benchmark development community paradigm. This milestone provides a nice opportunity to look back at what has happened over the nearly two years since we started creating community-based benchmarks.
The most obvious accomplishment is the development of HDXPRT 2011 and HDXPRT 2012. HDXPRT 2011 has been used around the world for evaluating the performance of computers using applications doing activities that consumers do to create and consume content. We are hopeful that HDXPRT 2012 will be even more widely used.
We also announced earlier this year a new benchmark, TouchXPRT. This benchmark will provide a way to evaluate the performance of the emerging touch-based devices, including tablets. TouchXPRT will debut later this year, initially on Windows 8 Metro.
We have been working hard to get the word out about the benchmarks. We’ve been writing this weekly blog, conducting Webinars, and generally talking with folks in the computer industry. We’ve visited with members of the community around the world at trade shows like CES in Las Vegas and Computex in Taipei. We also spent time with members of the press and computer hardware and software developers. Over the coming months, we are planning to revamp the Web site, add video content, and generally find ways to better engage with and extend the development community.
Less obvious, but equally important to me, has been the development of the development community itself. Developing benchmarks has not been done this way before. We are doing what we can to make the process open to the community, including releasing the benchmark source code. We are optimistic that this method will grow and be a real asset for the industry.
As we look at the growing family of benchmarks under the benchmark XPRT umbrella, the question is always what is next? How can we improve the products and the community? What performance areas do we need to look at in the future? Battery life? Macs? Phones?
Thanks so much for joining us on this journey. The members of this community are what make it work. We look forward to continuing the journey with you!
Bill
