Google acquires mobile 3D graphics expert drawElements

Android gains a way to standardize 3D graphics, testing for OpenGL/OpenCL compliance. 

Google has purchased drawElements, a Finnish software company with tools for testing the accuracy of OpenGL ES and OpenCL GPUs running on mobile devices. Terms were not disclosed, but various sites reporting on the deal speculate Google may have paid an eight-figure sum.

The main product is dEQP, short for drawElements Quality Program, a benchmarking toolkit. Developers can use dEPQ for quality control, and the software can provide guidelines on various mobile devices. Phone manufacturers use it to make sure their 3D graphics implementations are on target.

dEQP can test existing Android applications as well as benchmark devices. (Source: drawElements)
dEQP can test existing Android applications as well as benchmark devices. (Source: drawElements)

What do we think?

Google needs quality control over Android as 3D graphics becomes more important. They will likely use this acquisition to both measure how Android device manufacturers are doing, and to enforce standardization.