Next Generation OpenGL Has A New Name: Vulkan

The Khronos Group announced “Vulkan” as the latest OpenGL, designed to compete head-to-head with DirectX 12.

This ground-up design, previously referred to as the Next Generation OpenGL Initiative, provides applications direct control over GPU acceleration for maximized performance and predictability, and uses Khronos’ new SPIR-V specification for shading language flexibility.

Vulkan embraces a close-to-the-metal approach similar to the one utilized by DirectX 12 to minimize API overhead and maximize draw call efficiency. Unlike DirectX though, Vulkan is open source and cross platform.

Vulkan initial specifications and implementations are expected later this year.