ince Intel launched the Atom platform the netbook market has significantly increased, providing users and PC vendors alike with a new computer category, specifically focused on delivering a rich Internet experience and on-the-go computing. However, the success level of the Atom processor might soon be overtaken by one of Intel's upcoming products, which is targeted at the growing market for Mobile Internet Devices. This will be an area where Intel's Moorestown chip will have to compete with some other chip makers, like ARM or VIA. However, the Santa Clara, California-based global leading chip maker is confident that its chip will succeed in surpassing those of its competitors.

In a recent news-article on the Inquirer, Pankaj Kedia, Intel's Director of the MID program, sat down and detailed his view on the company's MID platform. “Moorestown will give you the opportunity not only to experience the Internet in its full glory but will also have voice capability” said Kedia. He also added “I call it the ‘Next Smartphone’, the smart smartphone.”

The chip, according to Kedia, will be capable of providing the end-user with support for the Internet, gaming, personal navigation, multimedia and all of the features that you require from your everyday smartphone.

The Moorestown platform is slated for release next year, the first device being the fruit of the collaboration between the chip giant and LG Electronics. The two companies are currently collaboratingon the upcoming Moorestown-based LG MID running Moblin 2.0. Unfortunately, the exact details of when the MID will become available have not yet been disclosed.

In regard to the competition between Intel and ARM, Kedia said that, because Intel's platform would be based on x86 architecture, users would be able to fully benefit from the Internet experience, while the ARM architecture “is not compatible at the architectural level and is not compatible at the implementation level” said Kedia.

It is clear that Intel is planning its products to be in almost everything you own, which consequently means that other chip makers might have a tough time ahead of themselves, trying to compete with the Chipzilla.

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA NSD7800 home server, supporting up to 8 full sized hard drives with a fraction of the hassle associated with larger servers, enabling system integrators to offer the ideal solution for SOHO and family storage needs. Measuring only 13.4" x 13.4" x 5.9" (34cm x 34cm x 15cm) and powered by an energy-efficient 1.5GHz VIA C7-D processor, the VIA NSD7800 offers substantial storage space through its eight easy access 3.5" drive bays. The VIA NSD7800 server is fully compatible with Microsoft Windows Home Server so that users can now securely store their personal data and enjoy peace of mind with automatic data mirroring, as well as easy access to documents while away from home.Modern households frequently have more than one PC with family members each storing personal data without the means to safely back up data in a simple, user-friendly manner. The VIA NSD7800 works in harmony with Windows Home Server to offer a compelling alternative. Small business and home office users will also appreciate having a rational, easy to administer storage infrastructure while also saving space and reducing power bills.

Offering a unique blend of size, capacity and power efficiency, the VIA NSD7800 uses Gigabit LAN networking to provide optimal file transfer speeds, a compact flash socket for stable OS installationand individual status LEDs for each of its eight drive bays as well as LEDs indicators for network activity and power.

"VIA is confident that the VIA NSD7800 server accurately addresses the needs of today's consumers. Used in combination with Microsoft Windows Home Server, it provides a simple, safe and effective way to manage increasingly large personal data collections," said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "The home server market continues to grow in importance and VIA is determined, as ever, to set the pace."

"The new VIA Home Servers are great example of how Windows Home Server provides an all-in-one solution for families to access, organize, and safeguard their digital content," said Charlie Kindel, general manager of Windows Server Solutions at Microsoft. "We are excited to partner with an industry leader, VIA, as an OEM of Windows Home Server, to bring a multitude of features and benefits to consumers with this new offering."

About the VIA NSD7800
The VIA NSD7800 is powered by a 1.5GHz VIA C7-D processor and supports up to 1GB of DDR2 system memory. The front panel reveals eight 3.5" drive bays for installation of up to eight S-ATA II hard disk drives which can be installed in moments through a unique back panel mounting system reducing cluttered cabling.

The VIA NSD7800 supports a type-1 compact flash slot for embedded OS installations and uses PCI-Express-based Gigabit networking to handle file transfers quickly and easily while an array of activity LEDs keep the user updated on progress. LEDs include individual S-ATA port activity, overall hard drive activity, network activity and power. There is also the option of custom LED control and push button backup and recovery. An optional Mini-PCI port is also available for additional security related add-in cards such as hardware VPN or anti-virus modules.

The VIA NSD7800 supports Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2007, Windows Home Server and Linux. System monitoring and management includes Wake-on-LAN, Wake-on-Alarm and Watch Dog Timer.

Chip manufacturer VIA will begun to manufacture test samples of a dual-core version of its Nano CPU and expects to ship this processor by Q4 2009/Q1 2010. This new chip is an upgrade to the Nano chip, which was introduced earlier this year to compete with Intel’s breakaway Atom processor.
According to this detailed report filed by Digitimes, Via is expected to first introduce the Nano 3000 Series CPU which will feature SSE4 support which is sublicensed from Intel. These new CPUs will be manufactured using Fujitsu Electronics 65nprocess. This may change however as TSMCoffers a 40nm manufacturing process and Fujtisu itself has a 45nm process. The second iteration of this chip will be the Nano E, which will bump the FSB to 1333 MHz, utilize a 65nm process and be compatible with current NanoBGA2 motherboards.

VIA, a one-time major player in the enthusiast motherboard chipset market and a current producer of low power processors (VIA Nano), has largely been overshadowed by bigger players in nearly every sector it competes in. So while VIA might be having trouble finding some love in the PC market, the company hopes it can fare better in less traditional areas with its new VIPRO VP7710 fanless touch-screen panel PC.

"Amid growing public acceptance of intuitive touch screen technologies, the VIA VIPRO addresses an increasing demand for cost effective, intelligent displays in commercial applications such as ticketing, ATM, vending and information kiosks as well as sophisticated fleet deployment infrastructures in transport, delivery and logistics enterprise," VIA states in a press release.VIA opted for heavy steel and aluminum to construct the VIPRO's chassis, which serves to protect the 10.4-inch TFT display from shock, vibration, and other potential calamities. The touch screen also resists both water and dust, making it ideally suited for outside use.

From a hardware standpoint, the VIPRO comes with either a 1.6GHz VIA Eden or 1.0GHz C7 processor, up to 1GB of DDR2 memory, support for both IDE and SATA 2.5-inch hard drives, and integrated VIA UniChrome Pro II graphics. Additionally, a second display can be added via a VGA port.

Hit the jump to see a YouTube video of the VP7710 in action.

Nvidia and VIA Technologies' cooperation over a platform for netbooks and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) was recently suspended, according to sources at VIA.

NVIDIA and VIA signed a deal in April, that tied the two corporations to developing a netbook platform that would combine NVIDIA GeForce 9400M chipsets with the VIA C7 and Nano CPUs. This would have made for a very speedy netbook and even mobile Internet devices.And even though this is somewhat of a letdown, many will be pleased to here all is still set to go for the pair’s desktop collaborations. We might even get to see some of their efforts at the 2009 CES. It is unclear why the netbook deal has fall apart, but it is feasible that either company might have found themselves bound to an exclusivity agreement with any company.

VIA appears to be keeping them coming, releasing motherboards one after another. After announcing the first Nano processor-based product earlier this week, the company has just introduced the Pico-ITXe board, which comes with stackable I/O Expansion. As with the VB80001, the new motherboard has also been showcased at the Embedded Systems Conference, Boston, Massachusetts. The VIA EPIA-P710 has been designed to meet the specifications of the Small Form Factor Special Interest Group (SFF-SIG), providing a more rational approach to system design.
"VIA is excited to be the first to deliver a truly innovative product that leverages the ultra compact dimensions and modular expandability of the new Pico-ITXe specification," said Daniel Wu, vice president of VIA Embedded, VIA Technologies, Inc. "Our collaboration with SFF-SIG has borne a product that will set the standard for the embedded industry and shape the market for years to come."
The new board comes with four customizable I/O expansion modules, enabling a more flexible and affordable implementation of serial connectivity options. Also, the EPIA-P710 board comes with two SUMIT (Stackable Unified Module Interconnect Technology) connectors that integrate PCI Express, LPC, SPI and USB 2.0, as well as other common high and low speed, legacy and serial expansion buses.Other specifications include an integrated 1GHz VIA C7 processor and the company's VIA VX800 media system processor, both meant to deliver a fully-featured, flexible and power-efficient platform that comes in a small form factor of only 10cm by 7.2cm.
The integrated VX800 media processor of the board features the VIA Chrome 9 IGP, which provides support for DirectX 9 graphics and MPEG-2/4, WMV9 and VC1 video decoding acceleration. In addition, the board also supports up to 2GB of DDR2 memory, one IDE channel, two SATA channels and the VIA Vinyl HD Audio.
The company said that its new EPIA-P700 Pico-ITXe board would ship in December 2008.

VIA, one of the leading manufacturers of power efficient x86 processor platforms, has announced today the VIA EPIA N700 Nano-ITX board, designed for compact, industrial PC and embedded automation devices.

According to softpedia, The platform comes with a 1.5GHz VIA C7 or 500MHz VIA Eden processor and is the company's first Nano-ITX board to feature the latest VIA VX800 media system processor. Furthermore, the compact and user friendly VIA EPNA N700 uses additional onboard ports to enable an easy and perfectly balanced system design.The model also features two SATA ports, a Gigabit Lan port, a COM port, two USB 2.0 ports and VGA port. There is also support for COM, LVDS and IDE, through onboard pin-headers. The VX800 IGP chipset has been designed to provide the system with DirectX 9-graphics support, through the integrated VIA Chrome 9 graphics core.

The platform is basically the lowest profile Nano-ITX board ever, but it provides a decent number of connectors and features for designing low heat, compact systems, while the VIA VX800 chipset provides support for up to 2GB of DDR 667 system memory.

"The VIA EPIA N700 Nano-ITX board has been specially developed to excel in space constrained environments while offering an extensive feature set based around the VIA VX800," said Daniel Wu, vice president, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "Through listening carefully to customers, we're confident that we've made the VIA EPIA N700 as user friendly as possible."

Pricing information has not been made public yet, but the board is currently offered to developers and will be made available through authorized distributors by mid-September.

VIA has seen an impressive amount of media attention these past weeks, mainly due to the competition between its NANO processor and Intel's Atom, on the blossoming netbook market.

Watch out, Intel: there's a new kid in the low-power, low-cost processor arena that could very well give Atom some stiff competition. VIA formally introduced its Isaiah processor earlier this morning, christening it Nano and forecasting the arrival of derived systems in the third quarter of this year.Nano has a superscalar 64-bit architecture with speculative, out-of-order execution, much like Intel's Core 2 chips (but unlike Atom, which has simper in-order execution). Each Nano CPU also has SSE instruction support, two 64KB L1 caches, a 16-way associative 1MB L2 cache, an 800MHz front-side bus, and a wealth of on-die cryptographic acceleration and security features.

Of course, power is the name of the game in this market, so VIAdesigned Nano to be power-efficient from the start. The company's new baby is based on 65nm process technology, supports a C6 sleep state, and features "new circuit techniques and mechanisms for managing the die temperature, reducing power draw and improving thermal management." Because of those features, VIA can squeeze a 1GHz Nano processor into a 5W thermal envelope and make it use only 0.1W of power at idle.All of these CPUs are pin-compatible with VIA's previous-generation C7 processors, and VIA claims they can offer three times greater performance within the same power envelope—good news for PC makers ogling the firm's recently introduced OpenBook reference laptop design.

Nano's power ratings might make it competitive with Intel's "Diamondville" Atom chips in low-cost laptops and desktops. However, those ratings are well above those of "Silverthorne" Atoms, which top out at 2.4W. In other words, don't expect to see Isaiah fighting it out with Silverthorne in ultra-mobile PCs and mobile Internet devices.

VIA says Nano chips are already available for "OEMs and motherboard makers," presumably as samples.For more information, you can check out VIA's introductory white paper (PDF).

VIA has added a new motherboard to its EPIA Mini-ITX series. The EPIA M700 comes with VIA's latest and greatest VX800 integrated graphics chipset, which it couples with a choice of 1GHz fanless or 1.5GHz air-cooled VIA C7 processors, up to 2GB of RAM, and a wealth of connectivity options.

Among those options, users will find a front-panel DVI port, pin headers for extra DVI or HDMI ports, two onboard Gigabit Ethernet controllers (hooked up viaPCI Express), a pair of 300MB/s Serial ATA ports, and digital video input headers. The VX800 chipset adds DirectX 9-class 3D graphics, six-channel high-definition audio, an HD video processor, and hardware video decoding support for MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9, VC1, as well as DivX video.

In Mini-ITX tradition, this entire feature bundle will come on a teeny board measuring just 6.7" x 6.7", or 170 x 170 mm. Samples will appear in "early June," with shipments to follow presumably later this year.