EPIA-M830: Getting to the specifics

VIA's EPIA range of motherboards are getting more and more targetted lately. Embedded computing is such a speciality field and VIA are pumping out Mini-ITX boards that meet the criteria for explicit uses, in this case POS, kiosk and POI applications.

"The VIA EPIA-M830 is designed to take the kiosk to this next phase, providing the backbone of devices that offer cashless purchasing and self service infrastructures in supermarkets and gas stations as well as more secure and interactive, multimedia-rich POI, lotto and gaming machines."

VIA are clearly thinking about the future here, although they must also be responding to demand. Somewhere out there are embedded developers dreaming up designs for embedded computers that will enhance our visit to the zoo, or streamline the process of getting a ticket for the train. I just hope they're a little bit smarter than the auto-checkout at Woolworths! - VIA

VIA Nano-E to lead 64-bit revolution in embedded computing

Next week from April 27-29 VIA, and a whole lot of other players in the embedded computing market, will converge on Silicon Valley for the Embedded Systems Conference, an annual event that VIA has attended for many years now. This year they're getting in early with their announcements, launching five new SKUs of the VIA Nano E-Series processors.
As the Press Release points out, embedded computing will soon move over to 64-bit computing, with operating systems like Windows Embedded Standard 7 coming out soon, and VIA is ready to provide processors for that change, to "leverage a 64-bit software eco system that provides up to double the amount of data a CPU can process per clock cycle. This translates in to greater ease in manipulating large data sets and an overall performance boost compared to non-native x64 architectures."
In a very smart move, VIA is also taking care that the transition supports legacy software packages that are not 64-bit. The VIA VT virtualization technology will let such older programs run in virtual scenarios.