VIA Nano goes 40 nanometer and multi-cores

We all knew that it was coming, and the thing is I think we still have to count it as "coming soon". VIA has chosen the week of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as the timing to announce the VIA Nano X2 processor, but the Press Release only gives the basic details; no information on actual model numbers and features has been released, and that leads me to believe that using the word "available" would be a little preemptive.

Based on the Isaiah architecture in current Nano processors, the Nano X2 models will use a 40 nanometer fabrication process and the Press Release says that this will mean that they can use multiple cores without increasing the power draw.

VIA usually hand out some samples to the testing geeky media crowd. It'll be nice to see them come up trumps against Intel's Atom again. Read the full Press Release here.

VIA appoints Simmtronics as distributor/manufacturer

VIA is teaming up with Simmtronics who will "assemble a full range of low-power, highly-integrated pc-1 motherboards in its advanced manufacturing facility in Roorkee, Uttaranchal, India, and distribute the products through its channel partners in India and other markets, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Dubai, UAE, Turkey, Iraq, Algeria, and Ghana."

This is therefore much more than a simple distributor agreement, with Simmtronics actually manufacturing VIA products in India, rather than shipping completed systems into the country.

VIA leverages S3 to release graphics card for embedded market

VIA's acquisition of S3 Graphics eleven years ago has seen many S3 Graphics designs incorporated into integrated graphics solutions in VIA chipsets and digital media processors. Whilst VIA has included the Chrome series in EPIA boards before, they have now launched a new PCI Express graphics card, which they claim is the first low profile discrete card ever designed for the embedded industry.

The features of the card include:

PCIe 2.0 Bus Interface
512MB DDR3
Low profile form factor
Dual-Link DVI and HDMI (with HDCP)
Fully programmable DirectX 10.1 Unified Shader Core
OpenGL 3.1 + OpenGL ES 2.0
GPGPU on OpenCL 1.0
H.264 and VC-1 support for Blu-Ray
Support for resolutions up to 2560x1600
1080p/1080i/720p HD-decode
Steroscopic 3D capable
Dual display support

The embedded industry is increasingly finding that customers want better display output and more complex multi-monitor support. The eH1 card aims to fulfill this need.