As expected, Via Technologies on Thursday officially unveiled its Via Eden ULV microprocessor that has thermal design power reduced to approximately 1W. The new chip is mainly positioned for embedded low-power solutions that do not need high performance, but would enjoy common building blocks as well as versatility of the x86 architecture.

“Giving our customers the building blocks to create innovative systems and driving PC technology into new markets defines our ‘Small is Beautiful’ strategy. With its performance, energy efficiency and compact size, our new VIA Eden ULV processor provides a way for embedded developers to add real value to their systems and push the market forward,” said Richard Brown, vice president of corporate marketing, Via Technologies.

Not much is known about performance of the new Via Eden ULV (ultra low voltage) chip. What is known is that it is made using 90nm process technology, operates at 500MHz, uses 400MHz V4 processor system bus, sports 128KB of level-two cache, features MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 instruction sets and has Via PadLock security engine. In addition to 500MHz version, Via also has 1GHz Eden ULV processor with 3.5W thermal design power.

The new processor can be combined with the ultra compact VIA CX700/M system media processor, an all-in-one digital media chipset with a maximum operating power of just 3.5W supporting a wide range of multimedia, connectivity and storage options and enabling system platforms with a maximum power of less than 10W.

According to Via Technologies, a number of companies, including AAEON, Acrosser, Adlink, Advansus, Advantech, Aquila, Arbor, Avalue, Axiomtek, Biostar, Bona, Boser, Commate, E-TOP, Flexus, Freetech, Ibase, IEI, Inhand, IPOX, Kontron, Lanner, Liantec, Maple, Nexcom, Posiflex, Portwell, Termtek, Unication and Unicorn, are interested in 500MHz Via Eden ULV product. Some of these customers will have products on show at the Embedded System Conference event taking place in Taipei on 23-24 August 2007.