VIA ready for low-power future

VIA is hoping its power-efficient chips will help it carve out a market in UMPCs and green computing

Samsung's Q1B UMPC uses a VIA processor

VIA Technologies is positioning itself to be the leading supplier of a new generation of energy-efficient IT kit, including servers, thin clients and mobile devices, such as PC phones. The firm also plans to extend its green computing initiative to entire carbon-neutral computer systems.

Although VIA makes x86-compatible processors, its chips power only a small percentage of desktop or laptops. Instead of competing against Intel and AMD, the firm is seeking to carve out its own market in areas such as ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs) and power-efficient servers.

"The gigahertz wars are over - we see growth in mobile convergence and green computing instead. People are more aware now of green issues and the need for lower power consumption," said Richard Brown, vice president of marketing at VIA.

Brown said that despite recent moves by AMD and Intel to reduce power consumption, their chips could not match VIA's C-7M, which consumes as little as 3.5W.

"We've been doing this for a long time," he said.

UK firm Ainkaboot has unveiled server cluster hardware based on low-power VIA mainboards. Designed to cut the cost of high performance computing (HPC), the Linux-based Octimod line-up fits eight nodes into a 4U rack enclosure, all of which meet a power budget of 220W.

VIA also predicts that more frugal x86 PC chips will figure prominently in the mobile market in the near future. Some UMPC devices, such as OQO's Model 02 and Samsung's Q1B, already use VIA chips.

"The smartphone market is growing, but they don't have the performance needed for applications. Try opening a five-page Word document on a phone, and it has problems," he said. PC Phone devices based on VIA chips are set to ship later this year, according to Brown.

VIA is also extending its Clean Computing Initiative from the carbon-free processor it unveiled last year to a whole carbon-free PC reference design. This will offset the estimated amount of carbon released by the PC during its entire lifecycle, but additionally does not use spray-paint, which pollutes the environment, Brown said.