Intel goes to the drawing board, comes back as VIA

SHOWING OFF the Centrino Atom here Thursday, Intel's lord of small things, Anand Chandrasekher imagines a world in which we carry the internet around in our (big) back pocket. Indeed, since Chandrasekher reckons the Internet is " built on Intel architecture" other chip makers can't compete and deliver the connectivity Intel can, he claims. No we're not going to re-name it the Intelweb, Anand.

Just so we know what we're talking about, the Centrino Atom - as opposed to the Intel Atom - fits in the 0.6 to 2 Watt power bracket and is based on what was codenamed Menlow. The Intel Atom is rated from between 2 to 5W, Chandrasekher said. These were previously Silverthorn and Diamondgeezerville

The term Web 2.0 got bandied about a fair bit. Web sites are getting more and more complex with pages becoming dynamic. And then there's HD content too, apparently. Chandrasekher trotted out demos running Second Life and World of Warcraft on Menlow claiming these are processor intensive. Well, for tiddly processors that is.

A few "partners" showed off some wee boxes for the wee processor. Not the usual plethora we might have expected. Not because there's a shortage of Atoms, or anything. Oh no. "I've seen no shortage," Chandrasekher said when we pressed him.

Wrapping up his presentation to the assembled masses, Chandrasekher held up a tiny motherboard, maybe 4cm square, sporting two upcoming tiddly chips, Lincroft and Langwell. It was the sort of thing VIA was doing here last year, along with touching chips that were running to demonstrate how cool they are. In fact, a fair bit of VIA's script from last year seemed to have sneaked into Intel's propaganda this year. How times change.

Spookily VIA happened to be introducing its Mini-ITX 2.0 concept downstairs in the Grand Hyatt here while Intel was having its own gig just upstairs. Even more spookily both firms blamed the other for the, um, coincidence.

MIDS - whatever they are - are an "opportunity" Intel has long recognised, apparently. "We had the conviction the market is there but it's bigger than we thought," Chandrasekher confessed.

VIA's guest partner downstairs happened to be Nvidia. Both firms are scrapping Intel in their respective markets. Chandrasekher trotted out the standard intel line in these circumstances: "We welcome competition," he said. Makes you wonder how they know. µ