VIA Velecom extends agreement with China Telecom

China Telecom is the biggest telecom operator in China. That makes it the biggest telecom operator in the biggest telecom market in the world. VIA Telecom and China Telecom yesterday renewed a year old agreement of cooperation in working together to enhance and develop the CDMA market in China.

"In view of the achievements from this bilateral cooperation on CDMA market development in China over the past two years, the two parties agreed to enhance the depth and breadth of their cooperation to promote the greater prosperity of the whole industry, develop a rich CDMA product line, and drive market competitiveness through the renewal and strengthening of their strategic cooperation agreement." - Source: Press Release.

USB 3.0 external drives on their way

One of VIA's subsidiaries, VIA Labs, is a week or so away from starting to ship the VL701 USB 3.0 controller. The chip is for use with external hard drives. I remember the huge different between an external hardware drive at USB 1.1 speeds and USB 2.0. Let's hope USB 3.0 cracks up to be everything they say it is for external hard drives! Source: Digitimes.

Simmtronics in India and VIA launch green PCs

A few years ago all of the major manufacturers were pitching energy efficient computers. Quite frankly, only VIA could really claim that their desktop PC designs were in fact super power efficient. Is it just me or has the "green" message gone out of favor when it comes to computing in the West? Well in India, where reliable power supply can be an issue, green computing is not only good for the environment, it makes sense if you need to be able to run your PC on a backup generator on a semi-regular basis. That's why I think that the green computing pitch that VIA is reviving for that market, with the help of manufacturing and distribution partner Simmtronics, might actually get a better uptake in India.

The sub-10K rupee VIA pc-1 mainboard PC (that's just over AUD$220) features a 1.6GHz VIA C7-D processor, 512MB RAM, 250GB HDD and a 15.6" LCD monitor. The keyboard and mouse are thrown in as well, with the case matching their red trim.

Source: ChannelTimes

VIA Labs promoting their USB 3.0 controllers with Zero clients

Thin clients are complete but low powered systems, connected to shared software and other resources. Zero clients are not completely independant systems at all. They're like dumb terminals, dependant on a server and bandwidth. VIA Labs are showing off their USB 3.0 portfolio at CES this year by demonstrating a host, hub and device controller products in Zero client solution.

"VIA labs is the only company in the world to have a complete USB 3.0 solution with host, hub and device controller products that are quickly setting industry standards. With an emphasis on delivering leading bandwidth performance while also pursing aggressive power-savings, VIA Labs is paving the way forward for new applications and devices in the broader electronics industry."

For more information, read the Press Release.

VIA and WindRiver team up to take on sub-$100 Android smartphone market

The USA will have sold the most smartphones ... mainly Apple and RIM phones ... in the world in 2010, but that will be the last year for which that can be said. Cheap smartphone sales in emerging markets like China and India are where the most growth is at. Most sub-$100 handsets in China are still based on an older Mediatek platform and they're not smartphones, but Android, combined with new hardware platforms, is driving the price of smartphones down.

VIA Telecom and WindRiver have joined forces to offer a platform called Kunlun, which, they say, will allow manufacturers to sell fully featured smartphones for under $100, and still make a decent profit. The features of phones using this platform include the Android OS, 3G EVDO, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM radio, camera, touchpad, keyboard and microSD slots.

Can't wait to see a smartphone with a VIA inside logo on it! Source: EETimes

VIA is first to the post with certification for USB 3.0 NAND Flash controller

VIA Labs, one of the VIA companies under the big VIA umbrella, has just got one of it's product designs certified by the USB-IF, the USB Implementation Forum, as a USB 3.0 NAND flash controller - the first USB 3.0 controller to be certified for NAND flash.

"The comprehensive suite of tests conducted as part of the USB-IF Compliance and Certification Program ensures that certified devices are interoperable and backwards compatible with existing USB devices, while also offering the speed and power enhancements of the new USB 3.0 specification.

Moreover, the VIA Labs VL750 packs this SuperSpeed punch within a single chip controller, eliminating the need for a second bridge chip and enabling more compact, more power efficient and more cost effective Flash drives. "

- Source

VIA's USB 3.0 controller gets super interface

Just when you thought USB 3.0 couldn't get any better than it already is, VIA and American Megatrends (the AMI BIOS guys), are bringing better power management, pre-boot support and network sharing options to the VIA VL800 USB 3.0 host controller.

"The eXtensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI) architecture provides a new industry standard for interfacing to USB devices, and delivers the extensibility necessary to meet today's needs for speed, power savings, and virtualization support. With greatly improved protocol efficiency, xHCI enables platforms to become more power efficient without sacrificing performance. xHCI and UEFI enable robust USB resource management and add support for native USB device sharing across virtual machines.

AMI's BIOS module provides essential support for the new architectures, and allows customers to begin utilizing USB 3.0 in the pre-boot environment."

- Source