News Release

VIA to Preview EPIA SP Mini-ITX Mainboard for x86 Consumer Electronics Devices at Computex 2004

Latest VIA EPIA Mini-ITX combines state-of-the-art hardware-based security features with MPEG-4 acceleration for secure, low bit rate streaming video

Taipei, Taiwan, 27 May 2004 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, today announced that the new VIA EPIA SP Mini-ITX mainboard featuring the VIA PadLock Hardware Security Suite and the VIA CN400 Digital Media chipset with hardware-based MPEG-4 acceleration will be on display at Computex 2004, starting next week in Taipei.

Optimized for the consumer electronics market, the VIA EPIA SP is the first VIA EPIA Mini-ITX mainboard to feature the advanced VIA CN400 Digital Media chipset, boasting hardware-based MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 acceleration, offering exceptional playback and streaming of all the most popular digital video formats while balancing overall system power consumption. Highly compressed MPEG-4 video is an attractive alternative to less compressed video formats because it allows low bit rate video streaming and quicker download times for online distribution of digital content.

The onboard 1.3GHz VIA C3® processor incorporates the VIA PadLock Hardware Security Suite consisting of a powerful AES encryption engine and two random number generators that carry out resource intensive calculations associated with online security operations such as user authentication and DRM, enabling security operations to continue in the background with no impact on digital video playback performance.

Integrating the S3 Graphics UniChrome™ Pro IGP graphics core, the VIA CN400 chipset on the VIA EPIA SP supports dual MPEG-2 streams or simultaneous MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 decoding, enabling users to enjoy a standard or HDTV signal while receiving digital content via a broadband internet connection. The Chromotion Video Display Engine within UniChrome Pro also features advanced video rendering functions, such as Video De-blocking and Adaptive De-interlacing, which add to the user's Hi-Def™ visual experience.

The VIA EPIA SP connects to the latest displays with support for all HDTV formats in addition to standard NTSC or PAL TV displays for full viewing flexibility. Additionally, the onboard VIA VT8237R South Bridge offers a comprehensive range of integrated connectivity, multimedia and storage options, including USB 2.0, Firewire, native Serial-ATA and V-RAID, with support for RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID+1 arrays, as well as support for 6-channel surround sound through onboard VIA Vinyl Audio.

The VIA EPIA SP Mini-ITX mainboard will be on display at Computex 2004 in the VIA booth, Hall 2, F181.

About the VIA EPIA SP Mini-ITX Mainboard

The VIA EPIA SP-Series Mini-ITX mainboard provides the ultimate x86 consumer electronics platform with advanced hardware-based features designed to boost performance of digital video and e-commerce applications. Based on the compact, low profile and quiet VIA Mini-ITX form factor, the VIA EPIA SP measures a mere 17cm by 17cm and is compatible with all recent Microsoft® Windows® and a variety of Linux operating systems.

In addition to the power efficient VIA C3 or fanless VIA Eden ESP processor based on the C5P Nehemiah core, the board features the VIA CN400 chipset with integrated S3 Graphics Unichrome™ Pro IGP 2D/3D graphics that includes hardware-based MPEG-2/MPEG-4 acceleration, offering exceptional playback and streaming of various digital video formats while helping to reduce overall system power consumption. The EPIA SP can connect to all the latest HDTV formats in addition to standard NTSC or PAL TV displays, providing and exceptional visual experience. With the sizable memory bandwidth of DDR266/333/400 SDRAM and the high data transfer speeds of Serial-ATA, the VIA EPIA SP ensures the high performance levels required by today's most popular digital media applications. The user's digital media experience is further enhanced by support for 5.1 surround sound, courtesy of the onboard VIA Vinyl Six-TRAC Audio.

The latest in high-bandwidth connectivity is supported with IEEE 1394 (Firewire) and USB 2.0 connections, as well as 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet for seamless broadband connectivity. The VIA EPIA SP also offers support for various LVDS embedded LCD panels, has a PCI slot for expandability options, and is compatible with a full range of Mini-ITX power supplies and chassis, as well as FlexATX and MicroATX enclosures.

More information on the VIA EPIA SP Mini-ITX mainboard can be found at:
http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_sp_spec.jsp?motherboardId=261

About the VIA PadLock Hardware Security Suite

The VIA PadLock Hardware Security Suite is integrated into VIA C5P Nehemiah core processors and features the VIA PadLock Random Number Generator (RNG) for high quality key generation and the VIA PadLock Advanced Encryption Engine (ACE) for high-speed performance of the US government approved Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

The VIA PadLock ACE can encrypt or decrypt data at a sustained rate of 12.8Gb/s. In addition to a single application being able to use the VIA PadLock ACE, any number of tasks can use it concurrently without requiring supplemental task management by the application or the operating system. The VIA PadLock ACE has hardware support for all three AES key sizes (128-bits, 196-bits, and 256-bits) with the same levels of performance. More information on the VIA PadLock ACE is available from the VIA PadLock Hardware Security Suite website.

Download the VIA PadLock ACE preliminary evaluation report from leading data security firm, Cryptography Research, Inc. or visit Dr. Brian Gladman's VIA PadLock ACE website for independent review of the VIA PadLock ACE. For programmers, the VIA Nehemiah Advanced Cryptography Engine Programmers Guide is freely available for download.

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