Welcome to VIA Technology Forum 2005! Grand Hyatt Hotel, Taipei - June 1-3 Beijing International Hotel, Beijing - June 7

VIA hosted the sixth VIA Technology Forum in June, boasting a comprehensive program of keynote addresses and specialist technology track seminars over four days in Taipei and Beijing. Attracting over 1100 knowledgeable participants from the region's IT infrastructure, VTF2005 featured senior executives of VIA and leading industry players sharing their vision, strategies, insights and expertise in defining the key market and technology trends and technologies that will govern the liberation of the x86 platform.

The Importance of Change
Extending the "Digital Brilliance" theme introduced at last year's event, VTF2005 was opened by VIA's Tzumu Lin, Senior Vice President of R&D, who examined the fundamental challenges caused by the market transition from PC-centric development to digital everywhere, and highlighted the importance of working with partners to respond to these changes in order to move the industry to the next level, driving tailor-made x86 innovation in traditional and emerging market segments, taking us beyond the desire for the digital lifestyle to the practical implementation of real products: the embodiment of Digital Brilliance.

As part of the keynote session, VIA showcased some of the leading edge technologies, developments and applications that are driving new innovative products and markets.

Keith Kowal demonstrates multi-tasking on an AMD dual-core system

Keith Kowal, VIA Chipset Marketing Manager, demonstrated multi-tasking on a dual display set-up. The latest VIA K8T890 performance chipset combined with the new AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor provides a powerful platform for running multiple demanding applications simultaneously, while multiple displays have been proven to enhance productivity, and will be the next 'must-have' in the high definition computing arena.

Moving to innovative new applications for the x86 platform, Jack Tsai, VIA Embedded Platform Channel Marketing Manager introduced two systems based on VIA EPIA Mini-ITX mainboards.

Jack Tsai demonstrates two innovative applications based on VIA EPIA mainboards

The Child Check Point System, created by Baby Home International, is designed to reassure parents of their child's safety and has been installed at over 25 kindergartens in Taipei. Each morning as the children arrive at school, their fingerprints are scanned and the system sends an automatic text message to parents' cell phones to confirm that their child has arrived at school safely, a truly innovative use of x86 technology

Ravi Pradhan explains how VIA pc-1 is enabling access and enhancing lifestyles in India

The Internet Archive a huge storage cluster that has been regularly recording all the information, music, movies and other files posted on the Internet since 1996. Containing over 200 Terabytes of storage space, the Internet Archive is based on Petaboxes by Capricorn Technologies that take full advantage of the small form factor and very low power consumption of VIA EPIA mainboards, with each 200-terabyte storage unit running at only 50 watts per terabyte.

Moving to emerging markets, Ravi Pradhan, VIA India Country Manager, provided an overview of how the VIA pc-1 Initiative is already having a positive effect in India. Highlighting the Murabi Village project, where poor women in a Mumbai suburb are given commercial computer skills training on VIA processor-based PCs, Ravi explained that the VIA pc-1 Initiative aims to enable technology and connectivity for millions more people in villages and rural areas.

Partners in Progress
VIA was delighted to welcome back Dirk Meyer , President and Chief Operating Officer of AMD's Microprocessor Solutions Sector, who put the spotlight on microprocessor technology, explaining the evolution of today's advanced computing technology. Dirk underlined Tzumu's point on the importance of technology leaders acknowledging the needs of end-users and to develop technology for their benefit.

Dr. F.C. Tseng, Vice Chairman of the Board of TSMC gave the VTF2005 audience an overview of the semi-conductor manufacturing industry and emphasised the need for close cooperation between foundries and IC design houses; Albert Sisto, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Phoenixs, also returned to VTF to address the big issue of security and how it is impacting the growth of today's business, and reviewed the emergence of the new currency of information, while Ryoichi Yanai, President of Elpida Memory Taiwan gave an overview of Elpida's strategies for the memory market, focusing on improving performance through “Premier DRAM” and the industry's process technology transitions.

Specialist Technology Tracks
VTF2005 also featured three specialist technology tracks, each offering a compelling program of presentations delivered by industry experts and high level industry representatives:

• The Mobile Platforms Technology Track featured leading analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group on the latest market trends, Eric Chang of VIA outlining VIA’s mobile platform strategy, Kevin Owen on AMD’s recent highlights in mobile technology, C.J. Holthaus of Centaur Technology expanding on low power and security technologies in processor design, Dr. Gerry Liu of S3 Graphics looking at graphics solutions for notebooks, and Wayne Chang of AceGain explaining the benefits of peer-to-peer applications in the mobile space.
  
  
• The High Definition Computing Technology Track was opened by Rob Enderle from the Enderle Group, followed by Chewei Lin reviewing VIA's high definition computing strategy, AMD's Charles Mitchell on multi-core processing and power constraints, Ali Khan of Marvell Semiconductor examining the transition to Gigabit Ethernet, Desi Rhoden of Inphi Corporation on the evolution of DDR, Ken Weng of S3 Graphics discussing key graphics trends such as dual GPUs and shared system memory, and Prof C.C. Jay Kuo of InterVideo on the combined roles of hardware and software in improving audio visual performance.
  
  
• The Emerging Market Innovation Technology Track followed two principal themes; the morning session reviewed strategies for bridging the digital divide, and featured Dr. G.J. Huang of Taiwan's Institute for Information Industry exploring social and industrial paradigm shifts in the e-Era, Richard Brown of VIA elaborating on the VIA pc-1 Empowered Connectivity Initiative, Anne Yang of Microsoft looking at the benefits of the Windows Starter Edition, Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala of the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai, India sharing his experience of bringing technology to rural areas, Prof. Jitendra Nandkumar Shah of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computer in India discussing the importance of software localization for technology relevance, and Chandra Sekher Nene of India's Sahara Airlines on the practical implementation of thin clients.
  
  The afternoon session focused on driving innovation and new applications, and was appropriately opened by Dr Wen-Jean Hsueh of Taiwan's ITRI Creativity Lab, who stressed the importance of creativity in understanding and meeting human needs to further IT innovation. Steven Lee of VIA followed with VIA's embedded market strategy; Warren Kressinger-Dunn of Trident-ESG elaborated on meeting the diversity of consumer market demands; Steve Dearden of General Software examined the role of the BIOS in enhancing digital home applications; and Michael Wang of iBASE Technology talked about casino gaming in the digital world.

For more information on VTF2005 speakers, presentations, sponsors and exhibitors, please follow the links in the side bar.