VTF2007: Outlining the Transition to PC2.0
VIA President and CEO, Mr Wenchi Chen, opened the VTF2007 keynote session with an overview of the market's current transition from the traditional desktop and notebook scenario, which he called PC1.0, and pointed to a bright future of PC2.0, with an explosion of innovation taking place leading to a plethora of device types and form factors providing more ways for more people to get connected and gain access to ever richer content.
During the keynote, Mr Chen defined the main areas where this device innovation is taking place as the connected client market for both enterprise and now increasingly for home and community use, emerging market devices, green technology and the exciting field of ultra mobile devices.
 The latter, ultra mobility – as the theme for VTF2007 – was a key focus of all the speakers in the VTF keynote session, with all underlining the main platform requirements of smaller, cooler, lighter and longer battery life to enhance the ultra mobile experience. As clear leader in this market with the award-winning VIA Ultra Mobile Platform, VIA is helping to drive Mobility 2.0 with its ultra power efficient silicon design, as shown in the wide spectrum of ultra mobile device design wins in evidence at the VTF2007 showcase and also at the neighbouring Computex Taipei exhibition.
One such device that has received popular acclaim is the OQO model O2, and another is the very recently-announced VIA NanoBook UMD Reference Design, both of which were demonstrated during the keynote address. The VIA NanoBook design has already been adopted by partner Packard Bell and was demonstrated during their keynote address later on in the session.
Highlighting VIA's industry leadership in miniaturization and integration, Mr Chen reviewed how both the processors and platforms had been reduced over the last few years, in turn enabling the shrinking in size of these new devices. Mr Chen then gave an early preview of the Mobile-ITX mainboard, a prototype of the next generation of PC mainboard. Measuring just 75mm x 45mm, the Mobile-ITX features all the silicon required to run full x86 applications, as well as CDMA silicon for 3G communications to enable a true always-connected computing and communications experience.
Partnering for PC2.0
Mr Chen stated that achieving PC2.0 will require more collaboration between the major providers of hardware, software, services and connectivity, and introduced Mr Shiao-Tung Chang, Senior Vice President at Chunghwa Telecom, to give an overview of the recently-announced strategic alliance between them, VIA and GIGABYTE. Mr Chang emphasized how well the alliance had been received, with the VIA-based Gigabyte U60 ultra mobile device combined with content delivery by Chunghwa Telecom proving a popular offer for consumers, and a model for the rest of the industry providers to follow.
 Wenchi Chen was followed onstage by Otto Berkes, Chief Architect of the Ultra Mobile PC at Microsoft, making a welcome return to VTF to outline the key hardware and software design innovations along with peripheral innovation and future connectivity required for true ultra mobility, from an industry and a user perspective. Timothy Chen, Special Assistant to the President of VIA, looked at the innovations required for Mobility 2.0, and how the evolution of the industry and the applications that the PC platform could be used for had exploded since the arrival of the Mini-ITX board in 2002. Finally, Roger Yuen of Packard Bell, the first partner to take up the VIA NanoBook UMD Reference Design in their forthcoming EasyNote XS, gave an overview of the key elements to producing a successful UMD, such as the importance of a familiar interface, convenient form factor and extending battery life.
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