News Release
New VIA EPIA MII Mini-ITX Mainboard Digital Home Platform
for Totally Connected Home Entertainment
Integrating CardBus support for seamless wireless
connectivity, Compact Flash for media portability, and
digital media optimization for the ultimate networked
home entertainment system
Taipei, Taiwan, 21st November 2003 - VIA Technologies,
Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip
technologies and PC platform solutions, today announced
the launch of the VIA EPIA MII Mini-ITX Mainboard, a
richly integrated entertainment platform targeted at
the growing digital home market, with advanced connectivity
options to enable easy integration into the home network,
and portable storage support for the sharing of media
files.
The VIA EPIA MII Digital Home Platform takes the Mini-ITX
form factor and optimizes it for the home entertainment
market, adding CardBus Types I and II support and CompactFlash
for greater flexibility in home network integration,
and expanding the horizon of applications to include
wired or wireless media servers, media players, media
receivers and much more.
"The Totally Connected home is a reality and VIA
recognizes the increasing need for digitally intelligent
multimedia devices for the living room and beyond,"
said Tim Handley, Processor Platform Marketing Manager,
VIA Technologies, Inc. "The VIA EPIA MII is the
ideal Digital Home platform, combining multiple wireless
connectivity options and portable storage with great
digital media performance users have come to expect
from this platform, opening the door to a rich variety
of networked smart entertainment devices".
Featuring a horizontal extension that houses a CardBus
and CompactFlash slot, the newest member of the VIA
EPIA mainboard family maintains the signature low profile
design of VIA's Mini-ITX offerings. The onboard CardBus
and CompactFlash slots provide system developers with
a wider range of options for building systems that can
connect wirelessly in the home, while providing the
convenience of direct camera to PC plug and play digital
storage through a variety of CompactFlash disk products.
The superior digital media performance of the VIA EPIA
MII is provided from the combination of a VIA C3® or fanless VIA Eden™ ESP processor with the VIA
CLE266 chipset, featuring an integrated hardware MPEG-2
accelerator for smooth DVD playback, while support for
high level six-channel surround sound comes from the
onboard VIA Vinyl Six-TRAC Audio. Further enhancing
its suitability for the connected home are extensive
connectivity options that include S-Video and RCA TV-out
interfaces, IEEE1394 (Firewire) and support for up to
four USB 2.0 ports.
About the VIA EPIA MII Mini-ITX Mainboard
The VIA EPIA MII Mini-ITX mainboard is the ultimate
digital home platform with advanced connectivity as
well as digital video and audio features in a compact,
low profile and quiet package. Contributing to its unique
design, the VIA EPIA MII incorporates horizontal CardBus
Type I and Type II and CompactFlash slots, providing
additional networking and expandability options that
include wireless connectivity via best of breed PCMCIA
wireless LAN cards. Measuring a mere 17cm by 17cm, the
native x86 based VIA EPIA MII 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, the board features the VIA CLE266
chipset with integrated Unichrome™ 2D/3D graphics
that includes an embedded MPEG-2 accelerator to ensure
smooth DVD playback for a rich overall entertainment
experience. With the sizable memory bandwidth of DDR266
SDRAM and the high data transfer speeds of ATA/133,
the VIA EPIA MII ensures the high performance levels
required of today's most popular digital media and productivity
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 and USB 2.0 connections, as well as S-Video
and RCA TV-Out (NTSC & PAL) and 10/100 Mbps Fast
Ethernet for seamless broadband connectivity. The VIA
EPIA M-Series also offers support for a growing number
of LVDS embedded LCD panels, has a PCI slot for expandability
options, and is compatible with a full range of Mini-ITX
chassis as well as FlexATX and MicroATX enclosures.
VIA EPIA MII-Series Pricing and Availability
The VIA EPIA MII-Series Mini-ITX mainboard is available
now through VEPD global distribution partners. Please
contact your local VIA sales office or send an email
to mkt@via.com.tw for further details. More information
on the VIA EPIA MII-Series can be found at: www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_MII_spec.jsp?motherboardId=202
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