Via introduced this week a new piece of hardware aimed at media centers. The VB8002 board relies on the Nano processor and is based on the Mini-ITX form factor, weighting in at a minuscule 17cm x 17cm. The 1.6GHz CPU and CX700M2 chipset are intended to be a somewhat higher performance media center. To that end, the platform also includes integrated Via Vinyl 7.1 sound, RCA, DVI and S-Video output.


The board joins numerous others Via currently has in the mini-ITX market, which has come under increasing pressure following the release of the Atom. Though most vendors are still using the Atom primarily in mobiles, this year is expected to see many new nettops and other low-power, small sized “desktop” machines based on the Atom or Nvidia's Ion - both of which could threaten Via's stronghold in this market.