Intel anounces Atom

Intel has announced naming (branding) its new family of ultra-small, low-power processors for ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs) as "Atom".

Described by the company as "a fundamental new shift in design, small yet powerful enough to enable a big Internet experience on these new devices," "Atom" joins other Intel brands, including Core, Core 2, Celeron, and Xeon.

The "Atom" family of processors is based on a new microarchitecture; meant for smaller devices with lower power consumption, Intel said.

A typical "Atom" chip is less than 25 square millimeters, with 11 of the chip's dies (slivers of Silicon with 47 million transistors each) capable of fitting into an area that's less than the size of a US penny.

Two of the members of the "Atom" family; previously codenamed 'Silverthorne' and 'Diamondville' have already been discussed at length, and are scheduled to ship towards the middle of this year. Both 'Silverthorne' and 'Diamondville' are based on Intel's 45 nanometer chipmaking technology.

'Silverthorne' integrates a new low-power state, enabling it to shut down in between processing tasks, thereby reducing power consumption. Meanwhile, 'Diamondville' is said to sport a design much simpler than that deployed by standard Intel chips.