Il y a un peu moins d’un mois un fidèle lecteur japonais d’Akihabara News (Taro-Kun) nous proposait des photos d’un toute petite carte mère pas plus grande qu’un disque dur de 2.5 pouces (photo ci-dessous) déjà en vente à Akihabara… Et bien voilà qu’hier… VIA annonçait officiellement la sortie de la Pico-ITX qui n’est rien d’autre que la carte mère que Taro-kun avait prit en photo pour nous… Ah Akihabara News, encore plus rapide que les Press Release (oui bon allez j’exagère un peu mais bon, ca fait du bien des fois…)

VIA Defines Pico-ITX Form Factor, the World’s Smallest x86 Mainboard
Tiny 10cm x 7.2cm complete PC platform fits into palm of hand, more than 75% smaller than the Mini-ITX, embodies VIA’s “Small is Beautiful” strategy to inspire x86 system innovation
Taipei, Taiwan, 19 April 2007 – VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, today announced the VIA VT6047 Pico-ITX form factor reference design, the smallest full-featured x86 mainboard in the industry designed for a new world of ultra compact embedded PC systems and appliances.

The Pico-ITX form factor is the latest advance in VIA’s proven record on platform miniaturization. The Mini-ITX mainboard, at 17cm x 17cm, which recently celebrated its 5th anniversary as an industry standard form factor with wide market adoption, was followed by the Nano-ITX form factor at 12cm x 12cm, exactly 50% of the size of the Mini-ITX. Now, the Pico-ITX, at 10cm x 7.2cm and 50% of the size of the Nano-ITX form factor, truly embodies VIA’s “Small is Beautiful” technology design strategy of shrinking the form factor to drive the x86 platform into ever smaller systems and whole new device categories.

Leveraging VIA’s extensive expertise in miniaturization at the silicon level through major advances in power efficiency, thermal management and feature integration, the VIA VT6047 Pico-ITX mainboard was designed to be powered by one of VIA’s energy efficient processor platforms, such as the VIA C7 or fanless VIA Eden processor in the 21mm x 21mm nanoBGA2 package, combined with feature-rich VIA system media processors to enable the board to pack a performance punch in a tiny, low heat, low power package.

“The Pico-ITX represents VIA’s commitment to spearhead x86 innovation through our proven technology leadership in driving down the platform size,” said Richard Brown, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “As with the Mini-ITX and Nano-ITX form factors before it, this new platform has raised the excitement level among enthusiasts and customers alike, firing the imagination an almost unlimited range of what were previously impossibly small systems.”