Announced in February 2009, Via's "open industry standard" EM-ITX format offers dual I/O "coastlines," plus an "Em-IO" expansion bus that supports optional add-on modules. Measuring about 6.7 x 4.7 inches, the format offers the same width as Via's Mini-ITX, but with the height of Via's smaller (120x120mm) Nano-ITX format.

The rectangular shape (below) allows dual "coastlines," providing 19 percent more room for real-world connectors than if a square had been utilized, according to the company. (For more information on EM-ITX, see our previous coverage, here.)

Em-ITX is 30 percent smaller than Mini-ITX, but has twice the coastline, Via says
(Click to enlarge)
Via's first Em-ITX board was the EITX-3000 pictured at right. The device was based on Via's 1.0 or 1.3GHz Nano processor and VX800 media system processor, both said to have been located on the reverse side of the board in order to make more room for heat sinks or other passive cooling hardware.

The newly announced EITX-3001 (below) is an upgrade featuring the 1.3GHz Nano U3100, one of the revised Nano E-Series processors Via announced in March. The revisions added extended longevity support, VT virtualization technology, and SSE4 instruction set extensions, Via said at the time.

Via's EITX-3001
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Instead of the earlier VX800 northbridge/southbridge, the EITX-3001 incorporates Via's VX855, which includes DirectX 9-compatible graphics and hardware acceleration for video decompression. According to Via, the chip permits decoding of H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9, and VC-1 video, while using only 40 percent of a host CPU's resources.

In fact, the EITX-3001 seems more suited for multimedia than was the EITX-3000 in a variety of ways. For example, while VGA and LVDS connectors were featured on the older board, the EITX-3001 sports both VGA and HDMI connectors on its rear coastline (below right).

The coastlines on Via's EITX-3001
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LDVS -- offering resolutions of up to 1366 x 768 pixels, whereas VGA goes to 1920 x 1440 pixels -- is again included via an onboard box connector, according to Via. Meanwhile, the company adds, the EITX-3001 also provides a microphone input, a line input, and an audio output that can deliver a line-level signal or provide six Watts of amplification.

According to Via, the EITX-3001 also sports a EETI ETP-CP-S5XU resistive touch panel controller. This allows connecting resistive 4- or 5-wire touchscreens to a 5-pin header, the company says.

As the photos above show, the EITX-3001's coastlines include a power input (accepting 7 to 36VDC via a DC-to-DC converter), four USB 2.0 host ports, a USB device port, a gigabit Ethernet port, and two serial ports with DB9 connectors. Internal connectors, meanwhile, are said to support two additional serial ports, two additional USB 2.0 hosts, an SATA device, PS/2 keyboard/mouse, and 8-bit GPIO.

The EITX-3001 supports up to 2GB of 800/667/533MHz DDR2 RAM via a single SODIMM slot. The device also has a Type I/II CompactFlash slot, according to Via.

Features and dpecifications for the Via EITX-3001 are said to include:

• Processor -- 1.3GHz Via Nano E-Series U3100
  
• Chipset -- VX855
  
• Memory -- up to 2GB DDR2 (800/667/533667MHz) via 1 x 200-pin SODIMM socket
  
• Expansion -- Type I/II CompactFlash slot
  
• Networking -- gigabit Etthernet port
• Other I/O:
  • Displays:
    • 1 x VGA connector for 1920 x 1440 resolution
    • 1 x 24-bit LVDS connector for up to 1366 x 768 resolution
    • HDMI port
  • Audio -- mic in, line in, line/speaker out with six-Watt amp
    
  • 1 x SATA (3gps)
    
  • 5 x USB 2.0 hosts (4 on coastline; 1 via pin header for WLAN adapter)
  • 4 x serial (COM1 and COM 2 on coastline; COM3 and COM4 via headers)
  • 1 x PS/2 via headers
    
  • 8-bit GPIO via 2 x 6 pin header
  • touchscreen interface supports 4- or 4-wire displays via 5-pin header
    
• Other features -- temperature sensor, watchdog timer, 2 x LEDs
  
• Power -- DC 7V ~ 36V; built-in DC-to-DC converter
  
• Operating temperature -- 14 to 140 deg. F (-10 to 60 deg. C)
  
• Dimensions -- 6.7 x 4.7 inches (17 x 12cm); EM-ITX format
• Operating system support -- Windows Embedded Standard 7 and "all 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems"

Stated Daniel Wu, vice president of Via's embedded platform division, "With the VIA EITX-3001 we're offering a full-featured board that is the ideal starting point for much slimmer, fanless and rugged devices. The VIA EITX-3001 combines versatility with ruthless stability at extreme temperatures in a form factor that is ideal for space constrained industrial and commercial environments."

Further information

According to Via, the EITX-3001 is available now, though pricing was not disclosed. More information may be found on the company's website, here.

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