By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

On Thursday VIA announced a new CPU family – the Nano family – based on the VIA Isaiah Architecture. Following closely the announcement of its reference UMPC a few days ago, VIA’s new Nano family has the Intel Atom family right in its sights. The CPUs, built on a Fujitsu 65nm process arrive in both ultra-portable (U) and desktop / laptop (L) versions with a maximum power rating between 5 and 25W.

The Isaiah architecture had been announced in late January.

The Nano CPU is pin-for-pin compatible with any motherboard platform built for the VIA C7 processor; this makes it something easily added to the aforementioned UMPC design referred to earlier – or to any current design – which means adoption could be as swift as getting the CPUs to the OEMs.

Systems featuring VIA Nano processors are expected to hit the market in Q3 2008, according to VIA’s press release.

And, despite speculation that Isaiah wouldn’t get into UMPCs or sub-notebooks, VIA is clear in its press release that it will (emphasis mine):

The VIA Nano processor family leverages Fujitsu’s advanced 65 nanometer process technology for enhanced power efficiency, and augments that with aggressive power and thermal management features within the compact 21mm x 21mm nanoBGA2 package for an idle power as low as 100mW (0.1W), extending the reach of power efficient green and silent PCs, thin and light notebooks and mini-notes around the world.

So readers, in light of VIA’s announcement, opinions on the Nano vs. the Atom? Besides the obvious “oh, oh, Apple’s not going to like that branding” statement.