Intel Announces “Atom” Branding for Silverthorne CPUs

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

You can stop using the code name Silverthorne. On Sunday Intel announced the new branding for its upcoming low-power CPUs; Silverthorne and its derivatives will now be called Atom.

The new branding will include both Silverthorne for ultra mobile devices and Diamondville for desktops and notebooks (in the Asus Eee PC style).

Intel’s press release says:

The Intel Atom processor is based on an entirely new microarchitecture designed specifically for small devices and low power, while maintaining the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo instruction set compatibility consumers are accustomed to when using a standard PC and the Internet. The design also includes support for multiple threads for better performance and increased system responsiveness. All of this on a chip that measures less than 25 mm², making it Intel’s smallest and lowest power processor yet. Up to 11 Intel Atom processor die — the tiny slivers of silicon packed with 47 million transistors each — would fit in an area the size of an American penny.

Desktop Atom CPUs will launch in Q2 as the Intel Atom 230, with a clock frequency of 1.6GHz and a 512KB L2 cache. The ultra mobile variants based on Silverthorne will also launch around the same time frame but at various clock frequencies of up to 1.8GHz.

At the same time Intel introduced (what else?) the Centrino branding for this CPU, or Centrino Atom. While Centrino is usually associated with notebooks, the Centrino Atom is for mobile Internet devices, or MIDs. As Intel says:

The Intel Centrino Atom processor technology brand represents Intel’s best technology for MIDs. Formerly codenamed “Menlow,” Intel Centrino Atom processor technology includes the Intel Atom processor, a low-power companion chip with integrated graphics, a wireless radio, and thinner and lighter designs.

In addition to the MID opportunity, Intel believes the demand for a new category of low-cost, Internet-centric mobile computing devices dubbed “netbooks” and basic Internet-centric desktop PCs dubbed “nettops,” will grow substantially over the next several years. The Intel Atom processor is perfectly suited to meet these new market segments.

Great, more terminology. Is that a notebook you have or a netbook? I’m guessing, BTW, that the Asus Eee PC would be a prime example of an already existing netbook … at least size-wise.

One thing of note: the wireless capabilities of a Centrino Atom device can be provided by a 3rd party. This fact is a (welcome) departure from prior Centrino requirements (finally).