The new Atom series, called the E600C adds an Alteea field-programmable gate array to an E600 Atom, allowing the processor to essentially be completely reprogrammed after it has been made.  Usually, even via a BIOS flash there is no way to change the basic abilities of a chip, whereas an FPGA is designed with that exact feature in mind.  This news will not have much of an effect on most enthusiasts, unless they are also into chip prototyping; those who are interested can visit DigiTimes for more details.

“With the debut of six products based on the Intel Atom processor, Intel is making it easier for customers to go-to-market with differentiated, custom-made designs. The company today announced the configurable Intel Atom E600C series, which features an Intel Atom E600 processor (Tunnel Creek) paired with an Altera FPGA in a single package.

The new Intel Atom processor provides greater flexibility and faster time-to-market for customers, who can now more readily handle design changes without complicated hardware changes, helping to lower development costs, Intel said. In addition, the new processor offers board space savings and better inventory control due to the single package, as well as a simplified manufacturing flow and single vendor support through Intel.”

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