Intel took the wraps off five new Atom processors for pocket-sized Mobile World Wide Web Devices (MIDs) at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai. The chipmaker is so upbeat on the new technology’s prospects that CEO Paul Otellini said the Atom may become as vital to Intel as the Pentium was in the mid-90s.

“Its product promise is to bring the Intel architecture at very high performance but ultra low capability into new usage models, to bring the Net into your pocket, to bring low-cost PCs into emerging markets with new price points,” Otellini said. “All that is enabled by the Intel Atom. It truly is a revolutionary product.”

A Rich User Experience

The Atom’s different micro-architecture has been designed from the ground up to deliver high performance-per-watt efficiency while maintaining full compatibility with the chipmaker’s Core 2 Duo instruction set, which includes support for hyper-threading and virtualization technologies.

Once the new chips are deployed in

next-generation portable video players, navigation devices, converged tablets and other MID products, consumers will gain unrivaled abilities to communicate, entertain, access info and be productive, Intel executives said.

“Mix in the incredible innovation coming from our fellow device makers and software vendors, and we will change the way consumers will come to know and access the World Wide Web,” said Intel Senior Vice President Anand Chandrasekher. “These forthcoming MIDs, and some incredible longer-term plans our customers are sharing with us, will show how small devices can deliver a big Web experience.”

previously code-named Silverthorne, the tiny fan-less Atom can clock at speeds of up to 1.86 GHz, which Intel claims makes it the world’s fastest processor that uses less than 3 watts of potential. By contrast, Intel’s mainstream mobile Core 2 Duo processors for laptops conform to thermal design ability (TDP) specifications in the 35W range.

The Atom plus fully…

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