VIA Technologies announced a new standard for Mini-ITX boards: Mini-ITX 2.0.

At the core of the VIA Mini-ITX 2.0 is a high performance yet power efficient x86 processor, such as the VIA Nano processor announced last week, to provide all the horsepower necessary for running the latest applications and operating systems in a space-constrained environment. To maximize flexibility in configuring mini PC systems for today's increasingly immersive graphics and high definition visual computing environments, such as advanced DirectX 10 graphics and Blu-ray Disc playback, Mini-ITX 2.0 also defines a 16-lane PCI Express slot as a prerequisite, enabling the integration of a high performance graphics add-in card.

Mini-ITX 2.0 is an open industry standard that defines the minimum platform requirements for media-rich optimized mini PCs. Key features include the following:

• Processor: High-performance, power efficient x86 processor, such as the VIA Nano processor
• Memory: Support for minimum 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Graphics: DirectX 9.0 integrated (IGP);DirectX 10 through an add-in card
• Display: 1 VGA port for LCD display; 1 HDMI port on add-in card
• HD Audio: 3 Audio jacks for up to 6-channel surround sound
• Broadband Connectivity: 1 Gigabit LAN port
• Storage: 2 Serial ATA II slots +  1 IDE (PATA) slot
• Peripheral Connectivity: Minimum 4 USB2.0 ports
• Expansion: 1 PCI Express 16-lane slot
• Size: 17cm x 17cm
• O/S Support: Microsoft^® Windows Vista^®; Microsoft Windows Vista Premium (through an add-in graphics card); Microsoft Windows^® XP, and major Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Suse Linux and gOS