Given all of the attention that Intel and AMD have demanded since the year began, it's been somewhat difficult for the smaller chip makers to get any facetime whatsoever. But now, with the Embedded System Conference ongoing, VIA is stepping back into the spotlight with a new dual-core option that's sure to make waves at the component level. The company has just announced a new Nano X2 E-Series dual-core CPU series, and they'll be available in two speeds: a 1.2GHz and 1.6GHz model.These new chips are built using 40nm process technology, and they also ship with VIA VT virtualization, a technology that allows legacy software and applications to be used in virtual scenarios without impacting on performance. These are 64-bit supporting, and can handle Windows Embedded Standard 7 like a champ. VIA Nano X2 E-Series processors are based on the latest 40nm manufacturing process using a VIA NanoBGA2 package of 21mm x 21mm with a die size of 11mm x 6mm. They are also fully pin-to-pin compatible with VIA Eden, VIA C7 and VIA Nano E-Series, and VIA Eden X2 processors.VIA's not talking pricing yet, but they should be out to the general public in Q2. If you'll a project partner, you should be able to grab samples now.