The UMPC chip is one of the first six processors to be manufactured as part of Intel's 45-nanometer process, Steve Dallman, general manager of Intel's Worldwide Reseller Channel Organization, said at the Intel Solutions Summit in San Diego.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini told partners Monday that the company now has five 45-nm processors running on six operating systems: a notebook dual-core processor, dual- and quad-core desktop processors, and dual- and quad-core DP server processors.

Dallman said the UMPC processor, which would be the sixth 45-nm processor, is designed for much lower power devices but will be able to run Windows Vista.

"The new UltraMobile CPU is in addition to the first five," he said. "The first UltraMobile devices we'll see in the latter part of the year."

Dallman didn't name the companies that would manufacture the first UMPC devices based on that chip. But he and other channel executives claimed that Intel will ensure this time around that system builders will have a more level playing field for competing against big OEMs than they did in the notebook market.

"The obvious major investments are WiMAX and UltraMobile," said Thomas Rampone, vice president of the sales and marketing group and general manager of the Channel Platforms Group at Intel.

He said the Santa Clara, Calif., chip giant aims to develop standards and common building blocks for UMPCs even as it gets ready to ship its much-anticipated Verified By Intel (VBI) solution for its "Santa Rosa" Centrino Duo chipset in mid-2007.

"Sophia Chew is now working on behalf of the channel and looking at future product opportunities and aligning them with the channel earlier," Rampone said. "We don't want to struggle like we have on the notebook side. "

Sophia Lee Fang Chew is the recently promoted vice president of Intel's sales and marketing group and general manager of strategic planning and engagements. She formerly held Dallman's worldwide channel post.