Intel launched its new embedded x86 system-on-a-chip (SoC) today, and in doing so, moved a small step closer toward eventually competing head-to-head with ARM. Formally, the new SoC platform is known as the Intel EP80579 Integrated Processor Family, but the project was code-named Tolapai, and that name trips off the tongue more readily. Tolapai isn't just a new integrated SoC; it's Intel's first volley into a mobile and "embedded" market space that the company believes will grow enormously in the coming years. Unlike how ARM and other companies use the term, when Intel talks about "embedded systems," the company isn't just referring to point-of-sale terminals or industrial applications, but to a category of what it refers to as mobile Internet devices (MIDs).

The term MID, in Intel parlance, isn't just a reference to a form factor, but an expression of what a device is (or isn't) capable of. According to Doug Davis, vice president of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, MIDs should deliver the "actual" Internet experience. When asked to clarify, Davis stated that the word actual referred to "the ability to run the Internet applications that are typically developed for the IA architecture (i.e., Core 2 Duo, Centrino)."

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