Today, the chip maker announced a strategic partnership with Vestel, of Mountain View, Calif., under which Vestel will manufacture an inexpensive Internet access device using the Geode WebPAD hardware and software reference design.

This followed by one day National's deal with the Internet Appliance Network (IAN), a marketing company that will create branded consumer solutions combining National's chip technology and system designs with IAN's product-positioning expertise.

The first Vestel Internet.Terminal will be available in the third quarter of 2000 through major national retailers. Described as an MSN-based Web companion, the device will run the Microsoft Windows CE operating system and feature the Microsoft browser and MSN services such as e-mail.

The WebPAD platform is powered by National's Geode GXLV microprocessor, a low-power x86-based chip that integrates sound, graphics, memory control and the PCI interface. The Vestel Internet.Terminal also incorporates a National companion chip and analog parts, such as an audio codec, microcontroller and several power-management chips. Information appliances based on the x86 architecture provide consumers with support for most popular software plug-in modules for the Internet.

"We selected National's Geode technology for our full line of appliances because its core x86-based architecture provides the leading Internet access functionality and supports the popular software plug-in modules for the Internet," said Selcuk N. Caglar, president and CEO of Vestel USA, a subsidiary of the Vestel Group, a Turkish consumer electronics conglomerate.

"Vestel is a strategic partner for National. They will help popularize the Geode WebPAD platform," said Mike Polacek, vice president of National's Information Appliance Division.

National is also pursuing the Internet appliance market through IAN, a marketing and media services company based in New York. The first product to result from the partnership is the Webplayer, created by IAN for customers of the Virgin Entertainment Group. IAN and Virgin will distribute 10,000 of the devices to preferred Virgin customers over the upcoming months.

Based on the Geode WebPAD reference platform, the Webplayer will be offered for a nominal rental to select Virgin customers and will provide a combination of Internet access and exclusive branded services.

"Virgin's partnership with Internet Appliance Network on the Webplayer device is a great example of the future of consumer marketing," said Polacek. "These devices open up a completely new and intensely efficient channel for companies to expand their Web branding, reward key customers and also attract new ones."

National will continue to collaborate with IAN and its partners on reference platforms for a variety of information appliances. "IAN has integrated National Semiconductor's technology into our products to create the first appliance-based marketing platform for consumer brands," said Audrey Parma, president of IAN. "Our Internet appliances, based on this Geode technology, make the perfect vehicles for our brand partners to reach their customers directly via the Web."

The Webplayer is based on National's Geode GXLV processor, a new low-power MCU that was announced last week (see April 11 story). The all-in-one flat-panel device also features a 10-inch LCD monitor, a wireless infrared keyboard, 32 megabytes of flash memory, dual phone jacks for line-in and telephone-in, and a 56K v.90 internal modem. Prodigy Communications Corp. will provide nationwide dial-up Internet access for the Webplayers.