NEC has invested $15 million in California-based mobile computing hardware specialist Vadem, and the two companies have agreed to jointly develop a family of CPUs optimised for CE. The system-on-a-chip CPUs will be utilise Risc technology. Vadem is an authorised wordwide distributor for CE and a certified CE developer and integrator. Earlier this year it unveiled Clio, a Windows CE-based sub-notebook. The company is also an OEM for a number of CE hardware suppliers, including Sharp. It also specialises in single-chip implementations of graphics and PC Card controllers and power management systems, collectively known as the VG family. Both companies have worked together in the past. NEC is already a customer for the VG chips, a number of which are based on NEC processor designs. ® Click for more stories Click for story index