Intel Corp., the world’s largest maker of microprocessors, on Thursday said that it would cease using Intel Centrino Atom brand-name. The decision seems to be made in order to attract more attention to the Atom brand and avoid mixing of “Centrino” and “Centrino Atom” devices by consumers.

“Basically, we are simplifying and coalescing our efforts around ‘Atom’ as the single brand for Internet devices,” said Nick Jacobs, a company spokesman in Singapore.

Intel Centrino Atom brand was used to describe a package containing Intel Atom Z-series processor and Intel system controller hub (SCH) single-chip core-logic. Hardware manufacturers were allowed to use Centrino Atom brand for mobile Internet devices (MIDs), but not for small form-factor ultra low cost personal computers (ULCPCs), such as netbooks or nettops.

As a result, the Centrino Atom name could confuse customers, who planned to acquire Intel Centrino notebooks, something, which Intel’s partners among laptop makers hardly liked.

Hardware makers have been notified of the branding change, and MIDs will now be branded with stickers that say Atom, instead of Centrino Atom.