A CRITICAL TECHNOLOGICAL challenge over the past 20 years has been to achieve lower voltage in large-scale integrated (LSI) circuit operation without sacrificing performance. As part of this challenge, designers and engineers aim at operation down to 0.5 V and even lower. In addition, new innovations are under discussion. For further power reduction consistent with an ecologically sound, sustainable IT world, we now need a different sort of innovation in computing architecture. In addition to developing low-voltage technology, the new goal is to develop computing equipment that can normally be turned off when not in use and turned on instantly with full performance when needed. This is consistent with our increasing preference to "reduce, reuse, and recycle" (or Mottainai in Japanese). Implementing this idea in actual IT equipment, however, is not easy. What is needed is a union of power control technology and information communication technology to create a basic technology that can change our daily lives.
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