International Business Machines Wants to Reduce Computer Power Requirements

I.B.M. has announced that it is partnering with the U.S. Defense Department's research and development group, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop computers that have a less voracious appetite for electricity. DARPA has agreed to provide funding of about $2 million to I.B.M.'s Low Power Center Research Laboratory in Austin, Texas as part of a joint industry-government directive known as Power-Aware Computing and Communications (PACC). The industry trend has been to produce computers that are faster, smaller, and more efficient, but the down side of this is that they require larger amounts of power to drive the components. I.B.M. cites electricity statistics that are eye opening: almost 25% of a typical company's data center's costs come from electricity needed to both run and cool its computers, and a U.S. Department of Energy study reports that nearly 10% of the electricity in North America is used to support information technology systems.