The new center, based at the University of California at Berkeley, will devise ''energy-smart'' distributed systems. This new center is the sixth member of the SRC's Focus Center Research Program, a national, multi-university R&D effort.

The FCRP is a cooperative initiative among members of the U.S. semiconductor industry and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) designed to expand long-range microelectronics and systems research within U.S. universities.

Founded in 1998, FCRP programs have since involved 41 universities, 333 faculty and 1215 doctoral graduate students.