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IBM and Toshiba are looking toward the next generation of RAM. They want it to be faster, of course, but they're also hoping to score two of the biggest unobtained prizes in RAM:
1. Instant Boot
2. Unpowered Storage
Instant boots save energy in several indirect ways. It promotes powering down computers at night, as the powering up becomes less inconvenient. Unpowered storage decreases power use dramatically because the RAM can continue to hold data without having to constantly pull from the power supply. Toshiba estimates that the MRAM will use about 10% less energy per megabyte than today's RAM.
Unfortunately, MRAM currently has problems operating at a wide variety of temperatures. The inside of a computer has a pretty wide temperature range. Toshiba says that they have overcome this problem, and they expect MRAM to take over the market by 2015.
