Low power system designs need to consider two things: 1) Minimizing the standby current consumption, and 2) Minimizing the active time. The power consumption of a system is the average current consumption over time. In a graph of current consumption versus time, it can be seen that the area under the curve must be minimized to minimize power consumption. The MSP430 clock system accomplishes both requirements by providing the lowest standby current consumption and an instant-on clock for on-demand processing.