Small box 'to end digital divide'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4496901.stm

Small box 'to end digital divide'


By Jo Twist=20
BBC News science and technology reporter

The boxes mean small companies or cybercafes can set up cheaply

A pared down "computer" to replace bulky, grey desktop PCs could help close
global digital inequalities.

Not-for-profit developers, Ndiyo - the Swahili word for "yes" - said it
could open up the potential of computing to two billion more people.

The sub-=A3100 box, called Nivo, runs on open-source software and is known as
a "thin client". Several can be linked up to a central "brain", or server.

Thin clients are not new, but advances have made them more user-friendly.

They have been employed in large organisations in the past, but the Ndiyo
project is about "ultra-thin client" networking.

It said the small, cheap boxes are targeted at smaller companies,
cybercafes, or schools, which need an affordable, reliable system for
providing clusters of two to 20 workstations.

"Your PC is a bulky, noisy, expensive mess that clutters up your life,"
Ndiyo's Dr Seb Wills told a Microsoft Research conference in Cambridge, UK.

"Our emphasis and core motivation is the developing world for whom the
current 'one user, one PC' approach will never be affordable," he told the
BBC News website.=20

"But we think our approach is also of benefit to organisations in the
developed world who don't want to throw away money on buying and maintainin=
g
a full PC for each user."

Open source=20

Desktop machines with which we are familiar, are inflexible, and
power-hungry, according to Ndiyo.

The energy and raw materials used for a PC is 11 to 12 times the weight of
the machine, he explained.

Typical office workstation set-ups also use more power than thin clienting.
A PC typically uses 100W of power, whereas Nivo uses five.

In some developing countries, buying a desktop computer is the equivalent t=
o
the price of a house, explained Dr Wills, making it difficult for people to
take advantage of what computing technology can offer.

"Nowadays, PCs are about communication than anything else," he said. "We
have the potential to rethink the way we could do this stuff," he added.

The boxes would not be able to handle graphics-intensive multimedia content
currently, but that will change as ethernet bitrates improve to handle more
data.=20

About 50% of UK's workforce work in organisations with fewer than 50
employees, according to Ndiyo.

NIVO'S OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
=20

Ubuntu - Linux operating system
Gnome/KDE desktop
Open Office
Firefox browser
Gaim - instant messenger client
Thunderbird - cross-platform e-mail and Usenet client

Currently, each employee might have his or her own desktop machine,
connected to the company network through ethernet connections, with softwar=
e
licences for each workstation.

Licences for software are often a significant part of expenditure for
smaller companies which rely on computers.

But a recent UK government study, yet to be formally published, has shown
that open source software can significantly reduce school budgets dedicated
to computing set-ups.

Many organisations replace PCs every three years and also require technical
support when something goes wrong.

Thin clients using open source software can mean these expenses are
bypassed.=20

Since August 2004, Ndiyo has had a group of Java developers running large
applications on the system to test out the robustness of the system.

The small Nivo box, developed along with commercial partner, Newnham
Research in Cambridge, is essentially a computer - known as the "client" -
which largely depends on the central server for processing activities.

Applications, for instance, are kept on the main server and accessed throug=
h
the Nivo box.=20

Next generation=20

The Nivo unit itself measures around 12 by eight by two centimetres. It has
no moving parts, but it has ports for ethernet, power, keyboard, mouse and =
a
monitor.=20

It comes with two megabytes of RAM. The next version currently under
development, will have a USB port, soundcard, local storage capacity, and
will be even smaller.

"Essentially, it is about sending pixels over the net," explained Dr Wills.

=20
The Simputer is a handheld computing solution for developing nations

"With modern ethernet connections, you can get enough performance by sendin=
g
through compressed pixels."

A typical cybercafe set-up, Dr Wills explained, would involve 20 Nivo boxes=
,
a gigabit switch, and a single 2Ghz, 2Gb RAM, server.

The not-for-profit origination is also working on the idea of using the Niv=
o
box for "plug and play" clustering.

Ultimately, Ndiyo hopes that the box can shrink down to a single chip and
introduce wireless ethernet connections.

"The vision is that the monitor will have an ethernet port which requires
less electronics than the standard VGA monitor," said Dr Wills.

Open source software is used in many developing country computer
initiatives. There are other attempts at providing cheap alternatives to
desktop PCs for developing countries, such as the Simputer.

It is a cheap handheld computer designed by Indian scientists.



-------------------------------------------------

Visit the CIS Project on the WWW:  http://www.cis.org.tt

View the offlist archives: http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.education.cis

-------------------------------------------------

Dgroups is a joint initiative of Bellanet, DFID, Hivos, ICA, IICD, OneWorld, UNAIDS and World Bank
--- You are currently subscribed to cis as: [email protected]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-cis-221309I-T6/[email protected]