Exciting 2006 Pilot Projects in Bangladesh and SouthAfrica!

In partnership with the GSM Association and mobile network operators in Bangladesh and South Africa, we will be trialling Ndiyo-powered Internet Access Facilities in two parts of the world which have hitherto had poor Internet connectivity.

The project involves using Edge (Bangladesh) and 3G (South Africa) mobile networks to provide broadband Internet connections to servers, each of which runs a number of local Ndiyo workstations. The Ndiyo architecture enables many users to share not just the cost of the computer, but also of the internet connectivity. The trial deployments will come on line in January/February 2006.

These trials are significant because although Ndiyo networking can significantly reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of networked systems (and enable many users to share network bandwidth), providing Internet connectivity in the developing world via either landline DSL or satellite has proved to be prohibitively expensive. Yet many countries now have fast-evolving mobile phone networks, with wide coverage and relatively affordable data tariffs. (It is estimated, for example, that 85% of Bangladesh now has Edge coverage, reaching 95% of the population.) The difficulty and expense of providing Internet connectivity in developing countries has up to now been regarded as a 'showstopper'. We hope that the Bangladesh and South African trials will demonstrate how things are changing.