OLPC South Africa

Initiatives

Public Sector Initiatives

• Programs
  • The existing schools programs will form the backbone for distributing e-Learning content
  • The Government programs with Sentech and Telkom applied
  • The Universal Services agency (http://www.USA.org.za)
  • The Government information services (http://www.gcis.gov.za)
  • The Department of Service (http://www.dpsa.gov.za) delivery
• Investors
  • Investments can be obtained from the donor management people with Treasury. http://www.dcis.gov.za.

Private Sector Initiatives

Furyx

Furyx understands the challenges of distributing content in Africa where Internet connectivity is slow, unreliable, expensive and often non existent.

Furyx has developed distribution mechanisms where content can be simultaneously distributed using the internet and CD/DVD to augment the bandwidth of the internet connection.

• Content
  • Free content is obtained from existing Government initiatives, e-Learning institutions and business incubators.
• Content Management & Distribution Software
  • Content is cached on servers at Schools or Information Hubs. Students can schedule the automatic downloading of content not available at their hub. Content download priority is based on the number of requests received for a specific piece of content.
  • Currently Furyx systems use Microsoft .Net Framework & Web Services on the Server and HTML, Java or .Net on the client.
• Network Infrastructure
  • Information Hubs are connected together using National Telecoms or Satellite connectivity
  • Users are linked together using WiFi or WiMax to form a mesh with potentially a Hub as an internet bridging point
  • Pre-packaged business models like ISP, e-commerce and free business accounting packages encourage the community to use the infrastructure to improve its own welfare.
• User Devices
  • Furyx is currently searching and designing low cost user terminals. Current available options include:
    • Home entertainment PC:
      • Many households own a $100 battery powered television set. By merging television functionality (KnoppMyth) into the PC, the potential exists to make it affordable to households.
      • Devices will cost less than $300 in low volumes.
    • OLPC:
      • The OLPC initiative promises to eventually deliver laptop computers with pre configured mesh networking for around $100.

--Jaco Vosloo 17:52, 3 April 2006 (EDT)