Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wireless Links Remote Villages in Laos

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 18:00:09 -0400

-------- Original Message --------
From: [email-masked]
Subject: Wireless Links Remote Villages in Laos

http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.phtml?channel=14&id=47461

Wireless Links Remote Villages in Laos 
Five villages have access to state-of-the-art telecommunications, thanks
to a 
wireless Wide-Area Network (WAN).
By Tod Newcombe - April 2003

VIENTIANE, Laos -- Five villages in a remote section of Laos, a rural
southeast 
Asian country, have access to state-of-the-art telecommunications,
thanks to a 
wireless Wide-Area Network (WAN). Jhai Foundation, a nonprofit
organization 
that brings technology and community development to the Laotian
countryside, 
has developed and tested a custom designed, solid-state computer linking
the 
villages via wireless technology.

The project responds to villagers' needs for telecommunications,
business 
opportunities and enhanced education for their children through the
development 
of a solid-state, low- wattage computer that can be powered by a
foot-crank, a 
high-bandwidth wireless network and support for village small
businesses.

"What we're building is a system to last for years ... a whole 
socio/technical/economic tool that looks like a system and is owned by
poor 
people. [This is] a sustainable, replicable solution," said Lee Thorn,
who 
founded the Jhai Foundation.

The system's components include:

* A rugged computer and printer assembled from off-the-shelf components
that 
draws less than 20 watts in normal use - less than 70 watts when the
printer is 
printing - and that can survive dirt, heat, and immersion in water.
* A wireless wide area network with relay stations based on the 802.11b 
protocol, which will transmit signals between the villages and a server
located 
at the Phon Hong Hospital for switching to the Internet or the Lao
telephone 
system.
* A computer powered by a bicycle-crank generator charging an automotive 
battery. 
* A Lao-language version of the free, Linux-based KDE graphical desktop
and Lao-
language office tools.

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