Zmd zombies of mass destruction

Zmd zombies of mass destruction

Inveneo has targeted six regions in Haiti where it will increase the reach of ISPs by providing equipment and identifying and training local IT entrepreneurs who can help maintain the equipment and offer customer support. To realize its vision, the organization first set about raising US 1 million to cover the cost of the gear, the training, and the labor associated with extending the telecom infrastructure out into these regions. Inveneo reached its funding goal in December 2010 and is now getting the project under way. Summer reports that the organization has had a pilot site up and running for about four months in L og ne, a small town about 29 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince that was near the epicenter of the January 2010 earthquake. One aim of the project is to supplement, or in some cases, replace, the proprietary WiMax systems that currently serve as the last-mile solution for most of Haiti s Internet users. Summer explains that although WiMax gets the job done, it s expensive, and outside Port-au-Prince, where the population density is comparatively low, the capital and operational costs versus the number of subscribers you re going to see will make it difficult for the service provider to stay in business. Instead, Inveneo is introducing Wi-Fi 80 11n setups designed to operate in the unregulated frequency space in the 8-gigahertz industrial, scientific, and medical ISM band. They can be configured in a point-to-multipoint arrangement, connecting multiple end users to the device so they ll all have Internet access. They can also be set up in a point-to-point fashion, with antennas that are extremely focused, in order to make a link between points that might be 20, 30, or even 50 km apart. Summer says the systems get significant throughput, with links of 50 megabits per second or more. What s more, he says, they re much less costly than some of the proprietary technologies, and they work just as well in rural areas. These systems sidestep one of the biggest problems across most of Haiti: unreliable or nonexistent electricity delivery. Inveneo uses low-power equipment that consumes 5 to 10 watts and is usually powered by solar energy. That eliminates the need to truck fuel and maintain generators, both of which are expensive. Using solar energy makes the setup a one-time investment, rather than a recurring operating cost. End-user organizations, such as NGOs, often have their own generators, or they can run their computers on solar power as well. For a typical setup, you need two or three car batteries for your power backup system, one or two 80-W solar panels with dimensions about the size of the broad side of a large suitcase, and the radio and antenna, says Summer. He adds that for a point-to-multipoint setup, the antenna is very small, no more than half a meter tall by 1 meter wide. The radio snaps right on the back; it s small and very light. For long-distance point-to-point transmissions, the antenna is roughly the size of the small dishes that users of satellite TV services like DirecTV have mounted on their homes, Summer notes. To further the savings and reduce ongoing operational costs, entrepreneurs from outside the capital will come to Port-au-Prince for training paid with the funds Inveneo has raised and take the knowledge back home. National ISPs won t have to pay to send teams out to the countryside, and people in those regions can then support and maintain the networks and connect end users. There s still a way to go, but Summer asserts that over the past year, telecommunications in Haiti have improved. In the event of another disaster, larger parts of the networks will remain in service or will be rebuilt faster, he says. He predicts that communications outside Port-au-Prince will be much more readily available to organizations seeking to coordinate the provision of services or the relocation of survivors.