In the 1990s the computing industry shifted from expensive proprietary systems to open systems based on standard, low-cost hardware. This move changed a 20-year pattern of IT buying and deployment models. Some of the biggest IT buyers, like universities and research centers, also started to look for better, flexible and cheaper IT solutions.
National Research & Education Centers are generally start point of knowledge and innovation. These institutions must create value for the benefit of their people. To be able to do that, they need to be connected with the other source of information, like universities and research centers in the world. For example health, education, security and economy are the top priority topics for most of the countries and Africa is not an exception. To be able to increase the development level of society and create economic value for people, research institutions must be connected to internet and share knowledge and experiences.
To be able to have an cheap and flexible internet connection, PC-Based open source networking can be an alternative solution for African NRENs. Currently, a group of student at KTH, we are working on this project and try to make it 100% working solution. We are thinking end-to-end solution, which means starting from technology it self till the customer support and so on.
We hope, we will be able to create a real business based on this idea. If you want to read more about the idea itself, please download the document from here
