March 19 2008 / by Venessa Posavec
Category: Technology Year: 2008 Rating: 10
The push to wire the whole wide world has taken another brave
step forward. In a collaborative effort with UC Berkeley, Intel has developed a new wi-fi
platform that allows data to be transmitted more than 60 miles away
from the transmitter. Their focus is to bring connectivity to
remote areas all over the world, and the goal is to make it
commercially available in the second half of 2008. 
Other methods of bringing wireless to a rural area, like laying
cable or using satellite connections, have proven to be impractical
and too expensive to implement. Intel’s Wi-fi radio is set to have
a $500 price point, and requires so little power that it could be
built to run on solar. The technology requires two devices to
operate. One is installed on the outskirts of an urban area, wired
to a local area network cable. The other goes to the previously
unconnected village, and viola!, the first Internet connection is
made.
Emerging markets are jumping on board, with devices already
installed in India, Panama, Vietnam, and South Africa. The
long-term implications for bolstering a rural community are
limitless, but the most immediate application is being used to
provide better healthcare.
A pilot project is underway in South India to provide eye care
to people in rural villages who would otherwise have to walk up to
12 miles to reach a hospital. Now 3 villages have vision centers,
enabling doctors in the city to provide consultations, eye exams,
and diagnosis to patients via videoconferencing. The results of the
project have been so successful that plans are underway to expand
the wi-fi connection to five hospitals and 50 village clinics
within 2 years, giving about a half million people eye care for the
first time.
There’s a word that describes the concept of what’s going to
happen next – it’s called leapfrogging.
Remote areas won’t have to wait for major government funding to
allow a communication infrastructure to be built. Instead, they’ll
receive a wireless connection that can be installed quickly and at
a fraction of the cost of the nearest alternatives.
This will allow people in developing countrie to more easily
connect with the outside world, enabling new services and
infrastructure that will improve their quality of life. Now we just
need to get everyone a computer or mobile handheld device. But hey,
it’s a good start.
via Wired
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