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Broad-basing computing

To millions of citizens who cannot afford an expensive personal computer, the early results of a pilot test of a low-cost networked PC, which uses a cable connection to hook up to the Internet, offer new hope to overcome digital deprivation. The nimble `thin computing' system eliminates the need for the consumer to acquire powerful hardware and expensive software to perform functions such as writing documents, accessing websites, and emailing. The pilot project in a middle-class locality in Chennai by Novatium, a technology products company, to demonstrate a Rs.4,450 NetPC has attracted wide attention; the user has a recurring access cost, inclusive of Internet charges, of about Rs.450 a month. For quite a while, networking companies have aimed to make the `network the computer.' In parallel, there have been attempts by others to produce low-cost standalone PCs that can break the $100-barrier while plans to develop handheld devices with similar goals met with limited success. The NetPC model seeks to shift the burden of performance away from the user's hardware to the server. By accessing software that is installed not at the user end but on a remote server, the total cost of ownership for the consumer is reduced. The popularity of online office productivity applications such as word processors and spreadsheets offered free by companies like Google and Zoho is evidence of what can be achieved.

The trend towards virtualisation is expected to drive down the total cost of computer ownership for the corporate sector and individual users. In such a `managed' model of access to computing and the Internet, the users have allocated server space for individual needs and benefit from software that can be accessed by all. If it is open source software, it is even cheaper. A combination of technologies to reduce cost and their deployment in communities and institutional environments such as schools, public and private offices, local bodies, and libraries, especially in rural areas and small towns, is important to raise the penetration of personal computers in India. The sale of computers in the country is expected to grow dynamically over the next few years from a low base of 19 million PCs (as estimated in 2006). A major limitation of even this penetration is that much of it is in the institutional and relatively affluent home user categories. For the majority of the people, bridging the digital divide will depend on innovation that exploits low-cost hardware, open source software, and network opportunities such as cabling, mobile telephony, and wireless to broaden and democratise access.

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