BSNL, Novatium roll out low-cost computer

‘Nova netPC’ is available in two packages of Rs.1,999 and Rs.2,999

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Chennai-based IT solutions company Novatium on Friday rolled out a low-cost home computing device that could help the former achieve a target of 9 million broadband connections across the country in the next couple of years.

At a press conference after the launch of “Nova netPC” on the BSNL’s network, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL Kuldeep Goyal said affordability issues over buying a desktop PC or laptop would no longer stand in the way of broadband penetration, especially in rural areas.

Essentially, the user is provided with a set top box, keyboard and mouse while most hardware functions of a computer will be managed by a central server. Most of the widely used applications will be available to the user. The central server will facilitate access to the BSNL’s broadband conduit, for which the user will need to subscribe to any of the DataOne monthly plans.

Nova netPC, available in two packages (down payment of Rs.1,999 and a monthly charge of Rs.199, and an upfront fee of Rs.2,999 and monthly subscription of Rs.175), is available at BSNL’s outlets in the city.

Mr. Goyal said the total number of broadband users in the country was only 5.25 million, which was less than 1 per cent of the population. In developed societies, the penetration levels were as high as 60 per cent or more.

BSNL aimed to account for about 60 per cent of the 20 million broadband connections stipulated as target for 2010 by the government. BSNL, which now has 3 million broadband users, has equipped at a cost of Rs.1,600 crore 23,000 of its network of 30,000 telephone exchanges for broadband connectivity. BSNL enjoyed a 56 per cent market share in the broadband space, he pointed out.

“Negotiations with the Universal Service Obligation Fund, a body mandated with scaling up rural telephony, are in an advanced stage on providing near-free broadband tariffs and subsidised customer end equipment for rural users,” he said.
3G technology

BSNL’s plans for the immediate future include rollout of 3G technology on its GSM network (the national launch planned from Chennai now has been rescheduled to February), providing broadband on optic fibre for high-end users and facilitating wireless broadband (WiMAX) in 1,000 rural blocks.

Advance purchase orders for WiMAX equipment had been placed with suppliers.

Novatium CEO Alok Singh said the link-up with BSNL fitted in with the company’s vision of making computing simple and affordable and taking broadband to the nook and corner of the country.

The netPC, which is protected with 11 global patents, had been around for over a year in Delhi and would shortly go commercial. In addition to 1,000 users in the capital, the netPC had been launched in Mauritius. In Chennai, where BSNL issued 8,000 new connections a month, Novatium targeted a sale of 1,000 units by January end.

Post-launch, Nova netPC devices were distributed to four BSNL customers.

Intel to Release 6-core Dunnington soon

At the VMWorld Conference in Las Vegas, Intel will possibly release a six-core Xeon 7400 processor codenamed Dunnington. Aimed at the blade/server segment, this six-core chip is manufactured on the tick 45nm process, and will be the last chip in the Penryn lineup.

Dunnington has each core sharing 3MB of L2 cache with access to 16MB of L3 cache. Frequently used instructions can be stored in these large memory caches to reduce bottlenecks. The Thermal Design Power rating is approximately 130W, and the chip supports 1066 MegaTransfers per second interconnectivity and new SSE4 instruction sets.

At Intel Developer Forum last month, Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and co-general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group announced that Intel servers had broken multiple world performance awards. The Dunnington chip will precede Nehalem chips which will come in two, four and eight cores with integrated graphics.

Robots To Do The Bouncy Human Walk

For all its "humanity", ASIMO can't walk like a human being. Its gait may look human, but a large amount of energy is spent for every step. And what if you wanted it to run?

When we walk, our muscles store about 40 percent of the energy we spend--they act as springs. Now, roboticists at Oregon State University are working on giving the same to robots using steel cable tendons and inbuilt springs.

Right now, the project has produced a one legged robot that just hops, but does so more efficiently than any robot before it. Soon, we'll see a two-legged robot, and when the machines finally take over, they'll be able to outrun us in no time.

Large Hadron Collider Goes Online

For the purpose of this story, let's call this section Past Watch, for that is the purpose of the controversial Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This 27-kilometre circular tunnel will serve as the arena for some serious atom-smashing, and will give us more insight into what precisely happened when the universe began. It's also, incidentally, been accused of heralding its end--scientists have battled death threats to get this behemoth up and running.

On Wednesday, the team of scientists at CERN, Switzerland, gave the LHC its first test run, successfully sending a beam of particles all the way round the tunnel at 99.999998 percent of the speed of light. In October, two such beams will be made to collide at similar speeds, and the researchers hope to recreate the first few seconds of the big bang. The reaction may reveal new dimensions, dark matter, and what is known as the "God particle"--the Higgs boson. The particle is the only one in the Standard Model of particle physics to have never been observed, and is thought to be the reason that particles (and hence us) have mass.

With a statement like "recreate the big bang", it's hard not to think of this as the end of the world--the last big bang was pretty darn big, we've been told. However, the scientists are quick to point out that this is a controlled environment, and we aren't likely to see a new universe create itself.

And if they're wrong, what can you do?

BSNL Online Video (IPTV) in Jaipur

BSNL and Aksh Optifibre have announced the launch of icontrol, an IPTV service, in the Pink City of Jaipur. This announcement comes a month after its launch in Mumbai and Delhi. icontrol will be the first IPTV service in Rajasthan state.
icontrol is a television connection that allows users to watch programmes at their convenience. This means that users will receive a programme when they put in a request for it. The service claims to offer more than 120 channels, and an extensive movie library consisting of Hollywood and Bollywood titles at no extra cost.
In addition, the service also has A-Tube-Video Classified pages feature that offers users solutions to day-to-day requirements from lifestyle, to travel, and includes restaurants, schools, beauty parlors, even plumbers!
The icontrol service in Jaipur is priced at Rs 150 per month for BSNL Broadband subscribers. The set-up box will be provided for free against a refundable security deposit of Rs 999.

DoT Announces 3G, WiMax Policy Overview

Finally, after a long wait, DoT announced the guidelines for the auction of allotment of spectrum for 3G and WiMax in the country. While spectrum in 2.1 GHz band was allocated for 3G auction, 2.5GHz and 2.3GHz spectrum bands were identified for WiMax. These services are expected to rollout in mid-2009.

In the case of 3G, the successful bidders will be allotted the spectrum for 20 years. Up to 10 players will be allowed in the 3G space, which includes foreign players. Those holding a UASL (Universal Access Service License), and have previous experience of running 3G services can bid for the spectrum.

In the first year of operation, operators will be exempted from the annual spectrum charge of 1% of the Adjusted Gross Revenue. Meanwhile, rollout obligations include covering 90% of metro area's within 5 years from date of spectrum allocation.

Some of the guidelines for WiMax spectrum allocation are similar to 3G, such as allowing UASL holders to bid and exempting operators from the annual spectrum charge of 1% in the first year.

Indian Railways to Provide Internet Service in Kerala

Indian Railways is set to join the bandwagon of Internet providers in Kerala with a special provision for those browsing education sites.

The railways is providing broadband internet connection in the state through the Railtel Corporation of India Ltd. The biggest incentive for those taking the net service of Indian Railways is that they can download education material free.

A. Seshagiri Rao, executive director (southern region) of Railtel, told IANS Railtel would provide the service through cable operators who have connectivity across the state.

"The internet service would become operational in the next two to three months," said Rao, who was in the city.

Railtel, which manages the communication sector of Indian Railways, has laid more than 38,000 km of optical fibre cable across the country, which would be the backbone for providing broadband connectivity in the state.

"Our network is such that every railway station in the country can be turned into a source for education centres. But we have decided to provide broadband connectivity to the people through cable operators. The biggest advantage for those using our connectivity is that they would get unlimited download in matters regarding education," said Rao.

Towards this, Railtel has finalized a tie-up with the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore where they have ready more than 6,000 hours of lectures by the faculty.

"The biggest advantage of Indian Railways internet is that downloading of education material will be at a speed ranging from 2 mpbs to 30 mpbs," added Rao.