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Pune institue develops sub-Rs10,000 PC news
Sajeev Nair
11 February 2005

Pune: The Pune-based International Institute of Information Technology (I2IT) has succeeded in developing a low cost PC like the hand-held Simputer being rolled out in the country.

The product, called NiceTop, at present would cost around Rs.10,000 and is expected to be launched in the next three months, though its prices could be brought to between Rs.5,000 and Rs.10,000 through collaborative effort with the IT industry.

NiceTop, which has a 32-bit processor, 64 MB RAM, 'hi-color' monitor and runs on Linux OS. The system eliminated a CPU, which would have cost about Rs.25,000.

Starting with research survey, NiceTop took over 18 months to develop and is ready to be rolled out with keyboards and data in Indian languages at Rs.10,000. The institute is currently scouting for financiers or partners, in an effort to drop its price further to around Rs7,000 or Rs.8,000 to enable rural communities acquire the computer-savviness of their urban counterparts.

According to Sunil Patil, dean, academics and international relations, I2IT, who worked on the project, the institute is confident that the price can be reduced even further to Rs.5,000, if IT industry and corporates provide adequate support by way of sponsorships or other modes of financial support.

"I2IT is ready with the prototype of the PC and we plan to launch it in May 2005. However, developing content and further research needs more investments - at least around Rs.40 lakh," he says.

The product is being rolled out with an embedded client and a thin client, and a fat client (embedded client), which supports many thin clients. It is ideally suited to enable farmers to access weather bulletins, primary healthcare data, and information on agriculture and prices of commodities in various markets.

Thirty prototypes of the product are ready, however, "A lot of work on content is yet to be completed," Patil said. While the design of the prototype was developed at the I2IT,
the components were custom made in Thailand. The institute intends to manufacture the machine in India, even though critical components would be sourced from global majors, who quote the lowest price.

I2IT would have to sell between 8,000 and 10,000 units per month to make this project economically viable, and the institute intends to seek the help of its MBA students to help meet this target.

The institute is also seeking internet connectivity either free or at a subsidised rate to roll out theNiceTop, which would help bring its cost to around or below Rs.5,000.

 


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Pune institue develops sub-Rs10,000 PC