Inquiring about Rockwell funding for our Manaus project

<<December 15, 2000>>
Archived distributions can be retrieved by clicking on the top lines of our home page at <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/>.

Roger Lee Boston <rboston@tenet.edu>

Alexandre Rivas, Ph.D. <alex_mau@argo.com.br>

James R. Sheats <sheats@hpl.hp.com>

Marcos Costa <marcos_costa@agilent.com>

Mariangela Paris <Mariangela_Paris@agilent.com>

Prof. Dr. Fredric Michael Litto <frmlitto@usp.br>

Peter T. Knight, Ph.D. <ptknight@attglobal.net>

Touraj Rahimi <touraj@schoolsonline.org>

Dear Roger:
===========

(1) During our Manaus workshop last May/June, you told me that you have a
readily disposable fund from Rockwell Foundation to aid Internet
infrastructure building in developing countries.

(2) Pls see IV. Global University System (GUS)/B. GUS/Manaus, Amazon, Brazil in
"Fund-raising trip to European Commission in Luxembourg - December 13, 2000" at

http://www.friends-partners.org/~utsumi/gu-l/mid-2000/12-13-a.html

(3) As mentioned there, Alex is now preparing a grant application which is
to be submitted to the InfoDev of the World Bank and other funding
sources, (a) to configure the availability of distance learning courses
locally through the currently available Internet, (b) to hold a workshop
in Manaus for feasibility study/market survey of implementing a
broadband Internet in Manaus.

Alex's commitment is based on our long-standing relations;

1. While he was a student, he witnessed our highly successful
Global Lecture Hall (GLH)" multipoint-to-multipoint,
multimedia, interactive videoconferencing at the University
of Tennessee in Knoxville (UTK) in July, 1994, which
connected to an international conference on distance
education in Moscow,

2. He wanted to enact it in Manaus, the middle of Amazon
jungle, in October, 1998, with our successful GLH which
spanned from Tokyo to Ukraine,

3. After attending our Tampere event, he also continued the
same with a workshop in Manaus with your successful
videoconferencing demonstration and also with a very unique
telemedicine demonstration as helping a real patient by the
transmission of echocardiograph image to the University of
Michigan for a joint diagnosis.

This project is a community development approach, firstly connecting
non-profit organizations (elementary, secondary and higher education
institutions, libraries, hospitals, local governmental agencies, etc.)
and secondly with for-profit organizations, thus all applicable groups
are inclusive.

This will be made with the use of wireless broadband Internet with
spread spectrum technology -- see lower side of my diagram at http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Global_Broadband_Internet/Global_Broadband_Diagram.html

This activity is to be a model replicable to other localities and
regions, as leading the use of the advanced Internet in various sectors
of societies. The higher educational institution selected in the
locality will have the broadband Internet satellite earth-station, and
will become the major Internet Service Provider (ISP) to the local
community of non-profit organizations. The higher education institution
will then provide teacher training to secondary and elementary schools,
and also act as facilitators and technical supporters to other non-profit organizations.

It is expected that interaction among the main universities of the
international Amazona will contribute to disseminate information about
alternatives to promote sustainable development in Amazona. At the same
time, the region's population will have better access to healthcare
information, which will contribute for a better quality of life. In
addition, a number of distance learning courses will be developed what
will decrease isolation and offer better opportunities for those living in the region.

(4) I would like to inquire if your Rockwell fund can finance the
installation of the spread spectrum wireless units at following sites in Manaus;

(a) AMAZONSAT (or AMAZONSAT Foundation, a non-profit organization)

They will have a broadband Internet satellite earth-station --
instead of the university depicted in my aforementioned diagram.

This can be the major ISP -- incidentally, they are already
providing such services with 10 Mbps connection with EMBRATEL.

During your NetMeeting demonstration there with SONY's
VAIO/PCG-C1VN Picturebook (which has a built-in camera and
weighs only 2.2 pounds), this speed was trickled down to 70
Kbps, yet we could have clear audio and video.

As you saw during your demonstration there, they have a tall TV
tower for terrestrial broadcasting and several dish antennas for
their analog satellite broadcasting with their leased transponders on BRAZILSAT.

As you also witnessed at that time, they have an excellent technical support team.

(b) Fundao Rede Amazonia (FRA)

This is a non-profit organization Alex once belonged to.

Our workshops in October, 1998, and in May/June, 2000 were
supported by AMAZONSAT and FRA, etc.

During my stay in Manaus in October, 1998, I made a site survey and
found that this building is unfortunately blocked for the line-of-sight
from AMAZONSAT by an apartment building where Alex lives.

Therefore, to get there, we may also need to have a relay at
Alex's apartment building so that Alex can also enjoy direct
broadband Internet access.

(d) Teacher training school

In the middle of Manaus city, there is a beautiful building (which
was provided by LOTUS) with several tens PCs (which was donated by IBM).

This is for teacher training, and I found that they were very
eager to learn -- I later found in Japan that Brazilians are more
eager than Japanese high school teachers.

(e) One or two Japanese schools

There are many Japanese electronics firms, since Manaus was once a
duty free port. Japanese employees' children go to Japanese
schools. Providing broadband Internet enables them do NetMeeting
videoconferencing and email conversations with their counterparts
in Japan. This will then lure a large funding from Japanese government.

Dear Alex:
==========

When we visited Japanese consulate in October, 1998, the
Grass Roots fund of the Japanese government did not include
Brazil. This however changed recently, and several small
enterprises start receiving the fund, according to a
newspaper article I picked up at a hotel in Sao Paulo right
after I had a lunch with Fred Litto.

Each of these locations needs to have a pair of spread spectrum units at
the cost of, say, US$5,000/pair -- saving monthly recurring costs
later. There may also need a couple of units which can be mounted on
racks which can be moved around in their buildings, thus saving their
installing in-building Ethernet local-area-network (LAN) which usually
costs US$30,000 to 80,000.

Those locations are within the reach of the spread spectrum units,
according our study on the Manaus map which we purchased with
Maurizia, Alex's wife, on a very hot day in October, 1998.

Dr. Israel, an industrialist who heads a large industrial consortium,
said to us that he would match local funds to extend similar schemes to
nearby towns, once the above scheme will be made in Manaus. (This may
require microwave approach depicted in my aforementioned diagram.)

(5) Although this may be one to two years into the future in Manaus, once
we set up that broadband Internet in several buildings in Manaus,
they can be relay points to the forthcoming third generation mobil
cellular phone which can access Internet at 128 Kbps for 24 hours.

As you may recall, NOKIA people predicted to have 34 Mbps video-phone
by 2004 during our Tampere event in August, 1999.

This cellular phone can be attached to laptop or SONY's Picturebook so
that learners of our e-learning courses can be anywhere and can access
the courses at any time.

Incidentally, when I was riding a bullet train in Japan last
month, a young fellow sat next to me, and was accessing Internet
with his SONY Picturebook and a cellular phone -- but, alas, it
was at only 46 Kbps -- but Japanese are expecting to have 128 Kbps
access soon.

AT&T recently affiliated with NTT/DoCoMo of Japan to have
this service in the US from next year (ATTACHMENT I and II).

(6) I look forward to hearing your favorable response so that we can include
the above description in our grant application to the InfoDev -- I think
that such description will increase the chance of getting the InfoDev fund.

Dear Fred and Peter:
====================

(7) We would like to ask you to inquire with Xerox/Brazil to support this project
financially out of their US$20 million distance education project in Brazil.

This is because, in our projects, there is no such word as "competition"
-- only friendly collaboration.

Dear Jim Sheats:
================

(8) We would greatly appreciate it if you can kindly participate in this
project technically and financially -- as an extension of your LINCOS
project which was presented by Marcos Costa of Agilent Technologies
during our Manaus workshop -- LINCOS satellite currently does not cover
Manaus, but its web site says that it will be done soon.

Dear Touraj:
============

(9) You once promised Alex that you would provide WebTV units to 100 schools
in Manaus and Porto Velho, Rondonia. Alex then provided you with a
comprehensive list of those schools.

I then suggested you that it should be PC instead of WebTV, and you agreed with me.

Should you be interested in the above project in Manaus, pls let us know
if you can financially help us.

Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I

Long Distance Hook Up
NTT DoCoMo Takes 20 Percent Stake in AT&T Wireless

Excerpt from abcNews.com
<http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/business/dailynews/att_docomo_001130.html>

The Associated Press
T O K Y O, Nov. 30 NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone company, is
buying a 16 percent stake in AT&T Wireless, the mobile phone unit of American
giant AT&T, for about $9.8 billion.
The widely expected deal announced today gives NTT DoCoMo access to the
Funds rapidly growing U.S. wireless phone market while providing AT&T cash to
help reduce it massive debt.
DoCoMo said it hopes to launch its next-generation mobile phone
technology and its mobile multimedia services in the U.S. market.
AT&T Wireless, meanwhile, badly needs a cash infusion to protect its
credit rating by paying off some of its $62 billion in debt.

More Changes Planned
AT&T also revealed today that it has decided to upgrade its wireless network
with the GSM cell phone technology used throughout Europe and Asia.
The move to GSM is designed to accelerate the transition to next-generation wireless technologies, including DoCoMo's "i-mode" platform for
wireless Internet services. The addition of GSM capabilities to AT&T's network
would also enable AT&T and DoCoMo to provide more seamless wireless service
for each other's customers as they travel from country to country.
DoCoMo's i-mode platform has 14 million subscribers in Japan and some
50,000 people are signing up for the service every day, making Japan a global
leader in wireless Internet use.
I-mode customers can talk, play games, read the news, and send and
receive e-mail on their mobile phones.

Looking for Overseas Partners
NTT DoCoMo has been pursuing other foreign alliances in a bid to create a
worldwide wireless network that can deliver next-generation services such as
high-speed Internet browsing and video.
AT&T Wireless, the third-largest mobile phone company in the United
States, is a wholly owned unit of AT&T. It is to be spun off as an independent
business under AT&T's plan to split into three separate companies.

Global Expansion
NTT DoCoMo also said today it will take a 20 percent share in Taiwan's KG
Telecom, and launch IMT-2000 in Taiwan as well.
"With these agreements, we are aiming at bringing our i-mode mobile
phone technology into the U.S. and Taiwan," DoCoMo president Keiji Tachikawa said.
NTT DoCoMo previously sealed agreements with two European firms, KPN
Mobile N.V. of the Netherlands, and Hutchison 3G U.K. Holdings, both
affiliated with Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong.
In September, NTT DoCoMo and America Online concluded a $100 million
deal that gives AOL greater access to the prized Japanese market.
DoCoMo shorthand for "Do Communications Over the Mobile Network
means "anywhere" in Japanese. The company is a subsidiary of NTT, the world's
second-largest telecommunications firm.

Excerpt from the New York Times on Web
<http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/01/business/01WIRE.html>

December 1, 2000

Japan's Top Mobile Phone Company to Buy AT&T Wireless Stake

By SIMON ROMERO

[N] TT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone company, agreed yesterday to buy a
minority stake in AT&T Wireless for almost $10 billion.

For AT&T Wireless, which has 15 million customers and is the third-largest
cellular telephone company in the United States, the deal would provide money
for growth as it plans to spin off from its parent, AT&T. The investment also
comes at a time when all of the nation's wireless companies are preparing to
spend heavily to update their networks with new generations of technology.

For current customers of AT&T Wireless who use conventional cell phones, the
deal would have minimal effect. Those phones will remain usable far into the
future, the companies said, even as they encourage customers to adopt new
types of phones with new capabilities.

But by next year, customers who switch to a new type of phone are to have
access to NTT DoCoMo's mobile Internet service, known as i-mode. The service
is popular in Japan for exchanging e-mail and transmitting data and simple
images like horoscopes and cartoon strips. It is uncertain whether such
services will catch on in this country, where far more people are accustomed
to using the Internet with a personal computer. But the deal means AT&T is
intent on joining the trend toward wireless Internet applications.

Just as significant, in agreeing to move into the future with DoCoMo, AT&T
Wireless said yesterday that it would adopt a type of network technology that
would be more compatible with overseas systems than AT&T's current technology.
That means customers would eventually be able to travel to Europe and Asia and
use the same mobile phone they use at home.

For a 16 percent stake, NTT DoCoMo, which is controlled by Nippon Telegraph
and Telephone of Japan, will pay $6.2 billion to AT&T Wireless, and $3.6
billion to AT&T. The spinoff of AT&T Wireless, part of a breakup plan that
AT&T announced last month, is scheduled to be completed next year.

"We're saying loud and clear with all of this that we think the mobile
Internet will be a very big thing," John D. Zeglis, chief executive of AT&T
Wireless, said in an interview.

For AT&T Wireless, the new money could help the company expand by buying other
companies or acquiring additional wireless radio spectrum for systems capable
of handling large amounts of voice and data traffic.

NTT DoCoMo hopes to gain a foothold in the United States to sell its popular
wireless i-mode Internet service now used by 15 million customers in Japan.

Other potential beneficiaries are the equipment companies Lucent Technologies,
Nortel Network, Ericsson and Nokia, all of which AT&T Wireless said yesterday
would provide much of the equipment needed for its new networks.

"Not only would we expect AT&T to spend several billions of dollars to upgrade
their network, but this alliance could increase pressures on their competitors
to do the same," said Michael Ching, an analyst who covers telecommunications
equipment companies at Merrill Lynch.

As part of the announcement, AT&T Wireless became the nation's first large
wireless carrier to commit itself to a future technical standard known as W-C.D.M.A., for wideband code division multiple access, which is expected to be used within two or three years.

Roger Lee Boston
Rockwell Chair/Instructor
Distance Education/Technology Center
Houston Community College System
4310 Dunlavy Street
P.O.Box 7849
Houston, Texas 77006
USA
Tel: +1-713-718 5224
Cell: +1-713-822-7476
Fax: +1-713-718 5301
rboston@tenet.edu
boston_r@hccs.cc.tx.us (secondary)
http://www.rboston.com
http://www.teched.org/
http://www.hccs.cc.tx.us
http://www.teched.org/hist/iia.htm

Alexandre Rivas, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor
Director of the Center for Environmental Sciences
University of Amazonas - Brazil
C.P. 4208, Manaus 69053-140
BRAZIL
+55-92-644 23 22
Fax: +55-92-644 23 84
alex_mau@argo.com.br
http://www.argo.com.br/~alex_mau/alex.htm
http://lab-tiama.pop-am.rnp.br/cca/workshop/English/wksp_E.htm

James R. Sheats
Program Manager, World E-services
Hewlett-Packard Co.
1501 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
Tel. 650-857-5987
Fax 650-813-3152
sheats@hpl.hp.com

Marcos Costa
Presidente
Agilent Technologies Brasil Ltda.
Alameda Araguaia, 1142 - 2 Andar
06455-000 - Barueri - SP - Brasil
+55-11-7297-3690
Fax: +55-11-7297-3793
marcos_costa@agilent.com

Mariangela Paris
+55-11-7297-3512
Mariangela_Paris@agilent.com

Prof. Dr. Fredric Michael Litto
President, Brazilian Association of Distance Education
Professor and General Coordinator
Technologies as Applied to Education
Research Nucleus Investigating the New Communications
The School of the Future
University of Sao Paulo
Av. Prof. Lucio Martins Rodrigues, Travessa 4
No. 33 - Bloco 18 - Cidade Universitaria
CEP - 05508-900 - Sao Paulo, SP
BRAZIL
+55-11-3818-4924 (secretary)
+55-11-3818-6326
Tel/Fax: +55-11-3816-8168
Tel/Fax: +55-11-815-3083
frmlitto@usp.br
www.futuro.usp.br
www.abed.org.br

Peter T. Knight, Ph.D.
Board member of GLOSAS/USA
Knight, Moore - Telematics for Education and Development
Communications Development Incorporated (CDI)
Strategy, Policy, Design, Implementation, Evaluation
1808 I Street, NW, 7th Floor
Washington, DC 20006, USA
Tel: 1-202-775-2132 (secretary), 1-202-721-0348 (direct)
Fax: 1-202-775-2135 (office), 1-202-362-8482 (home)
Cel: 1-202-255-7215
IP for CU-SeeMe: 198.77.80.46
ptknight@attglobal.net
peter@knight-moore.com
webmail: ptknight@netscape.net
http://www.knight-moore.com
http://www.cdinet.com
http://www.knight-moore.com/partners/partnerindex.htm -- bio
http://www.knight-moore.com/projects/GSTF.html -- about GSTF

Touraj Rahimi
President
Schools Online (formerly Projectneat)
1735 N. 1st Street, Suite 101
San Jose, CA 95112 USA
408-501-0789 (direct)
408-821-6666 (mobil)
408-501-0770 (main)
650-787-2569
fax (408) 501-0771
touraj@schoolsonline.org
info@schoolsonline.org
http://www.schoolsonline.org
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education) *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of *
* Global University System (GUS) *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *
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**********************************************************************

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