<<July 15, 2000>>
Archived distributions can be retrieved
by clicking on the top lines of our home page
at <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/>.
Hwa A. Lim <hal@d-trends.com>
Dr Mir Asghar Husain <ma.husain@unesco.org>
Khalid Moidu, M.D., Ph.D. <kmoidu@hotmail.com>
Edward Dodds <dodds@home.com>
Uli Knirsch <Uli.Knirsch@Intelsat.int>
"Kellett, Richard" <kellett@ITS.GONZAGA.EDU>
John L. Mack, CEO <jlmack@erols.com>
Gary Garriott <garyg@vita.org>
Dr. Joseph N. Pelton <ecjpelton@aol.com>
Peter T. Knight, Ph.D. <ptknight@attglobal.net>
Pius Aggrey Omondi <ucrc@swiftkisumu.com>
John B. Rose <j.rose@unesco.org>
Emilio Vento <evento@unido.org>
John Senyo C. Afele, Ph.D <jafele@plant.uoguelph.ca>
Dear John Mack and Electronic Colleagues:
=========================================
(1) Many thanks for your msgs in response to my distribution
of
"Market survey questionnaire to rescue Iridium - July
11, 2000"
which can be retrieved at
<http://www.friends-partners.org/~utsumi/gu-l/mid-2000/7-11-a.html>.
ATTACHMENT I from Hwa A. Lim
ATTACHMENT II from Dr Mir Asghar Husain
Dear Khalid:
============
Many thanks for your kind introduction to him, your cousin.
ATTACHMENT III from Edward Dodds
ATTACHMENT IV from Uli Knirsch
ATTACHMENT V from Kellett, Richard
ATTACHMENT VI from Pius Aggrey Omondi
Dear John:
==========
(2) A few of excerpts on minutes rates from AT&T's phone
bills we received
in the past months (though it depends on the time of the
day for the
phone call made);
Country 1999 2000
Austria 1.90 .29
Japan 1.78 .16
Ukraine 2.18 .37
I recall my phone call to Japan almost 50 years ago by
shortwave through
ionosphere as voice faded-in/-out, yet costing almost $6.00/minutes.
This is the astonishing cost reduction!!.
Thanks to the packet-switching technology invented in
early 1960s by
Paul Baran (which is the basis of current Internet), one
of our list
members, the phone cost is rapidly dropping. Some people
predict it to
become almost near zero in the near future, as the NET2PHONE
of Internet
telephony.
Therefore, A domestic long distance retail rate of approximately
$0.20
per minute and international rates at approximately $1.00"
which John
Mack proposed in the last distribution may still be high,
especially for
those people in rural/remote areas in developing countries
-- where the
Iridium has the advantage since there is no adequate analog
telephone
networks yet, and it covers almost anywhere on the globe.
However, compared with cellular phone, Iridium's
handset can be
used only out-door where it can aim to Iridium satellite
and
cannot be used in-door. This will be a serious disadvantage.
(3) Therefore, I would think that the best way to utilize
the defunct
Iridium would be with email for humanitarian purpose, with
a dixie cup
antenna on the roof of schools/hospitals in those areas at
$900 and
'mini-gateway' placed in each country, at a cost of less
than $8000 (as
John Mack proposed) which is to be connected to backbone
Internet
through terrestrial networks.
This is in a sense what Gary proposed at the first
place. He
sees the advantage of Iridium which can cover around
the world,
compared with time consuming store-and-forward emailing.through
his Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellite.
If you add your idea of broadband downlinking with
WorldSpace
satellite, people in those areas can leapfrog to the
21st century.
(4) Then, next would be its maintenance cost.
WordTel Satellite Services, LLC people said during our
6/20th workshop
that it would be about $8 million per year which is much
less than
previous estimates.
The life of Iridium is said 5 years. It can act as an
interim until
broadband digital satellite will be available in the 5 years
time, for
which Joe's and Peter's Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF)
will hopefully work out.
Dear Richard:
=============
(5) Pls elaborate your viewpoint.
Dear Ed:
========
(6) Thanks for your kind offer.
(7) If you would like to store only the questionnaires of
my distribution
mentioned above into your web, pls contact John Mack for
his permission.
Dear Pius:
==========
(8) The recent Apple enews The virtual Africa office"
<http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2000/06/gorillas/index2.html>
reports the use of GSM satellite with Apple/Macintosh/laptop/GSM
wireless modem to collaboratively work with scientists around
the world
(as if they were working together on a network in an office")
for the
ecology of mountain gorillas in borders of Congo, Uganda
and Rwanda.
They are using this connection for not only emailing and
accessing web
around the world, but also sending digital photos, etc.,
using a hard
drive storage space at Apple free of charge.
Incidentally, I visited your web with great interest.
One of the
papers was not accessible since the storage quota was
exceeded.
You may use Apple's storage space (up to 60 M), if you
use Apple machine.
For your community approach, you may contact John Rose
of UNESCO -- he
may have good suggestion to you.
Contact also Emilio Vento of UNIDO since they are considering
to set up
distance learning program for their people in Kenya, Mozambique,
Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
You may also contact John Afele of the University of Guelph
since he is
planning to have a workshop next February at his university
to initiate
the creation of Global University System/Africa/Ghana.
Pls visit our web sites in ATTACHMENT VII, particularly
"Global
broadband Internet networks." Should you wish to use
some of those
technologies, pls contact me further.
Dear John Mack and Electronic Colleagues:
=========================================
(9) Do you know anything about the GSM connection with wireless modem?
This may be enough for the initial use of the people in
rural/remote
area of developing countries -- instead of using Iridium
for emailing
and downloading web pages.
Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 13:09:29 -0400
From: hal@d-trends.com
To: utsumi@friends-partners.org
Subject: Re: Market survey questionaire to rescue Iridium
========================================
<<July 15, 2000>> Removed here by T. Utsumi,
========================================
> QUESTIONNAIRE
>
> 1) Name of Organization.
D'Trends, Inc.
2570 San Ramon Valley Boulevard
P.S. Business Park, A203
San Ramon, California 94583-1673
> 2) How do you currently connect to rural/remote partners/customers/client
> areas?
Phone, fax, and email.
> 3) Current monthly usage of remote voice telecommunications
(in minutes).
100 minutes, plus minus.
> 4) Average cost per minute.
Most expensive,
India $1.00
China $0.59
> 5) Desirability/ability to utilize rescued Iridium for worldwide
access, if
> cost-per-minute is less and quality is the same or better.
Depends. Need dependability, easy of access, and economical.
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:57:02 -0400
From: "Husain, Mir Asghar" <Ma.Husain@unesco.org>
To: utsumi@friends-partners.org
Subject: RE: Market survey questionaire to rescue Iridium
Dear Mr. Utsumi
Let me just thank you for this massive information network
and
exchange. Its advantage really lies in our being kept abreast
with all
these developments although we might not be participating in many
of the
activities. This information in itself helps us to generate new
ideas in our daily work.
Good luck and best regards
Mir Asghar Husain
****************************************
ATTACHMENT III
From: "Ed Dodds" <ed_dodds@hotmail.com>
To: utsumi@columbia.edu
Subject: Market survey questionaire to rescue Iridium
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 11:40:47 CDT
Tak:
Is there a way on of your associate could put the survey up
on the web so
that it will populate a database? It would be a lot easier if
we could
publicize a URL which folks could go to in order to complete it.
If not, and
you think its a good idea, I'd be glad to do it on my home server
this evening.
Ed Dodds
****************************************
ATTACHMENT IV
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 16:53:42 -0400
From: Uli.Knirsch@Intelsat.int
To: utsumi@friends-partners.org
Subject: RE: Market survey questionaire to rescue Iridium
Tak, all,
Thanks for the questionnaire. I think the responses would
be a lot easier
to analyze if there were fixed pricing figures. I would assume
$1/min
(domestic) and $2/min (international), but you might want to do
some price
sensitivity analysis. It's not going to be cell phone rates,
though.
On the hardware costs: $900/fixed unit is very ambitious,
but not entirely
impossible. $8000 for a 'mini-gateway however is unrealistic.
A 4 channel
"MXU" (permanently installed unit to be hooked up to
a PBX) did already cost
$16,000. A Gateway is quite a different animal, e.g. supports
billing etc.
In addition, landing the calls within a country and then using
landlines
would likely increase the total call costs and introduce unreliability.
I'd
recommend to move away from that concept.
Iridium is the only GMSS that could be run with a single gateway.
Herein
lie significant cost advantages that the company has not been
able to tap into (yet).
Regards, Uli Knirsch
****************************************
ATTACHMENT V
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 09:04:14 -0700
Sender: Video Network Discussion List <VIDNET-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: "Kellett, Richard" <kellett@ITS.GONZAGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Market survey questionaire to rescue Iridium
(fwd)
To: VIDNET-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
I believe Iridium was a bad setup to begin with.
Let it go.
****************************************
ATTACHMENT VI
From: "UGUNJA COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTRE" <ucrc@swiftkisumu.com>
To: <utsumi@columbia.edu>
Subject: enquiry
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 07:10:32 +0300
Sir/Madam
We are looking for organisations which can support community telecentres
in
the rural area of Western Kenya. We would wish to use these services
to
establish market information systems, trainings, Geographic information
systems, technology designs, etc.
Visit our website at: http://users.bigpond.com/ucrc
for information about us.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Pius Aggrey Omondi
****************************************
ATTACHMENT VII
Reference web sites (As of July 12, 2000)
1. GLOSAS/USA
2. Tampere conference (Finland, August 1999)
3. Global University System:
4. Global University System Asia-Pacific Framework
5. Global broadband Internet networks
6. Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF):
7. Manaus workshop
Return to Global University System Mid-2000 Correspondence
List of Distribution
Hwa A. Lim
Ph.D., MBA, MA [USA], B.Sc. (Hons), ARCS, [UK]
Chairman and CEO
D'Trends, Inc.
2570 San Ramon Valley Boulevard
P.S. Business Park, Suite A203
San Ramon, California 94583-1673
USA
Tel: (925) 355 9180
(925) 355 9181
Fax: (925) 355 9182
(925) 830 1790
hal@d-trends.com
http://www.d-trends.com
http://www.d-trends.com/knoasis.html
http://www.d-trends.com/hd-trends.html
http://www.scri.fsu.edu/~hlim
http://www.putpeel.net/peel/HAL.html
http://www.putpeel.net/peel/KnOasis.html
Dr Mir Asghar Husain
Director
Division for the Reconstruction and Development of Education Systems
UNESCO
ma.husain@unesco.org
Khalid Moidu, M.D., Ph.D.
Medical Cancer of Boston International, Inc.
Citadel Health
35, Sai Enclave
Road No 12
Banjara Hills
Hyderabad AP
India - 500 034
Tel: 91 40 330 2785
Fax: 1 707 221 0999
kmoidu@hotmail.com
mcbi@worldnet.att.net
Edward Dodds
Association for the Development of Religious Information Systems
(ADRIS)
PO Box 210735
Nashville TN 37221-0735
615-429-8744
Fax: 508-632-0370
dodds@home.com
http://members.home.com/dodds
www.ttalk.com
Uli Knirsch
Advanced System Development
INTELSAT
3400 International Drive, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008-3098
202 944 7164
Uli.Knirsch@Intelsat.int
"Kellett, Richard" <kellett@ITS.GONZAGA.EDU>
John L. Mack, CEO
John L. Mack & Associates
International Telecommunications Investment Consultant
P.O. Box 567
Upper Marlboro, MD 20772-0567
301-627-2188
Fax: 301-627-2188
jlmack@erols.com
Gary Garriott
Director, Informatics
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA)
1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 500
P.O. Box 12438
Arlington, VA 22209-8438
703-276-1800 X19
Fax: 703-243-1865
garyg@vita.org
vita@vita.org
ECONET: VITA
Telex: 440192 VITAUI
Cable: VITAINC
www.vita.org/satvitpo.htm -- Press release on Consorcio SAT/SatelLife/VITA
www.vita.org/consort.htm -- Press release on satellite-users coalition
www.vita.org/slife.htm -- Press release on SatelLife-VITA
Dr. Joseph N. Pelton
Senior Research Scientist
Institute for Applied Space Research, Rm 340
George Washington University
2033 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20052
202-994-5507
Fax: 202-994-5505
ecjpelton@aol.com
jpelton@seas.gwu.edu
Or,
Acting Executive Director of CITI
Vice-Chair of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation of the U.S. (ACCFUS)
Arthur C. Clark Institute for Telecommunication and Information
(CITI)
4025 40th Street North
Arlington, VA 22207
(703) 536-6985
ecjpelton@aol.com
http://www.informatics.org/clarke/index.html
http://www.informatics.org/clarke/projects.html
Peter T. Knight, Ph.D.
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)
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
Pius Aggrey Omondi
Coordinator
Ugunja Community Resource Centre
P.O. BOX 330
UGUNJA.KENYA
Telefax 254 334 34365
ucrc@swiftkisumu.com
http://users.bigpond.com/ucrc
John B. Rose
Information and Informatics Division
Division de l'Information et de l'Informatique
Communication Division
UNESCO
1 Rue Miollis
75732 PARIS Cedex 15
France
Tel: (33-1) 45 68 45 29
Fax: (33-1) 45 68 55 83
j.rose@unesco.org
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/infotech/infotech.htm
Emilio Vento
UNIDO-ICS Liaison Officer
UNITED NATIONS
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
Vienna International Centre
P.O. Box 300
A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: (+43-1)-26026-3726
Fax: (+43-1)-26026-6811
E-mail: evento@unido.org
John Senyo C. Afele, Ph.D
Director, International Program for Africa
Department of Plant Agriculture
Johnston Hall, Room 136
OAC Dean's Office
Ontario Agricultural College
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
Tel: +1-519-824-4120 ext 6419
Fax:+1-519-824-0870
cell:+1-519-831-4862
Fax: +1-519-763-8933
Email: jafele@plant.uoguelph.ca
jafele@uoguelph.ca
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~jafele/aki-bio.htm
**********************************************************************
* 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) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676
*
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/
*
**********************************************************************