Girish's Blog

I've just spent a week in Bangalore talking and hearing about connectivity for emerging countries. Living in the United States, one takes many things for granted - water, power, transportation and most importantly connectivity which has become an essential utility. Most emerging countries lack the capability or the will to deliver water, power and transportation to their citizens. However, a large number of organizations are coming up with innovative low-cost solutions to provide connectivity in the hope that this digital inclusion will mitigate the effects of lacking the other three utilities. There have been a number of stories in the local press about Tata Communications launching the world's largest WiMAX network (another company in the group recently launched the world's cheapest car). Inspite of the hype, the state of connectivity is abysmal - there are only 2.9 million broadband connections: a penetration rate of almost 0.25 % However, hidden behind all this brou...

One of the advantages of being a "lesser developed country" or a "developing country" or an "emerging market" (pick your favorite nomenclature) is that new technologies can be deployed without having to worry about support for legacy deployments. Now, thousands of patients in rural Tamil Nadu are receiving treatment thanks to a WiFi deployment that is a collaboration between Aravind Eye Hospital, Intel and University of California, Berkeley. This allows eye specialists at Aravind Eye Hospital at Theni to interview and examine patients in five remote clinics via a high-quality video conference. Aravind Eye Hospital has a strategy of bringing disruptive technologies into medical treatment for the masses. A recent update on the deployment is available at Livemint . Fast Company has a great profile on the the founder of Aravind Eye Hospital Dr. G.Venkataswamy .