Made in India PC for just about $ 100

In a previous post i posed the question could China or India spur the next wave of Server Based Computing. It looks like India may the first. Novatium announced an ambitious plan to provide as a subscription service its Net PC to 10 million users over the next 5 years. Combine this announcement with India government planning to make broadband widely available and you have an environment for SBC growth. The subscription service is targeted at 400 rupees (about 10 USD) per month. Below is the release from The Hindu News Update Service.

New Delhi, April 29 (PTI): While global computing giants like IBM and AMD are yet to give shape to their ambitious plans for a computer that costs 100 dollars or less, an Indian company has already set its eyes on 10 million potential customers with its up-and-running PC priced at Rs 4,500 only.

The machine, launched by Chennai-based Novatium Solutions in 2004, costs a little over 100 dollars as of today in the US currency, thanks to the depreciation in the greenback, but it was priced at less than 100 dollars till a few months back.

Novatium is targeting 10 million users in the next five years for this innovative product, company CEO Alok Singh told PTI from Chennai.

The company has already started a successful commercial pilot for its NetPC computer in Chennai, he said.

"Since our trial was commercial in nature, we plan to stick to it. Going forward, we plan to expand into 6-7 big cities in the next year. Some of our immediate plans are going into two new cities in this quarter and two more in the next quarter," Singh said.

Novatium was co-founded by US-based Analog Devices chairman Ray Stata, Netcore Solutions managing director Rajesh Jain and professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT Madras.

The company's NetPC works on a "thin client" concept. This is a small box and does not contain any software or application. It is linked to a central server, which hosts all applications.

"Network PC (NetPC) costs around 100 dollars (less than Rs 4,400) and along with a monthly subscription of around Rs 400, it provides you with internet connection and almost everything like authentic softwares, applications etc," Singh said.

"The use of mobile chips forms the basis of our low-cost computer model," he added.

NetPC is probably one of the very few successful attempts when a company has been able to replicate a business model that combines philanthropy with sound economic sense.

US-based business software giant Oracle Corporation's founder Larry Ellison had mooted the idea of a low-cost network computer way back in 1990, while Nicholas Negroponte, the former director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Labs, has been long outlining designs for a sub-100 dollar computer.

In 2005, chip maker AMD also ventured out in the low-cost computing space and similarly, while Intel is also investigating ways to make low-cost PCs available in Eastern Europe, India and other developing areas.

When Negroponte, now heading the ambitious non-profit global project One Laptop Per Child, first unveiled his 100 dollar computer model in 2005, the computing legend Bill Gates scoffed it for not being a "decent machine."

Things have changed a lot since then and when Negroponte revealed the machine finally last week, it turned out to be running on Microsoft's operating system, Windows XP Starter Edition.

However, the cost of the product coming out from One Laptop Per Child, designed for school children in developing countries, has been put at 175 dollars -- which is quite higher than that of the Indian NetPC product.

According to experts, the price of softwares especially operating systems and expensive add-ons ramps up the price of desktop computers. This has a domino effect and when it finally arrives to the end-user it costs at least 300-400 dollars (Rs 14,000 -17,500).

"While TV and mobile phone penetration has gone up by leaps and bounds, computing is nowhere. A way to increase computer users in the country could be by making computers at a less cost and then offering the same at a lesser price," Singh said.

Novatium devices support all the common network operating systems, namely, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Solaris 9 and 10, Red Hat Linux and other Linux distributions.

"The company has tied-up with various partners and is planning to ramp up operations soon," Singh said.

"Due to our business-model we had to tie up with partners that take care of content applications, server applications, he said, adding that these partners provide critical links for our personal computer network.

"The challenge for my company is to bring in new users and with the kind of targets we have set, we are confident more and more people will use NetPC," Singh said.

Will keep you posted as to who are the partners. The news release does not mention any of them by name.

Until the next post,

Steve