State of the Art

Skill and Enterprise Centre

We intend to build a entre at Guwahati, Assam equiped with state of the art ICT, audio-visual, and  mulltimedia   facilities to serve as a nerve centre for all our capacity-building initiatives. This is a draft consultation for your comments and suggestions. Please do contact us if you have a suggestion or would like to get involved.

The Concept

The idea is to eventually develop a network supporting capacity-building intiatives throughout the region directed at human resources development (equipping individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training that enable them to perform effectively) to outreach the vulnerable communities who would benefit from support provided by the centres. We will achieve this by developing and supporting affiliated satellite centres run by grass root organisations. The network will be managed professionally based on rules of good governance expected of any successfull organisation.

The Centre (and eventually the network)  will

1. help civic actors (e.g., civil activists, members of the Panchayaati Raj Institutions) to develop necessary skills which in turn will enable them to influence public policy decision and discharge their responsibility of office efficiently
2. run seminars, workshops and short courses (e.g., aimed at helping to achieve acredited certification) to help develop professional skills and entrepreneurship helping youths to prosper in todays competetive environment and take advantage of the global market place via new technology
3. provide students, teachers and civic players affordable access to e-services, scholarly content and information such as research literature, database and utilities
4. develop and support relevant 'e-courses' and 'distance learning' through affiliation with universities such as such Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNU)
5. develop low-cost ICT toolsets for enterprises, civil society governance and learning applications
6. encourage networking to empower civil society particularly  engaging experts from the region who are working outside the region within India or abroad
7. provide ICT support for the non-profit sector, enabling these organisations to take full advantage of new technologies to increase productivity and efficiency
8. support and facilitate research seeking solution to local problems
9. identify, provide consultacy to and also faciliate replicable pilot projects aimed at building local capacity in critical areas

The centre will, in essence, be a sate of the art 'open learning centre'. Another strategic objectives of the project is to create a community of volunteers with neecssary skills not only to help run the centre and its affiliates but also to embark on 'capacity building' initiatives and pilot projects that are easily replicable by others.

Infrastructure

Using Open Source technology, it’s actually possible to create a competitive IT infrastructure at very low costs. Linux-based X terminals are well known for making computing affordable, for giving a second life to old hardware and for lightening administrative burdens.

The centre will use 'free & open source' software ensuring value for your donation. The implementation of LTSP also keep the option of providing a MS Window platform using only one licence which is affordable.

A cluster of 44 computers will be built using Linux Terminal Server Project (at ratio of 1 sever to 22 clients), a technology that allows cost effective implementation of highly efficient computer cluster.

In addition, the centre will have 4 multipurpose rooms (configuarabe to 1 0r 2 large conference rooms) for workshop, meeting or conference with audio-visual aids.

In due course, this nodal centre will be linked with the satellite centre via vedeo-conferencing.

The implementation of this centre, particularly the computer cluster based on LTSP, itself will be a great pilot with the potential for deployment at other institutions.

Governance

The centre will strive to be a model of good governance. The centre will be run by a full time executive officer with a small number of core support staff using technology following the principles of good governance. Paper based work will be kept to minimum with the help of digital technology. A programme will be run offering internship and fellowship not only to support the centre but also to provide valuable work experience to the participants.

Overall responsibility will lie with a management team comprising of a director and his/her deputies (programme development, uman resources management, technology support, public relation and income generation). A team of experts (paid and volunteers) panel will be formed drawing from local higher educational institutions, government agencies, private sectors and abroad to act as consultants,  and run courses, workshops and seminars.

Many private educational ventures are running in the city charging students exorbitant fee for basic computer and other skill oriented courses, often with very minimal facilities. 50% of all our services will be reserved for participants from rural areas and low income groups and offered absolutely free of cost. It is envisaged that the centre will be able to generate enough revenue to support its charitable objectives at not-for-profit basis. The centre will also provide incentives  and finacial help to youths from deprived background to encourage them to participate in skill building courses, workshops and seminars.

It is expected that donations, grants and profit generated from the services will support centre's charitable activities.

In due course, if considered appropriate, the ecntre witll explore and seek avenueus for private partnership with local business who may be interested to train their own workforce to increase productivity.

Budget

Total Capital Expenditure: Rs.17,00,000/ (£21,250.00)
Recurring (Monthly): Rs.50,000/ (£625.00)

Details

Hardware:
1. 2 x HP ProLiant ML115 G5 - Dual-Core Opteron 2.2GHz £610 at £305.46
2. 12(2 x 6) HP memory - 1 GB - DDR II - 450259-B21 £408 at £34.04 each (The server comes with only 512 MB RAM, so requires 6GB additional RAM to support 22 clients with a generous allocation 256Mb per client plus 1GB to the server)
3. 2 x NETGEAR ProSafe 24 Port Gigabit Smart Managed Switch £435 at £217.36
4. 1 Belkin Dual Form Factor Battery Backup 1500VA £141.15
5. 1 Freecom 1TB Network Drive 7200RPM USB2/LAN 8MB NAS £130
6. 44 x 19" TFT Monitor 1440x900 700:1 300cd/m2 5ms Built in Speakers £3872 at £88
7. 44 x Foxconn A6VMX AMD 690V Socket AM2 onboard VGA 6 channel audio mATX Motherboard  £1295 (at £29.43) 
8. 44 x AMD Sempron 3000+ 1.6GHz Socket AM2 L2 256KB Cache OEM Processor  £884 (at £20.09)
9. 44 x EV Shiny Piano Black/Silver Slim MicroATX Mini Tower Case - With 400W PSU 20+4pin, 1x SATA, 1x PCI-E £1320 (at £29.99)
10. 44 x D-Link DGE-528T 10 / 100 / 1000Mbps Copper Gigabit PCI Card £458 (at 10.41)
11. 4 x laptops £1200 (£300)
12. 44 x clients (Micro ATX motherboard, P3 or Sempron, 56 MB RAM, no hard disk) Rs. 176,000 (at Rs.4000)

Software:
Free and Open Source

Peripherals and Equipements:
1. 1 x HP Colour LaserJet CP1515n - Network-ready Colour Laser Printer £180
2. 4 x Optoma ES520 SVGA Projector - 2600 Ansi Lumens £1000 (£250)

Total: (£12,630 + Rs. 176,000) Rs.12,00,000 (at exchange rate 1GBP = Rs.80/)
Furniture:
Rs.500,000/

Total Capital Expenditure: Rs.19,00,000/

Recurring (Monthly)
1. Rent: Rs.20,000/
2. Salary: Rs.30,000/
3. Miscelleneous (electricity, water, office supplies): Rs.10,000/

Recurring Total (monthly): Rs.50,000 including salary and premise (4000² feet)

Technical References:
http://www.playingwithwire.com/2007/08/building-a-modern-it-infrastructure-for-a-small-company-10-clients-with-a-sub-3000-budget/
http://www.tuxwatch.com/category/linux-in-education/
http://math.univ-lille1.fr/~hafidi/terminal-services/index.html
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=273697
http://wiki.ltsp.org/twiki/bin/view/Ltsp/WebHome
http://www.hanoilug.org/dokuwiki/projects:ltsp:edubuntu
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9097
http://www.reallylinux.com/docs/setupltsp.shtml