[kictanet] Fwd: [Idlelo2] Google and East african Universities

Sun Apr 15 11:56:54 EAT 2007

Joe, Judy et. al.

Please excuse the length of my response but I fear our common want for brevity (to avoid information overloads:-) too often compromises on thoroughness especially for those inclined to attention to detail and on an issue so dear. 

I have borrowed some info from  the Kenya Linux "skunkworks" mailing list. 

Many thanks.

Alex 

 Joseph Manthi <jmanthi at gmail.com> wrote:  
>How can East Africans be excited by being given something that is absolutely >free to everyone else throughout the world. 
>

Not exactly! though and understandably, early Gmail adapters we may be excused for taking it granted. 

<snip>
"As is Google's practice, the company has not said when the beta period will
end, but Gogh said the company is working on a "premium version" of Google
Apps for Education for which there will be a charge.
<snip>

Allow me to elaborate further because cost or "free" is at the core.

*Suppose* one wants 200 Kenya schools (Internauts clubs) to have 
have web presence calling for ".ke" domain registrations and hosting 
services. 

AFAIK end user registration cost for every .ke domain is shs 3,500/= 
(or US$ 50.00),  annual domain budget thus would be ksh 700,000/= 
or US$ 10,000.00.

The cheapest local annual hosting per domain is kshs 5,000/= or 
US$ 70 thus for 200 domains I would have to budget for 1 million 
shillings which is over US$ 14,000.00.

Besides an annual saving of 1.7 million being a compelling enough 
reason to be interested in google support, they offer free online 
support services to educational institutions. I would also save on 
ISPs "maintenance fees" and use of free google templates would 
save on website developments costs. 

Going by Gmail's success at nabbing spam, parents would be more 
comfortable instructing google to filter undesirable content.

Would these would be reason enough for me to contemplate google 
support for the 200 schools? 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

[Canarie News]

Date: Jan 3, 2007 6:32 PM
Subject: [CAnet - news] More universities switch to Google mail and calendar services

[Here is another example following UoArizona of how universities and
enterprises are switching to e-mail and other services offered by Google and
Amazon (for grid services), etc.  In fact Mark Gaynor predicted this trend
several years ago in a seminal paper "The Real Options Approach to
Network-based Service Architecture" where he argued that as innovative
applications matured on the Internet they would migrate from an edge based
services to a centrally managed service. At the time, most of us thought
that the telephone company would be the natural supplier of such services -
but they have been largely displaced in that market by companies like
Google, Amazon, etc. Of course, as more universities and institutions move
to Google and Amazon for these types of services it may have a major impact
on the research network architectures i.e having your own dedicated network
pipe to the nearest Google, Amazon server complex. Thanks to Rene Hatem and
André Quenneville for this pointer. Some excerpts from the IT business
article -- BSA]

Mark Gaynor's paper:
http://www.canarie.ca/conferences/advnet2001/gaynor.ppt

IT Business article
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=41761

*Server crash spurs Lakehead to speed up Gmail rollout*

*Staff switch over more than 38,000 e-mail accounts in three days*

The university in Thunder Bay, Ont., knew it needed a new e-mail system and
had spent several months looking at alternatives before settling on the
online application suite from Mountain View, Calif.-based Google Inc.

Lakehead switched over 38,000 e-mail accounts to Google Gmail in three days,
with almost no interruption to service.
Google also helped out with some extra customer support during the
high-pressure changeover, though Kevin Gogh, enterprise product manager at
Google, said there was "nothing that (reached) extraordinary levels."

Besides replacing Lakehead's tottery old e-mail system, the conversion
brought some added benefits. Because it is getting the whole suite for no
charge and it is entirely hosted by Google rather than on university
hardware, the university expects to save $2 million to $3 million a year on
maintenance and about $6 million annually on infrastructure.

And, Jafri said, students, staff and faculty now get 2GB each of storage
space, versus 60MB with the old system. In addition, he expects Google to
deliver 99 per cent availability. "It's very hard for us to get to that
level of availability."

Now fully operational on Gmail, Lakehead still has some work to do on other
aspects of the conversion. This month, the university will be converting
from an ageing in-house calendaring system to the Web calendaring facility
included in Google Apps.

The suite also includes a Web chat capability, and the company will probably
add other features, Gogh said. "Our goal with Google Apps for Education is
to provide a very rich set of communication tools."
The suite has been available free of charge under a beta program since late
summer, he said, and universities and colleges that adopt it during that
beta period will never have to pay.

As is Google's practice, the company has not said when the beta period will
end, but Gogh said the company is working on a "premium version" of Google
Apps for Education for which there will be a charge.

  [skunkworks]
 Please look up this link:

 <http://skunkworks-ke.blogspot.com/2007/03/google-in-kenya.html>

 Question: "will Google be bringing in some servers to cache this offering locally ?
 Coz otherwise it just increases the cost for the university - they have to buy more satellite bandwidth to access the apps remotely."

 Google Answer: "Thanks for all the comments. Suffice it to say that both of Riyaz's concerns (see comment #1) are being addressed so no worries there."

----ends-----

Joseph Manthi <jmanthi at gmail.com> wrote: How can East Africans be excited by being given something that is absolutely free to everyone else throughout the world. 

I can get into these apps without any special previleges. 

You know what they say - you pay for what you get. In this case google.com is giving UoN and other colleges nothing that anyone else does not already have.

 On 4/14/07, Judy Okite <judyokite at gmail.com> wrote: Joe,

 I hope that this links will give you a better insight,in regards to your question.

 http://www.google.com/a/edu/
 http://www.dashes.com/anil/2006/08/28/google_office_g

 Kind Regards,

On 4/10/07, jmanthi at gmail.com  <jmanthi at gmail.com> wrote: Members
How is this different from anywhere else in the whole wide world. These tools that seem to be exciting people is available to anyone who can access google.com anywhere in the world.

How is this a benefit to these colleges?

Joe
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry 

-----Original Message-----
From: "Judy Okite" < judyokite at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:14:45
To:Joseph Manthi < jmanthi at gmail.com>
Subject: [kictanet] Fwd: [Idlelo2] Google and East african Universities 

This really looks good !

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dapo Ladimeji <dapo at ladimeji.co.uk >
Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:04:08 +0100
Subject: [Idlelo2] Google and East african Universities 
To: idlelo2 at fossfa.net

  East African universities to gain from web tools deal

The deal will give more students access to communication technologies 
Kimani Chege 
26 March 2007
Source: SciDev.Net

[NAIROBI] A software deal signed between universities in East Africa and
the US-based internet giant Google will improve access to web-based
communications for staff and students. 

Under the deal, Rwanda's government ministries and three Rwandan
universities — the National University of Rwanda, the Kigali Institute
for Education and the Kigali Institute for Science and Technology — as 
well as Kenya's University of Nairobi (UoN) will have free access to
Google Apps.

The applications include email, shared calendars, instant messaging and
word processing software, along with the associated support services 
provided by the corporation.

The deal, signed last week (19 March), looks set to improve internal
communications at UoN and facilitate research, particularly for studies
undertaken in remote areas.

  The head of information and communication technology at UoN, Elijah
Omwenga, says the email application Gmail will be particularly useful in
reducing the bandwidth required for internal communications by its
50,000 students and staff. 

He told SciDev.Net that the institution was facing major challenges in
acquiring enough bandwidth.

"This means our students and staff can access mail from the campuses as
well as from outside. This will facilitate communicating all research, 
even when it is being done in remote areas," said Omwenga.

However, he called for Google to come up with specific details of the
offer, so that Google and the UoN can develop research schemes geared
  towards Africa's needs — such as developing software in local languages
and making it more relevant to the local audience.

About 20,000 users in Rwanda will have access to Google Apps in the
first phase. This will be followed by a broader countrywide introduction. 

Students at UoN will be the first to use Google Apps in Kenya. Software
access will then be extended to 150,000 Kenyan students at universities
across the country.

A Google spokesperson told the International Data Group News Service, 
"We are exploring other opportunities in both countries, and throughout
the region as well."

*Related SciDev.Net articles:*
Zambia announces ICT training centre for scientists
<  http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=3453&language=1>
Web 2.0 can benefit the world's poor
<  http://www.scidev.net/Opinions/index.cfm?fuseaction=readOpinions&itemid=572&language=1>
ICT for development: hope or hype?
<  http://www.scidev.net/Opinions/index.cfm?fuseaction=readOpinions&itemid=537&language=1>

*Related links:*
University of Nairobi < http://www.uonbi.ac.ke>
 National University of Rwanda <http://www.nur.ac.rw/>

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