Every school in SA could have 100 computers within four years, says Cloudware

Application delivery company Cloudware says every school in South Africa could have 100 Internet-connected computers within four years - and it would cost no more than what the government is already planning to spend on a private cloud alone.

"According to the Children's Institute at UCT, South Africa has 26 000 schools and 12.2 million learners, an average of about 470 per school," says Cloudware's head of product Jonathan Young. "With technology available right now, we could provide one computer for every four children within four years. With affordable solar power and satellite connectivity, that includes even the most remote schools; there's no need to wait for new buildings and Eskom electricity supply. The government seems to be assuming that giving our children access to this life-changing technology is beyond our reach as a country, but it really doesn't have to be that difficult. It can be done."

"We believe the government has budgeted almost R16 billion to build a national private cloud for schools," says Young. "But for a budget allocation that big, they could get a lot more. Are we as a nation going to pay more than we should, just because that's what's in the budget?"

Young says Cloudgate, a desktop replacement system Cloudware launched earlier this year, is just one example of the innovative technologies that could be applied. "Cloudgate delivers all the functionality of a traditional desktop PC at a fraction of the cost. You simply plug in a screen, mouse and keyboard to a hand-sized device and you have not only a full Android operating system, but also access to any Windows application based on the central server."

Bandwidth is not a constraint, he says: "This whole product is designed for low-bandwidth environments, so it works over a slow cellular connection or via satellite. And Cloudgate devices draw just 10W of power - the same as an energy-saving lightbulb - so using solar power is entirely feasible."

"We could start putting state-of-the-art computer technology in schools tomorrow, and in four years cover the whole country," says Young. "No doubt, government will say it's not that simple - but why not? There are even major international players who are prepared to offer access to amazing technology for free, no strings attached.[a] Yet government IT still seems to be stuck in an old mindset that everything has to be slow, difficult and expensive. It's frustrating to see the gap between what is possible and what South Africa is actually getting."