HOUSTON - If developing nations, school systems and communities are going to eliminate the enormous barriers to delivering technology to their citizens for education and economic development, governments must deploy new technology delivery models, Simdesk Technologies' President and CEO Louis Waters told attendees at the North America W2i Digital Cities Convention in Los Angeles, May 24 - 26. W2i is an independent think tank that brings together some of the world's most well-respected and sought after thought leaders from leading technology companies.
At the W2i conference, Waters represented Simdesk as one of a select group of technology experts invited to attend a roundtable discussion about bridging the digital divide and chaired a panel on neighborhood portals. Waters provided W2i participants with insight and key learnings from Simdesk's work in creating new models for delivering information technology to entire populations of people, regardless of geographic or socio-economic barriers.
"When people have affordable access to technology, they develop capabilities that lead to better jobs and a better quality of life," Waters said. "Without access to technology, underserved populations are locked out of a growing number of opportunities. This is Simdesk's primary mission. Our on-demand delivery model dramatically lowers the cost of technology and enables governments to deploy population-wide technology initiatives for economic development and education."
Cities such as Chicago and Houston, the state of Indiana, and government agencies in Vietnam and Brazil have already deployed Simdesk community computing initiatives to give residents access to technology regardless of their income. For a fraction of the cost of a traditional IT infrastructure, citizens have secure access to the only integrated suite of on-demand file, print, messaging and groupware services delivered across the Internet.
Simdesk's on-demand delivery model levels the playing field for accessing technology, meaning that all citizens can have the tools to connect to the greater community - to create, store, share and retrieve information without requiring expensive and complex infrastructure and licensing schemes. Information is saved on secure and redundant servers, so personal data is private and never lost.
With Simdesk, citizens can securely reach their e-mail and save documents, files and other information from any computer, including those found in community centers and libraries. The ability to access an account from anywhere also means users don't need to store data on portable disks, which can be lost or damaged in transit. With this new approach to delivering technology efficiently and cost effectively, Simdesk is rewriting the rules for IT and is leading the transition away from expensive and complex infrastructure toward the delivery of private, secure services on-demand as a utility on a population-wide scale.
About Simdesk
Simdesk Technologies, Inc. delivers enterprise-class computing on a population scale, transforming the technology landscape for individuals and small businesses. Simdesk is leading the evolution from expensive infrastructure toward private services that are available without economic and technological barriers. Simdesk's on-demand computing services provide the world's only integrated suite of file, print, messaging and groupware services across the Internet. With Simdesk, data and resources can be securely accessed, stored and shared across applications, platforms, and devices. The company's worldwide headquarters is located in Houston, Texas. For more information, visit www.simdesk.com.
About W2i
W2i is an independent think tank bringing together stakeholders around the world to accelerate the adoption of wireless Internet in support of universal connectivity for economic, social and educational development.
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