Cisco’s ‘Dwara’ to connect educators
Cisco Technologies announced the launch of the Cisco Education Enabled Development (CEED), a collaborative, cloud-based video interaction solution that will enable efficient delivery of education and skills development courses.
Named Dwara, after the Sanskrit word for portal to signify a doorway to a new future, this is Cisco’s first foray into the ‘Internet of everything’ solutions.
Dwara will allow educators in rural areas to connect with experts and trainers from urban centres.
According to a release from Cisco, CEED hardware is designed for harsh environments where temperature and dust can be high. It is energy efficient and uses 40 per cent less power, and thus ideal for rural environments.
“With a built-in router that also acts as a Wi-Fi access point, a computer and a projection device, this solution allows multiple students using devices like the Akash tablet that the [Union government] is trying to develop, to share a single Internet connection. It can also facilitate connections to well-known education portals such as the one produced by the National Information Centre,” the release said.
Aravind Sitaraman, president, Inclusive Growth, Cisco, said: “CEED is Cisco’s first step towards bringing inclusive growth to rural areas using the latest technology at extremely affordable prices. It has the potential to revolutionise learning and skills development in this country. We are very proud to have developed this product from our site in India and simultaneously realise our vision to bring cost of technology in education down to a very affordable $1 per child per month.”
Managing network infra, remotely
HP Education Services and the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, (IIITB) announced new IT infrastructure certificate programs for undergraduate students across the country.
According to a release, students can explore careers in the growing remote infrastructure management industry. Remote infrastructure management technology includes management of workstations, communications and networking hardware and software, and applications.
Certificate programmes in integrated networks, network security and cloud networking would be offered, the release added.
S. Sadagopan, director, IIITB, said: “The Indian remote infrastructure management industry currently employs more than 1 lakh people and National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOMM) expects demand for resources to more than triple by 2015. Indian undergraduates in the networking certificate programs can build their IT skill set, therefore ensuring a steady stream of skilled workers for the industry.”
For details, log on to www.hp.com/in/education
Emergency alert system for women
On Women’s Day, telecom service provider Bharti Airtel launched a solution that aims at making women feel safe. The emergency alerts solution allows customers to send an alert with their geographical location to 10 close contacts, with just one call, facilitating access to easy and quick help. Subscribers can even send a ‘safe’ SMS indication to a pre-defined group of 10 to keep them informed of their well-being with just one click, a release from Airtel said.
This facility can be accessed using feature phones or dialling 55100 (toll free).
In the week following Women’s Day, this service will be available for free.
New tablet on the block
Indian tablet maker Pantel Technologies has launched another tablet PC, the Penta T-pad WS708c, an Android-powered tablet with a 7-inch capacitive touch screen.
Priced at around Rs. 7,000, it comes with free 3D goggles allowing the user to enjoy uninterrupted 3D viewing, a release from the company stated.
In the release, Vijender Singh, managing director, Pantel Technologies, said: “It gives me immense pleasure to announce the latest gadget, laden with an assortment of exciting features that are fine tuned to our consumers’ demands.”
