Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd launches utility computing service

September 24th, 2007

BENGALURU, India â€” State-owned communication services provider Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. on Monday (Sept. 24) launched what it claims is the world’s first utility computing service. The service, which treats computing as a commodity rather than as a product, uses a low-cost home computing platform launched by Novatium (Chennai, India). Source: eetimes

The Novatium netPC costs $50 without a monitor, and $125 with a monitor. It is available at a monthly subscription fee of $10, including 30 hours of Internet access. So far, the service is only available in New Delhi.

Based on Novatium’s patented technology called Desktop Utility Delivery Model, the service was developed with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chennai.

The service will help deliver computing to Mahanagar’s fixed-line customers. The carrier hopes to usher in a “computing and broadband revolution in the country,” said R.S.P. Sinha, Mahanagar’s chairman and managing director.

Novatium has applied for eight global patents for its netPC. The service was launched after a pilot program in Chennai. A national launch is scheduled for later this year.

“We are now looking at attaining a subscriber base of 25,000 in New Delhi [during] financial year 2007,” said Alok Singh, chief executive of Novatium.

Customers will be able to store data and files on servers where hard drives or CPUs are hosted and connected by wireline or wireless media. The netPC architecture eliminates PC or thin client components.

The netPC includes a keyboard, screen, USB ports and uses a central network server to run software applications and store data. It works with most network servers running Windows, Linux or Solaris operating systems.

Rajesh Jain, an entrepreneur who once ran one of India’s best-known Web portals, and Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a professor of electrical engineering at IIT, Chennai, are also helping to promote the system.

Meanwhile, the Indian government is also pursuing proposals to make notebook PCs available for as little as $10. It is working with IIT on the notebook initiative.