Green WiFi Project: Q&A

[WiFi.com]

I recently had the chance to talk to Marc Pomerleau over the phone about Green WiFi. Marc worked at SUN Microsystems for six years in Marketing and Business Development and is driving promotion and partnerships with Green WiFi.

We spoke for some time and did not nearly cover everything, so I asked Marc if it would be ok to send out some written questions. My thought was this would allow me to accurately document my thoughts, as well as, provide quality information about the Green WiFi mission to WiFi.com visitors!

So, here is what I sent to Marc along with his responses…

Marc,

Thanks again for taking the time to talk to me about the Green WiFi project. It was clearly obvious from our conversation, pulling together this product has been challenging on many levels. I would like to ask you a couple of questions for my clarification, as the majority of information regarding the project is available at www.green-wifi.org

For those people who are not familiar with Green WiFi; this project intends to provide a solar-powered wireless Internet (WiFi) router which is deployed into a mesh network in areas where power is unavailable or unreliable. As mentioned, greater detail is available at the website.

Firstly, where does the project stand at this point? I understand you are close to deploying a test market of sorts, can you tell me a little more about it; when will it take place and what do you expect to learn?

We have a number of pilot opportunities we plan to deliver on within the next two months. Our objectives here are threefold: 1) test the SoFis (solar powered WiFi nodes) under real world/developing world conditions to refine design requirements, test our software and streamline deployment issues. It should be noted that our intellectual property is in the power management capabilities of the SoFi: when battery levels fall below a certain threshold due to prolonged cloud cover, monsoons, dust storms, etc., our intelligent charge controller manages power usage in the router to maximize the uptime of the network well beyond system performance of a standard solar panel-battery-router set up without power management. The plan is to stress test our system and optimize it for peak performance given local requirements. 2) deploy in areas and situations where Green WiFi can produce clear social benefit—areas where SoFis can truly make a positive impact on people’s lives by improving communications and education; 3) partner with groups that can fund and sustain pilots and future deployments in strategic areas around the world. We have been blessed over the many months to have met many people around the world who understand and share Green WiFi’s vision to connect the unconnected and are willing to work with us to make this happen. This has been one of the most rewarding aspects of this venture.

I understand the application of the product is for areas with less access to long periods of power (electricity, etc.). One example provided at green-wifi.org is of Kigali, in Africa. Considering a power fingerprint such as the U.S. do you feel there is room for such a product in the developed world? If so, how do you see it deployed and what kind of costs would it entail?

We have received requests spanning the entire spectrum of possible applications! On the top end in the developing world we have requests by folks who want SoFis for internet connectivity on their own islands or ranches so they can check their stocks and news while hunting, playing golf or roaming around on ATVs. We have interest from Indian reservations, internet café entrepreneurs in Africa, NGOs, K-12 education, universities, the list goes on. When you consider the fact that 2.5 billion people have no or very poor access to electricity it makes complete sense as to why the digital divide exists. Sure, there is the obvious cost issue of PCs, cell phones, etc., in areas where people make less than $2 dollars a day but the other serious challenge is the lack of electricity, the absence of power infrastructure to support a communications network.

As for applications in the developed world, there is definitely a market but for different reasons. Green and solar is very top of mind these days so we get interest from the hybrid-Lexus-set. There are SoFi applications for disaster preparedness – just imagine had we been able to deploy SoFis after the power grid and cell towers failed in the wake of Katrina! How might a quick response, solar powered mesh network have helped rescue workers, first responders and the citizens of New Orleans? This said, there are particular regulatory and other challenges to getting Green WiFi into this and other niche markets. At the end of the day, we had to ask ourselves what motivated us to get into this business in the first place and focus on that, even when the VCs and others advise us to focus on the more lucrative, North American market. Connecting the unconnected is why we got started and remains what we care about. The investment we need to do this fulltime may be slower in coming but we have absolute faith that when we look back on the difference Green WiFi will have made to those with life-critical needs to communicate, learn and connect with others, we will be affirmed -- we will know we made the right choice.

One thing I was not completely clear about is how high speed Internet is connected to the solar-powered routers in areas with limited power resources. Could you briefly walk me through how that works?

Green WiFi SoFis are deployed as a mesh network. We take a source of internet connectivity, be that from a satellite drop, long distance backhaul or a single, local broadband connection and hop that signal across our SoFis to create a self healing grid network. Consider that even in urban settings in the developing world there are large areas with no access to reliable power. Many of these areas contain schools. What Green WiFi aims to do, in effect, is patch these dark areas with a grid network powered by the sun. You may not be able to power a string of lights or a refrigerator but with a battery powered or hand-cranked laptop you can have internet access. Now perhaps this will come off as a bit defensive, but let me preempt what some folks reading this may be thinking: Is email access and surfing the web more important than clean drinking water, AIDs drugs and food??!! Answer: No. Communications is not the solution to hunger, war or disease. It is, however, fundamental to bringing education and awareness which brings compassion and understanding which opens the way to publicity, consensus, assistance and answers. Time and time again we have seen amazing things happen when people are given the opportunity to reach out digitally to the next village, across borders, across time zones -- to have a voice, share experiences, ask for help, find answers, build solidarity and connect with others; to recognize they are not alone. This connectivity inspires and gives hope and in the developing world, along with food, water, medicine and education, what everyone needs and what is often in short supply is hope.

Lastly, how is the Green WiFi project being funded? Is there still room for investors at this point?

We could write a book on what we have learned about the nature and characteristics of potential funding sources from non profit/foundations to the Google-backing venture capitalists. We have received some initial seed funding from the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) organization out of M.I.T. in addition to some angel financing from some enlightened comrades. This is enough to do product development, launch some pilots and convert these pilots to happy clients but not enough to mitigate the need for day jobs. Bruce, co-founder and CEO, is still fulltime at Sun Microsystems. Parag Mody is fulltime at Benetech, and I am hustling to keep the lights on at home having left Sun in June last year. To answer your question directly, yes, there is certainly room for the right type of investors. While we would love nothing more than to do Green WiFi fulltime but we will not sell our souls or the mission of the company just to jettison cubicle life. The wise say, “Nothing truly worthwhile doing is easy.” That’s my morning mantra. Besides, compared to the lives of those we aim to serve, those living with desire in their hearts but little in their stomachs and nothing in their pockets, we have nothing to complain about. Indeed, we have everything to be grateful for.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer these questions, Marc. We will check in from time to time and get updates on your progress. We are very excited to see this product deployed, especially in areas with limited access to a powerful resource such as the Internet.

www.green-wifi.org