6.13. Take-Aways

The place to start is an assessment of the existing environment; the current infrastructure of the power and communications grids will limit your options in those areas. Once the constraints are known, plans can be structured to respond to issues like irregular power or expensive bandwidth. The selection of hardware and software for the telecenter should be seen as an integrated process in which the purchase price is only one factor—operations costs, maintenance, and availability of technical expertise will figure prominently in determining a total cost of ownership. The following checklist may be helpful in analyzing the situation.

A Technology Package Checklist

• What are the power requirements for the different types of hardware and end-user equipment identified for the telecenter?
• Has a cost-effective and reliable power supply solution been identified?
• Has a cost-effective and reliable connectivity solution been identified?
• Have key elements of TCO (and use) been taken into consideration in projecting expenses and developing a business plan?
• Have the end-user equipment, software, and other applications been selected based on identification of local demand, local capacities, and telecenter operation requirements?
• Have maintenance and technical support requirements been taken
  into consideration?

6.14. Make It Your Own

This chapter has introduced a series of concepts with complex relationships between them. The technology itself is, and will remain, quite dynamic, so planners must assess the current state of play of hardware and infrastructure in their situations on a regular basis. Questions for the reader to consider include:

• How are the feasibility and cost effectiveness of the technology options discussed in this chapter related to the analysis of the local rural environment discussed in Chapter 3? What are the characteristics of typical underserved and rural areas in terms of population density, geography, distance from transportation networks, and telecommunications network?

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