KioskNet vs. Existing Kiosk Solutions

We believe that the KioskNet solution avoids many problems faced by current solutions, as identified in this analysis of why kiosks fail (http://blizzard.cs.uwaterloo.ca/tetherless/index.php/Why_Kiosks_Fail):

a. Capex: The capex for our solution is Rs.4,000-Rs.28,000 per kiosk, Rs.14,000 per vehicle, Rs.15,000 per Internet gateway, and Rs.5,000 per refurbished PC. In a typical deployment, taking into account the cost for a reasonable number of vehicles, gateways, and PCs, the capex per kiosk would be around Rs.35,000, as compared to Rs.2,00,000 for VSAT, i.e. more than five times cheaper. Note that the use of refurbished PCs allows worn out hardware to be replaced cost-effectively from local suppliers.

b. Opex: We estimate opex to be around Rs.2,850/kiosk/month including cost of loan repayment, field technician salary, cost of rental of space in a vehicle, and cost of replacing the entire installed equipment base every 18 months. This is eight times cheaper than VSAT. Besides, it allows sustainability even with a revenue base of only Rs.3,000/month.

c. Connectivity: Our work in disconnection-tolerant networking allows us to provide robust (though delayed) communication using a fleet of vehicles to carry data to and from the kiosks (see our paper in Mobicom 2006 (http://blizzard.cs.uwaterloo.ca/keshav/home/Papers/data/06/mobicom06.pdf)). Our solution allows kiosk users to access most legacy applications in the Internet, including Web browsing, email, and access to Internet portals.

Note that, by design, our solution is complementary to other solutions. Therefore, a kiosk could be connected to the Internet with dialup, VSAT, or long-range wireless as well as through our solution. In this situation, the kiosk controller would automatically send delay-tolerant data through vehicles, and delay-sensitive data using one of the other technologies.

d. IT training: We allow kiosk controllers to be centrally administered, so that kiosk owners need practically no IT training. The kiosk controllers are headless and keyboard-less, making them tamper resistant. PCs may still get infected with viruses, but they can be rebooted/re-installed from the kiosk controller, making recovery from viruses easy. We have also designed procedures for rapid maintenance by field technicians to further reduce maintenance costs.

e. Equipment failures: Our system eliminates all moving parts except for a sealed hard drive in the kiosk controller. Even if there is a failure, our solution relies on cheap or refurbished components, reducing replacement cost.

f. Unreliable power: We use a low-power kiosk controller that consumes only 6-8 W, and therefore can be solar powered. Of course, the off-the-shelf PCs still consume power, but the networking infrastructure remains robust to power outages.