KioskNet 2.0 Release

August 18, 2008

We are pleased to announce the release of second version of the KioskNet system from the University of Waterloo. This free, open-source system brings a comprehensive solution for low-cost, robust computing and communication to rural Internet kiosks. For instance, it allows email with image attachments to be sent and received at a remote, disconnected kiosk to and from the Internet at very low cost.

Rural Internet kiosks provide a variety of services to the poorest sections of society. However, due to limited electrical power, dust, mechanical wear-and-tear, and computer viruses, kiosk computers often fail, requiring frequent and expensive repairs. Communication also is both expensive and unreliable.

KioskNet attempts to make a kiosk robust to these problems while simultaneously reducing its capital and operating cost.

It does so by means of a low-cost and low-power single-board-computer called a ‘kiosk controller’ at each kiosk. This controller provides a network file-system for recycled PCs that act as 'thin clients'. The controller communicates wirelessly with another single-board computer mounted on a vehicle that can then carry data to and from a gateway, where data is exchanged with the Internet. This approach avoids the cost of trenches, towers, and satellite dishes, allowing Internet access even in remote areas, although at the cost of increased end-to-end delay. In areas with existing connectivity, our solution allows a single GPRS, WiMAX or long-range wireless link to be shared among many users.

The organization deploying KioskNet is responsible for buying the necessary hardware (we can help potential deployers evaluate our solution by providing a starter kit under our Quick Start Program (http://blizzard.cs.uwaterloo.ca/tetherless/index.php/Quick_Start_Program_here.)). However, all the software is freely available from this website.

We first released the KioskNet system software in July 2007. Since then, we have made the deployment process simpler, re-written big portions of the underlying system to make it more robust, and added comprehensive support for end-to-end security using public-key encryption. We are now releasing the second version of our system.

If you would like to learn more about KioskNet, you can download the software from our website by clicking here (http://tinyurl.com/44wpgb). This link also has a detailed deployment guide and a 14-minute video (http://blizzard.cs.uwaterloo.ca/tetherless/video) that describes our work.

We would like to have the chance to help your organization provide services to remote areas using KioskNet technology. If you qualify for our QuickStart program, we will be happy to ship to you, free of cost, the equipment you will need for a trial deployment. More details about this program, as well as the KioskNet system, can be found here (http://blizzard.cs.uwaterloo.ca/kiosknet).

Please feel free to contact us at kiosknet@uwaterloo.ca with any questions.

The KioskNet Team