Solar Cyber Cafes for Africa

Firefly Solar have completed the first in a series of solar installations for NGO Computer Aid International. Launched earlier this year the project will see a fleet of solar powered cyber cafes making their way to Africa. The cyber cafes are fitted out within converted shipping containers and are fully insulated and furbished with electric lighting, desks, chairs and PCs.
Computer Aid have so far shipped over 160,000 ex corporate PCs from the UK to countries around Africa bringing modern technologies to communities that need them most. This new innovation offers a complete one-stop solution where infrastructure is limited. Firefly’s Daniel Spencer said;
“These units can be placed in any remote location far away from mains power or internet connectivity, the first container will be located over 70km from the closest tarmacked road offering people an internet connection for the first time. The roof mounted solar array supplies all the power needed to run the café through the whole range of weather patterns at its destination. The design ensures safely packed transit during shipping yet is still easily re-assembled by non-technical end users upon arrival, equally the expensive roof panels are securely welded down.”
The cyber café houses a complete eleven user set up with all the monitors running off just one standard Pentium 4 PC. The thin client workstations were chosen for their efficiency so the whole system uses just a fraction of the power needed by conventional PC's. This first cyber café is being sent to Macha in Zambia to provide the community with Internet access through Africa’s largest rural Wi-Fi network or the container’s own satellite uplink. Tony Roberts, CEO of Computer Aid International said:
“This concept is suited to a wide variety of uses, such as emergency relief where connectivity is required at short notice. It can also be used in schools or by MPs to communicate with their local constituents, as well as rural hospitals to provide online training for health workers”.