SES GLOBAL (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG) announces that its
operating companies SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM will support the
worldwide non-profit initiative "One Laptop per Child" (OLPC). The
initiative aims at improving the communication and education
infrastructure in developing countries by launching a low cost,
web-connected laptop. It is supported by leading international players
in the hard- and software industry. SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM will
serve as worldwide partners to provide satellite connectivity and
smart ground solutions for broadcasting, data and internet
connections. SES AMERICOM CEO Edward D. Horowitz will represent SES on
the initiative's Board.
"One Laptop per Child" was launched at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Switzerland, in January and is chaired by the former head of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Nicholas
Negroponte.
As new corporate partners of the project, SES ASTRA and SES
AMERICOM will contribute important know-how for the conceptual
development, give financial support of US$ 2 million and provide space
capacity on SES' global satellite fleet to countries and
organizations. The conceptual contribution includes the development of
a "one dish per village" model, whereby the low-cost laptops with a
wireless connection receive data from local hubs connected via
satellite. The price of such laptops is expected to be around USD 100.
The involvement with the "One Laptop per Child" initiative
reinforces SES`s engagement in connectivity projects, like for example
the NEPAD's e-Schools project (www.nepad.org), a ten-year initiative
started in 2003 to connect 600,000 schools in Africa.
Comments Edward D. Horowitz, President and CEO of SES AMERICOM:
"Together with our world class partners in the OLPC initiative and the
commitment of the participating countries, we have the unique
opportunity to change the way educational resources are delivered to
schools and students in every corner of the planet by taking advantage
of satellite's inherent ability to connect without geographical
boundaries. We look forward to supporting this important global
initiative."
About SES GLOBAL www.ses-global.com
SES GLOBAL (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG) wholly owns three
market-leading satellite operators, SES ASTRA in Europe, SES AMERICOM
in the US and New Skies Satellites in regions other than North America
and Europe. The Company also holds strategic participations in AsiaSat
in Asia, Star One in Latin America, SES Sirius in Europe, Ciel in
Canada and Quetzsat in Mexico. Americom Government Services provides
network solutions and bandwidth to the US government and its
contractors. SES GLOBAL provides outstanding satellite communications
solutions via a fleet of 44 satellites across the globe.
About OLPC www.laptop.org
One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a Delaware-based, non-profit
organization created by faculty members from the MIT Media Lab to
design, manufacture, and distribute laptops that are sufficiently
inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge
and modern forms of education. The laptops will be sold to governments
and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child.
These machines will be rugged, Linux-based, and so energy efficient
that hand-cranking alone can generate sufficient power for operation.
Mesh networking will give many machines Internet access from one
connection. The pricing goal is to start near $100 and then steadily
decrease.
OLPC is based on "constructionist" theories of learning pioneered
by Seymour Papert and later Alan Kay, as well as the principles
expressed in Nicholas Negroponte's book, Being Digital. The corporate
members are Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Brightstar, Google, Marvell,
News Corporation, Nortel, Red Hat, Quanta and SES.