= How WIFI can Save the World  =


== Abstract ==
OK, that's a bit optimistic, but why not aim high?  In this talk I 
will cover the challenges of rural connectivity and why wifi offers a
revolutionary opportunity to connect rural areas with everyone 
else.  The real divide is not between industrialized and developing 
nations, but between urban and rural; only in urban areas is the 
world becoming "flat".  Unlike nearly all other forms of 
infrastructure, wireless, and particularly wifi, has an opportunity 
to be viable economically even in poor rural areas.  Done well, 
connectivity could drive economic opportunity, simplify communication
with relatives abroad (and remittances), and improve education and 
healthcare broadly.

I will present our work on long-distance wifi and discuss several 
multi-year deployments that have had real impact.  Our telemedicine 
project in India has enabled over 50,000 rural exams and led to 
vision restoration for over 3000 people.  Finally, I will discuss the
opportunities to combine mesh and long-distance networking.


== Bio ==
Professor of Computer Science, UC Berkeley

Dr. Brewer focuses on all aspects of Internet-based systems, 
including technology, strategy, and government.  As a researcher, he 
has led projects on scalable servers, search engines, network 
infrastructure, sensor networks, and security. His current focus is 
(high) technology for developing regions, with projects in India, 
Ghana, and Uganda (so far), and including communications, health, 
education, and e-government.


In 1996, he co-founded Inktomi Corporation with a Berkeley grad 
student based on their research prototype, and helped lead it onto 
the Nasdaq 100 before it was bought by Yahoo! in March 2003.


In 2000, he founded the Federal Search Foundation, a 501-3(c) 
organization focused on improving consumer access to government 
information. Working with President Clinton, Dr. Brewer helped to 
create USA.gov, the official portal of the Federal government, which 
launched in September 2000.

He received an MS and Ph.D. in EECS from the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, and a BS in EECS from UC Berkeley. He was named a 
"Global Leader for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum, by the 
Industry Standard as the "most influential person on the architecture 
of the Internet", by !InfoWorld as one of their top ten innovators, by 
Technology Review as one of the top 100 most influential people for 
the 21st century (the "TR100"), and by Forbes as one of their 12 
"e-mavericks", for which he appeared on the cover. He was recently 
elected to the National Academy of Engineering, for leading the 
development of scalable servers, and named an ACM Fellow.