Made-in India computers for around $100
PTI, New Delhi
While global computing giants like IBM and AMD are yet to give shape to their ambitious plans for a computer that costs USD 100 or less, an Indian company has already set its eyes on 10 million potential customers with its up-and-running PC priced at Rs 4,500 only.The machine, launched by Chennai-based Novatium Solutions in 2004, costs a little over USD 100 as of today in the US currency thanks to the depreciation in the greenback, but it was priced at less than USD 100 till a few months back. Novatium is targeting 10 million users in the next five years for this innovative product, company CEO Alok Singh told PTI from Chennai. The company has already started a successful commercial pilot for its NetPC computer in Chennai, he said. "Since our trial was commercial in nature, we plan to stick to it. Going forward, we plan to expand into 6-7 big cities in the next year. Some of our immediate plans are going into two new cities in this quarter and two more in the next quarter," Singh said. Novatium was co-founded by US-based Analog Devices chairman Ray Stata, Netcore Solutions managing director Rajesh Jain and professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT Madras. The company's NetPC works on a "thin client" concept. This is a small box and does not contain any software or application. IT is linked to a central server, which hosts all applications.
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