Re: The University of São Paulo's intent to join Openmoko development

[Brenda Wang]

Jon 'maddog' Hall wrote:
> 
> Dear Openmoko Community,
> 
> In light of the refocusing of Sean's company on consumer items, there
> has been a perceived vacuum created in the Openmoko community's efforts
> to create next-generation open cellular smart phones.
> 
> I happened to be working with Dr. Marcelo Zuffo, a full professor and
> the head of the Laboratory for Integrated Systems at the University of
> São Paulo, Brazil, on an unrelated project.  I asked Dr. Zuffo if the
> university would be willing to join the Openmoko community and to
> provide critical resources to the task at hand.
> 
> I subsequently have met with Dr. Zuffo several times on this matter,
> have seen his facilities (which include a very modern and
> state-of-the-art SMT line) and have discussed the goals of the community
> to design and prototype a completely open design for a cellular phone.
> Dr. Zuffo and the university understand your issues, understand free and
> open source software and hardware and are willing to assist the
> community with this project.
> 
> I might add that the university can bring several new capabilities to
> the community:
> 
> First of all, Dr. Zuffo has discussed the Openmoko project with the
> Minister of Telecommunications of Brazil, and the Minister is very
> enthusiastic about the concept.  Having the support of the government of
> the twelfth largest economy behind the project might really help us with
> various negotiations with vendors.
> 
> Secondly the University has been working on several aspects of
> telecommunications for a long time, and therefore has expertise in
> telephonic security and codecs (among other things) that could be of use
> to the Openmoko community.
> 
> Third, the university has the ability and expertise to design new
> integrated circuits.  Recently they designed a a range of analog-digital
> chips.  Therefore the possibility of developing, manufacturing and
> freely licensing new chips to help reduce the cost of the phone is
> possible.
> 
> Forth, while the facilities I mentioned are capable of producing up to
> 10,000 units at the rate of one circuit board every 30 seconds,  the 
> purpose of the facilities is research, developing and support projects
> that can lead innovation, the lab's charter does not allow them to
> manufacture more units then the 10,000 because that would be "commercial
> production".  Therefore the university has a goal of freely licensing
> the design to companies for manufacture.
> 
> Fifth, the university would be happy to host the mailing lists and
> forums of the Openmoko project.  If some of the software projects need
> hosting and can not find hosting services other places, the university
> will consider acting as a primary hosting facility for these projects.
> 
> Sixth, personally I would like to see this concept extended, of inviting
> more universities and their facilities to help with this project
> world-wide.  I hope that the leadership of the University of Sao Paulo
> will help create the structure and inspiration for this to happen.
> 
> 
> Brenda Wang wrote:
>> 
>> +1
>> It's really great to hear this.
>> In Taiwan, Tsing Hua university also has a OPENlab. 
>> 
>> 
> 
> Finally, the university has a non-profit legal entity, LSITEC, which can
> easily do the type of paperwork that Sean's company did (NDAs,
> certification) so the community can leverage off that.
> 
> I know that there will be a lot of questions and considerations to take
> before the community is comfortable with this relationship.  Dr. Zuffo
> has asked that I help coordinate the joining together of the university
> with the community, and in the interest of seeing Openmoko continue to
> do the fine work started by Sean and all of you, I will be glad to help
> in this capacity.  I am monitoring the community mailing list, and
> people are also welcome to email me directly (maddog at li.org) with
> questions that you do not (for any reason) wish to post to the list.
> 
> A copy of Dr. Zuffo's letter of intent is below.  I have the original
> PDF if anyone would like to see it, but it was too big to make it
> through the community's standards on mailing lists unmoderated, and I
> thought you might like to see this as soon as possible.
> 
> Warmest regards,
> 
> Jon "maddog" Hall
> President, Linux International
> CTO of Koolu, Inc.
> 
> ==========================================================================================================
> 
> São Paulo, 8th July 2009,
> 
> Mr. Jon Maddog Hall
> The Executive Director Linux International.
> 
> Dear Mr. Hall, according our conversation LSI-USP the Laboratory for
> Integrated Systems at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, is interested
> in hosting the OpenMoko Community to design innovative cell phone
> designs.
> 
> We would like to offer the community the following facilities:
> ‐  State-of-art facilities for SMT (Surface Mounting Technology)
> prototyping of complex electronics boards;
> ‐  State-of-art facilities and expertise for design HW and SW in
> telephony and communications;
> ‐  Expertise in testing and certification;
> ‐  A new building located at a Center position at USP São Paulo, to host
> community meetings, as well as computational infrastructure for email ,
> WEB servers and project databases.
> 
> -LSI has a long term expertise in designing complex electronics systems,
> including integrated circuits, and we would like to involve also our IC
> design team that could eventually design some components of the OpenMoko
> models.
> 
> All legal procedures will be conducted by LSITEC, our non-profit
> organization to help technology developing.
> 
> Finally I would like to be completely available for any further
> questions and discussion.
> 
> My regards,
>                                        Marcelo Knörich Zuffo
>                                        Full Professor
>                                        Laboratory for Integrated Systems
>                                        University of São Paulo – Brazil
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Openmoko community mailing list
> community at lists.openmoko.org
> http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
> 
> 

-- 
View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/The-University-of-S%C3%A3o-Paulo%27s-intent-to-join-Openmoko-development-tp3250060p3250392.html
Sent from the Openmoko Community mailing list archive at Nabble.com.