A new mission

I have a new mission in Haiti.

There is one Internet Service Provider (ISP) operating in Haiti. This ISP is providing services via WiMax wireless. The IT infrastructure is pretty bad off. This ISP has been tasked by the government of Haiti with building out services for the entirety of the government.

I am going to be going back to PaP to perform an assessment of the infrastructure. I will then work with my team and others (all volunteers) and put together the architecture. Once that is done I am assembling a group of engineers to go back in and build the design. I am working with a large blue firm to donate the equipment I have no doubt we will be provided everything needed.

I don't want to just rebuild what was there before. I am hopeful that this will be a permanent relationship wherein the team of my employer Integration Systems, the volunteers, big blue and others can actually transform the technological landscape of Haiti's capital.

It is important that in this time those who are making decisions on how to rebuild Haiti make the decision to not restore the problems that existed prior to 12 January 2010. A central component of any viable economy is robust and reliable communications. I expect to design an information technology core that will allow Haiti to compete on the playing field of other nations from the perspective of technical architecture.

One piece of this mission is to train Haitian IT engineers and I am particularly excited about that. The old proverb that ends in teaching a man to fish comes to mind.

This project is already initiated. I will make a quick trip (two days or so) to PaP to do the assesment and then return to do the design. It is really nice to have a mission that is so alligned to the work I have done for the last 30 years.

Updates as I have information to convey.

Rick