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E-mail Enablers
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 From human messengers to carrier pigeons,
from hand delivered mail to a computer enabled e-mail
- the world has seen it all. Till now in India, only the
educated, upper classes had access to computers and the
common man found them way beyond his budget. Besides most
people had little or no knowledge of how to operate a
computer. This meant that computer illiterates found themselves
on the wrong side of the digital divide. So, will they
have to forego the benefits of the IT revolution?
No, not necessarily, articulate the staff of the city-based
company iNablers, who have come out with an answer
that bridges that digital divide. That too, without the
use of computers! True to its name, the company iNablers,
headed by the legendary
B V Jagadeesh, is going in for information enabling
product labeled i-Station.This path breaking technology
will bring the common man closer to the IT world. The
majority of people make use of the Internet for transacting
only e-mails and this requires a computer. Jagadeesh thought
of coming out with a device that enables the common man
to transact e-mails in a language he is most familiar
without the use of an expensive computer. This product
will be a great help to rural communities where the knowledge
of English is lacking. Though it can be used in English,
Kannada and Hindi, the company is planning to introduce
the services in Tamil and Telugu shortly.
 Explaining the technical details of i-Station,
the company's Chief Technical Officer Narasimha Prabhu
says that the new concept provides for multiple user
option. While up to 5 members can share an i-Station with
individual personal e-mail IDs, the subscribers can have
up to 250 addresses per individual ID. He said the new-technology
would also help in e-commerce and e-banking.
At present, this laptop sized i-Station is able to send
only text messages. Later, it will also serve for voice
mailing, the company officials say. S M Krishna, the
Chief Minister of Karnataka, was all praise for this innovative
product. Inaugurating the concept in the city recently,
he said, "Only such innovative technologies could bring
IT closer to the common man and not mere software exports."
The company is planning to introduce this concept in December
2000 and expecting to take it to villages in January 2001.
The company hopes to spread this concept all over India
by the end of 2001.
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4:43:03 PM 
