A Successful First BATI Forum in Haiti

1. Posted by Inveneo on February 1, 2012 in the categories: Economic Development, News, Projects

On a sunny morning, BATI (Bati Anfòmatik Teknisyen yo ak Inveneo) participants reached an important milestone as they looked out over the hills of Pétion-Ville: the BATI Forum. This was the first major national meeting of the members of the program. Its goal was to give an overview of efforts of their colleagues across Haiti – and to coordinate them.

Nineteen BATI technicians from four different regions of the country attended the inauguration of the Forum on November 15 at the new headquarters of Inveneo Haiti in Juvénat, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. Until that point, a total of 36 BATI members had been trained, and since then another 15 participated in a training in Cap Haïtien.

The expansion of BATI personnel is assuming a growing importance for the continuity of the Haiti Connected Cities program with the approach of Inveneo’s depart from Haiti, projected for April 2012. Inveneo is a non-profit social enterprise whose mission is to get the tools of information and communications technologies into the hands of organizations and people who need them most, and which has worked in Haiti since the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

The assembly was organized by Emmanuella Stimphat, CEO of Connet’Em and BATI for Grand-Goâve, and Jerry Joseph, CEO of JigabIT Plus and BATI for Léogane. The opening presentation of the event was made by FJ Cava, Director of the BATI program at Inveneo, after which Ralph Étienne, CEO of Central Point Inc. and BATI for Mirebalais, gave a brief overview of the day’s program.

Each BATI presented a “sound byte” on his or her role in their territory and their small business. The participants had the opportunity to share their experiences and also pass on their complaints. They also learned important new skills from Inveneo technical volunteers Eyleen Chou and Andrew Dupree.

Distinguished guests, Mr. Jonas Dumersain and Mr. Yves-Fils Stimphat spoke about accounting and legal issues, respectively, which provoked stimulating discussions.

The participants also set in place standards for identifying themselves to clients and each other such as standard IDs and uniforms, registration with the Haitian Chamber of Commerce and a diagram of the board of management. Overall, the gathering provoked a range of discussions on the big picture of the organization and functioning of the BATI program.

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Un matin ensoleillé sur une terrasse qui donne sur les collines de Pétion-Ville, le programme Bati Anfòmatik Teknisyen yo ak Inveneo (BATI) a atteint un jalon important : le Forum BATI. C’était la première grande réunion nationale des cadres du programme, avec le but de donner une vue d’ensemble des efforts de leurs collègues à travers Haïti — et de les coordonner.

Dix-neuf techniciens BATI de quatre différentes régions du pays ont assisté au lancement du Forum le 15 novembre au nouveau siège d’Inveneo Haïti à Juvénat, une banlieue de Port-au-Prince. Jusqu’au moment, un total de 36 cadres avaient été formés, et depuis ce temps-là à peu près 15 davantage ont participé dans une formation à Cap Haïtien.

L’augmentation du corps de personnel de BATI prend une importance croissante pour la continuité du programme « Haiti Connected Cities » à l’approche du départ d’Haïti d’ Inveneo, prévu pour avril 2012. Inveneo est une organisation non-gouvernementale dont la principale mission est de connecter les plus nécessiteux à Internet, et qui a travaillé en Haïti depuis le tremblement de terre du 12 janvier 2010.

La rencontre a été organisé par Emmanuella Stimphat, PDG de Connet’Em et BATI de Grand-Goâve, et Jerry Joseph, PDG de JigabIT Plus et BATI de Léogane. L’intervention introductive de la réunion a été faite par FJ Cava, Responsable du programme BATI à Inveneo, suite à laquelle Ralph Étienne, PDG de Central Point Inc. et BATI de Mirebalais, a fait un “briefing” du programme.

Chaque BATI à son tour a présenté son “sound byte” sur sa rôle dans leur zone d’activité et sa Petite ou Moyenne Entreprise (P.M.E). Ce fut également l’occasion pour eux de partager leurs expériences aussi bien que communiquer leurs doléances. Ils ont aussi fait le point sur des matieres élucidés par Eyleen Chou et Andrew Dupree, deux bénévoles techniques d’Inveneo.

En outre, des invités de marque, tels que M. Jonas Dumersain et M. Yves-Fils Stimphat ont apporté des conseils d’or et des principes dans différentes disciplines.

Les participants ont aussi mis en place des normes sur comment s’identifier aux clients et aux autres BATI tels que des cartes d’identité et des uniformes, la registration avec la Chambre de Commerce d’Haïti, et un diagramme du conseil de gestion. En somme, la rencontre a occasionné tout un panel de discussions concernant grosso modo l’organisation et le fonctionnement du programme BATI.

Inveneo Brings Up 82km Wireless Link to Haiti’s Central Massif – A New Distance Record!

1. Posted by Inveneo on March 23, 2011 in the categories: Economic Development, News, Projects

Inveneo engineers have been busy in Haiti! With our extension of the high-speed wireless backbone over an 82km wireless link from Port-au-Prince to a mountaintop site in the Central Massif, we shattered our previous internal record for longest link deployed, set in May 2010 and spanning 55km, from Port-au-Prince to Vallue.

This new long link is the first step in bringing broadband connectivity to nonprofits, public agencies and small businesses in the underserved Central Plateau and Artibonite Valley regions and beyond.

We put up this link with our standard long distance WiFi workhorse: the Ubiquiti RocketM5 radio with the 30 dBi RocketDish antenna. We were pleasantly surprised with the signal strength captured by this little dish on such a long link: up to a booming -74 dBm! (For the non-technical folk: smaller negative numbers mean greater received power).

We arrived at the installation site prepared to install the significantly larger 34 dBi RocketDish, but given the strong performance of the smaller model we decided to hold off installing the larger dishes until we can streamline them with aerodynamic covers called radomes to cut down on wind load. With conservative performance settings, we’ve been able to push 20+ Mbps over this link in both directions and expect to do much better once we put the larger dishes in place.

Wireless networks are relatively easy to deploy. This is one of the reasons they are such a good fit for the rural and developing world. After we identify a favorable relay location, we verify line-of-sight to an existing site using link analysis software and a site survey. Once we verify the link we position our engineers at each end with a small kit of gear. Though the rough roads in rural Haiti, Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere can make this process difficult, it’s certainly easier than digging 82km of trench and stringing 82km of cable or fiber.

With sites identified and the link verified, a few days of hard installation work is all it takes to get a broadband Internet connection on a remote rural hilltop in Haiti’s Central Plateau. While the logistics of getting the right people and equipment are not simple, they are made substantially easier by the compact rugged equipment we use and are by far easier than installing fiber or cable. Next stop: putting up distribution and last-mile links to bring Internet to organizations subscribing to this reliable connectivity throughout rural Haiti.