Hi Maddog, [added cc to gta02-core list]
Thanks for looking into this - it certainly sounds like an amazing opportunity, almost too good to be true - what's the catch! :-) Do you know how Dr Zuffo sees the universities involvement with, and relationship to the rest of the community - i.e. do they seem themselves driving the projects, becoming 'sponsors', or as contributing members of the wider community? From my point of view, it sounds like they've got a lot to offer the projects (both in expertise and facilities), and I think our community would be stronger with them as members. I'm assuming from your messages below that (initially at least) they are happy participating in the kicad / CC-SA licensed community process gta02-core has adopted so far? While we're a long way away from producing quantities of 10,000 devices, in the coming weeks and months the gta02-core project is hoping to be in position to produce a handful of prototypes. It sounds like LSI-USP might be able to help us with this current design process, and production of the prototypes? This could be a sensible starting point for Dr Zuffo and LSI-USP to get involved with the community, building a relationship that can grow as we get to know them, and they get to know us! All the best, Dave 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. > > 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 (mad...@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@lists.openmoko.org > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community > _______________________________________________ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community