Activity Description: Net1 is a provider of smart card technologies and systems that create a secure and affordable transacting channel between formal businesses and the “un-banked” and “under-banked” populations of developing countries who have no or limited access to traditional banking facilities.

Net1 has developed the UEPS (Universal Electronic Payment System) that makes use of their patented FTS (Funds Transfer System) methodology to provide a fully integrated payment, switching and settlement system suitable for multiple applications and services, meeting the requirements of the un-banked and under-banked populations.

Activity Description: Dimagi offers customized, low-cost services in health informatics and software development through its team of specialists in medicine, public health and engineering, to bridge the gap between clinical needs and engineering constraints.

Dimagi's systems are built upon power efficient and practical, robust hardware platforms that range from mobile phones to mini-PCs. The engineering team has experience developing and deploying systems for rural India, South Africa and Zambia.

Activity Description: OSS.net, the leading teacher and practitioner of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) - an intelligence gathering discipline based on aggregating information from open sources - is engaged in a new global campaign to deliver tailored open source information to the poor, as a means of empowering them to rise from poverty.

Activity Description: FrontlineSMS provides full text messaging management from a Windows desktop application via a mobile phone, removing the need for the user to be anywhere near an internet connection. Almost all existing commercial SMS applications tie the user to the web, and require bulk purchase of messages. FrontlineSMS, which was designed to enable NGOs and conservation groups to gain entry to SMS arenas, requires neither.

Activity Description:

The Philippine firm Globe Telecom recently announced G-Cash service for its Globe and Touch Mobile subscribers. The 'electronic wallet' feature allows users to send and receive cash and make payments, including bill payments, donations, and online purchases, via texting.

Globe charges a flat fee of Php10.00 for any transaction below Php1,000. For transactions above Php1,000 the fee is 1% of the amount.

Activity Description: LOAN PERFORMER is a database for recording and evaluating microloans. This program has it's roots at the "Uganda Women's Finance Trust" where it was initially developed as the "Trust Information System" in 1995. Development at UWFT took about 3 years, from 1995 to 1998, when LOAN PERFORMER became available as a commercial product. The product had so much potential that CRYSTAL CLEAR SOFTWARE LTD. took over the future support and development.

Activity Description: WIZZIT is a cellphone-based banking facility whose target market is the estimated 16 million unbanked or underbanked South Africans - about 60 percent of the country's population. Unlike its competitors (FNB and MTN), WIZZIT does not require users to have a bank account and is compatible with early generation cell phones popular in low-income communities. The facility even works with customers who use pay-as-you-go cellphones - another distinction.

Activity Description: The Simputer is a low cost portable alternative to PCs, by which the benefits of IT can reach the common man. It has a special role in the third world because it ensures that illiteracy is no longer a barrier to handling a computer. The key to bridging the digital divide is to have shared devices that permit truly simple and natural user interfaces based on sight, touch and audio. The Simputer meets these demands through a browser for the Information Markup Language (IML).

Activity Description: Sun Microsystems, the multinational hardware and software firm, has established a per-citizen pricing model that will make its enterprise systems widely available to developing country buyers at reasonable rates. The model targets federal, state, and local governments in developing nations, which will be able to buy licenses ranging from USD $0.33 to $1.95 per citizen per year. The actual price for a given country is determined based on the number of citizens in the respective government entity and the stage of development of the country as defined by the United Nations' Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Activity Description: The Kenya Agricultural Commodity Exchange (KACE), in conjunction with mobile telephone company Safaricom, has developed a system to keep farmers better informed of commodity market prices. Short Message System (SMS) technology is behind the system, which will cost farmers only 15 shillings (about $0.20 USD) per use, giving them access to price information that was previously only available directly at the market.

Activity Description: Windows XP Language Interface Pack (LIP) is a high-quality, localized "skin" for emerging or minority language markets, such as Catalan, Lithuanian, and Thai. Based on Multilingual User Interface (MUI) technology, LIP provides the desktop user with an approximately 80% localized user experience by translating a reduced set of user interface elements. LIP is installed on a licensed copy of Windows XP and a fixed base language.

Activity Description: Vidya, Hindi for "knowledge," is a computer literacy program run by Aptech Ltd., one of the two largest computer education and training companies in India. As a part of its corporate citizenship effort, Aptech launched the Vidya program in 1999 to expand its course catalog beyond the company's core offerings targeted at computer professionals and corporate markets. Vidya allows Aptech to reach underprivileged students, casual computer users, and those who thus far have had little or no contact with computers, such as retirees.

Activity Description: N-Logue, in conjunction with the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras), Vortex Engineering, and ICICI Bank, has developed a web-based, fingerprint identification automatic teller machine (ATM) that will serve rural Indian markets. The ATM is called Gramateller INDI, and will eliminate the need for personal identification numbers and magnetic-stripe cards; smart cards and fingerprints are used instead.

Activity Description: The HP Multi-User 441 Desktop Solution helps schools and businesses in emerging markets increase access and productivity while reducing costs by up to 60%. Four users share a single CPU, independently running over 70 Open Source applications. The HP 441 is compatible with Windows, Novell and Linux networks, and backed by HP's industry-leading warranty and technical support.