It was refreshing to see quality work being done by one of our own scientists right here in Pakistan. The best part of it all was that we Pakistanis are most likely to be the first to benefit from such technology. Dr. Umar Saif, we are proud of you indeed!

MIT Technology Review (TR), a premier technology magazine, has featured the work of Dr. Umar Saif and his team on improving Internet connectivity in the developing-world. The Project, dubbed DonateBandwidth, is a follow-up project of the Poor Man’s Broadband work which was featured in New Scientist in Nov’07.With DonateBandwidth, users in the developing-world can help each other by donating their unused bandwidth to those who need it. This project received funding from the US State Department/NAS and HEC and will be further developed in collaboration with UC Berkeley.

Umar compares the project to distributed computing schemes such as SETI@Home, which uses volunteers’ spare computer power to collaboratively analyze radio signals from space, looking for signs of intelligent life. “DonateBandwidth permits sharing of unused Internet bandwidth, which is much more valuable in the developing world, compared to computing cycles or disk space,” he says.

It is rare that research in Pakistan catches the attention of a publication like the Technology Review. Reading the complete article makes one proud to be associated with the likes of Umar Saif.

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