There are six requirements for success.

This is a global distribution management capability. One of the major benefits of this approach is that the architecture and the distribution infrastructure is the same for all participants. The process is the same for a university research lab, an engineering department in a Power.org member company, administrative staff in a medical center, a local transportation center in an emerging community and a rural village in an emerging community. All share the same global distribution and deployment infrastructure. The images for all markets, supercomputing to village, are developed and managed by a global team of skilled developers and systems managers. This team will come from many different locations and institutions including foundations, NGO’,. local and national governments, corporations and local businesses and community leaders.

The Image Factory draws upon the open source operating system distributions to determine and then acquire the best operating systems for each image. Open source applications are then added as appropriate for the intended deployment..

This process yields a ready to localize and deploy image that does not require high technical skill for the local support staff. Local support staff can therefore focus on education, training and coaching. This is true for all supported environments, from advanced research labs to rural villages.

Each image is then validated against the reference platform that will be used for deployment.

The reference platforms are Power Architecture designs released as an open license. Each reference platform meets a set of requirements for cost and performance from very low-cost end-user devices to high performance computing platforms.

For low-cost end-user systems, this means a very low-cost device that supports a full range of state-of-the art capabilities including Voice over Internet Protocol telephony, video conferencing and rich media including video, audio and multi-media. Unlike other proposed low-cost solutions, this is not an end-of-life product nor a feature-compromised product. These end-user devices can be configured so that they can work successfully on the global network, on the local network if the global network is unavailable, and as stand alone devices when local power and networking are unavailable.

The open reference platform validation process overcomes the uncertainty from attempting to deploy open source solutions on
out-of-date and non-standard hardware.

Images are distributed automatically through the global Internet. Most of the distribution takes place transparently using existing network services.

Power Architecture Distribution servers are used to manage deployment of images. These are servers that manage the automatic installation and maintenance of the images.

Distribution servers are used to transfer images in a controlled manner from the global image distribution center to regional and enterprise distribution servers and then to the localization servers.

Once established, this distribution process takes place automatically.

The image is localized prior to final deployment. It is localized for:

Localization is the responsibility of the local team working closely with the leadership of the communities. The global team can provide frameworks and guidance but localization has to be accomplished by those most intimately knowledgeable about both the requirements and opportunities within the emerging communities.

Localization can be managed in two different ways depending on the capabilities of the local technical staff:

Localization is the highest priority requirement for success. The deployed images must immediately deliver tangible value so as to encourage and promote participation. This localization process thus has to include sensitivity to and inclusion of local cultural and language requirements.

The reference platforms are designed and released so that they can be produced locally if the local community chooses to produce them and has the capability to produce them. The processor and processor firmware are the only components that need to be acquired outside the local community.

The end-user devices and local servers can also be acquired through a variety of sources depending on timing, cost, location and service requirements.

The use of the open reference platform has two advantages for the local community:

Second only to localization of content is the importance of on-site support during initial deployment and continual follow-up to assure success.

The only local technical support required is to assure that equipment is properly powered and connected to the network. The automatic deployment of the system and application images means that all other technical support is handled automatically and remotely through the network.

Power and network access to the local community will be provided through regional and national organizations. Networking can be any appropriate combination of wired and wireless networks. Power can be any appropriate combination of grid, battery, solar, wind, water and human powered systems.

Thus, the local support staff can focus on education, training and coaching. Education can include non-technical materials if these are required to provide an understanding as to how to use the newly available information. The ability to define, recruit, train and sustain this local support staff is the single most important requirement for success.

Subjects such as evaluating weather forecasts and working with markets and delivery schedules might be very helpful. These training, coaching and support requirements all have to come from the local deployment and support team.