The OPLAN Foundation

The OPLAN Foundation

is an independent, non-political and not-for-profit organisation that seeks to build greater and wider awareness and understanding of the massive social and economic benefits that OPLANs will deliver to their communities.

The Foundation's primary goal is to do as we say,

"open minds to open networks"

the minds of individuals, corporations and organisations anywhere in the world and anyone who has the ears to listen and eyes to see. [ read more...]

Singapore - providing the world with a beacon OPLAN?

Singapore, the tiny island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula just 85 miles north of the Equator, is the smallest country in South East Asia. But it has big ambitions when it comes to staking out an important place in the information age. In 2005, an ambitious 10 year masterplan was launched, entitled, 'Intelligent Nation 2015' (iN2015) to help Singapore realise the full potential of the information technologies. The programme is led by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), Singapore's regulator for the sector but, as its name implies, far more future and development oriented than most. A key element of the iN2105 vision is the plan for a ubiquitous OPLAN throughout Singapore of massive capacity and truly open access in its operation. [ read more...]

Martin Geddes interviews Malcolm Matson on OPLANs

Freifunk: Germany's User-Run Network Explodes Beyond Its Borders

Written by Indrajit Basu for http://www.govetch.net - published April, 2nd 2007

Ask Juergen Neuman about what's new at Freifunk, and he will tell you; "it keeps growing." Probe him further for exact numbers, and the founder of this do-it-yourself wireless Internet community in Germany, draws a blank. "It is growing so fast that I can't rattle the numbers off-the-cuff," he says. "But I can tell you that it is the largest user-contributed mesh network in the world today." That's Freifunk, a non-commercial open initiative to support free radio networks that began in 2003 in Berlin and is now globally regarded as one of the most successful projects of its kind. The most significant feature of this network is that it is a volunteer-run initiative that is not trying to be simply a wireless service provider. Rather, it seeks to enable local districts, villages and regions to set up their own mesh infrastructure. [ read more...]

OPLANs in a rural context : Keynote Presentation

In November 2006, one of the most digitally enlightened and enabled rural communities in the European Union, the Province of Fryslân in the north of The Netherlands, held a major conference in Leeuwarden to consider the economic challenges and opportunities facing similar communities in the digital age. A keynote presentation was made to the conference by Malcolm Matson of the OPLAN Foundation and this can be viewed here and the slides downloaded here. (Leeuwarden has an advanced ICT Center http://www.ictcenter.nl – where the OPLAN website is hosted)

France rolls out Open Public Local Access Networks

At the start of 2007, the Government of France is well underway in the implementation of a broadband strategy to ensure the provision of ubiquitous and affordable high-speed and very high-speed connectivity and services throughout France. The basis of the policy framework is unquestionable founded on OPLAN principles. The programme involves the building and operation of new IP (internet protocol) OPLANs developed through public-private partnerships on a regional and community basis but with substantial financial support from central government. The European Commission has given a 'thumbs up' to this vanguard grand plan for France. Read more about this with a case study on the initial OPLAN in the Limousin region, in Ken Murricane's special report for the Foundation.

GRASS-ROUTER BURSARIES

The OPLAN Foundation is committed to providing bursaries to individuals in particular from the developing world to enable them to travel to training institutes like the Djurslands International Institute of Rural Wireless Broadband (DIIRWB) or to attend major international events (e.g. WSFII - Air Jaldi Summit) where they can share knowledge and experience and establish valuable contacts which will help them become pioneering OPLAN ‘grass routers’ in their own country and community. [ read more...]

The OPLAN Foundation seeks to help those ‘grass-routers’ who lack these resources by providing bursaries. [ donate...]

Free Wireless Network Training Material

In January 2006 the Limehouse Book Sprint Team launched the first edition of: "Wireless Networking in the Developing World - a practical guide to planning and building low-cost telecommunications infrastructure". The book was created by a multinational team of experts. Each, in their own field, is actively pushing the reach of the ever-expanding internet further still.  [ read more...]

To secure the project’s growing success it needs continuous financial support which the OPLAN Foundation is committed to help raise. [ donate...]

The OPLAN vision of the City of Eindhoven

According to independent research published in July 2006 South Korea has lost its long-held position as the country with the highest ‘broadband’ penetration and has been overtaken by three European countries, one of which is the Netherlands. [ read more...]