2005 Review - 50x15 Goals and Perspectives
January, 2006
By Dan Shine, 50x15 Program Director

It’s been quite a year. That’s the only way to summarize all the wonderful progress AMD has made in its quest to enable 50 percent of the world’s population with affordable Internet access by the year 2015 – the primary goal of our 50x15 initiative. I have personally traveled the world and have seen the effect our technology has had on students in South Africa, job hunters in Brazil, families in India and in the Caribbean, and citizens across China. They come from very diverse backgrounds and uniquely challenging circumstances. But everyone who is using AMD’s Personal Internet Communicator (PIC) today shares one very important thing in common – the technology AMD has developed has allowed people everywhere to fundamentally rewrite the rules of their lives in profound, even surprising ways. Many of them see hope and opportunity where neither had previously existed.

One year ago, at the World Economic Forum, we committed ourselves to ramping up our efforts and working as hard as possible to delivering our PIC and other devices to as many people as possible. I am proud to say that the PIC is now up and running in every major region of the world. Even now, we receive hundreds of emails every day from people all over the world asking for the PIC – they want to help make it, sell, use it and experience it.

The good news is that AMD is by no means standing still. We are moving forward on all fronts. We are now intimately involved with the MIT labs and Nicholas Negroponte on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, sometimes referred to as the $100 laptop initiative. I’m pleased to bring you an exclusive conversation with Mr. Negroponte in the January, 2006 special WEF issue of 50x15 Connections. AMD is also planning the establishment of a 50x15 Foundation. When it’s up and running, the Foundation will provide the full range of necessary services to people and organizations looking to make digital inclusion a reality. And there is much more. We have a growing partner program that includes some of the world’s most prominent and thoughtful business leaders who are bringing enormous amounts of energy and resources to the challenge of digital inclusion. And we are working hard on a new line-up of even more compelling digital inclusion products. Thank you for your continued support and interest. Here’s to an even more prosperous 2006!

Dan Shine
50x15 Program Director