One laptop per child isn't enough?

One laptop per child isn't enough?

One laptop per child isn't enough?

A story in CRN Australia and flagged by Slashdot contends that IT managers at private schools are bracing for the day when a laptop for each student proves simply inadequate.

From that story:

Private schools were already leaping (ahead) of the one-to-one ratio, said Jonathan Ordman, director of Wavelink Communications, distributor of Meru Networks.

With the launches of the Apple iPad and other tablets, some private schools in NSW were discussing how to prepare their networks to handle two devices for every school child, Ordman said.

"Schools used to talk about a one-to-one ratio" with each student connecting a laptop to the wireless network, Ordman said. "Now they are talking about two-to-one - a laptop plus an iPad or other tablet per student."

Ordman said private schools wanted to know how to improve their networks' ability to handle an increase in the number of wireless devices. Supporting a higher density of connections to a wireless network would in some cases require adding more wireless access points, he said.

Whether this is a widespread concern I could not say, although it goes without saying that vendors such as Wavelink and Meru would benefit from the perception.

Meanwhile, I found amusing a comment about the story left on Slashdot:

Yeah, this having two wireless devices is a huge problem. Like most kids, although I'm an old man, I'm a major bandwidth hog because I have multiple devices.

I simultaneously surf with both hands while at home or while using a public hotspot such as the public library. With my right hand I download files to my laptop while browsing Slashdot, and with my left I browse Groklaw on my Droid while downloading music to it. Furthermore, I speed read Slashdot with my left eye and Groklaw with my right at the same time. If I had a third hand I'd simultaneously download and read ebooks on my iPad with my butt so I could use even more bandwidth.

Would need a third eye, too.

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