Virtusa supports One Laptop per Child Program

Virtusa has initiated a novel pilot
program towards supporting the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program, a
UN endorsed open-source project. Through the Virtusa Tech Reach
initiative, the company is leveraging its quality assurance (QA)
expertise and practices to help improve overall product stability of
OLPC laptops at zero cost to the OLPC initiative.

Open-source software is a software
whose source code is openly published, often developed through
voluntary efforts and is usually available at no charge under a
license. However, many software testing teams are paying over the
odds for highly priced software test automation tools. As part of the
support, Virtusa has done a combination of both software and hardware
testing on the new XO-1.5s laptops, and multiple versions of their
customized Redhat-based operating system. The team has worked on 12
laptops by dedicating 40 man-months so far. The testing has resulted
in more than 800 test scenarios for the laptops.

According to Internet Telecommunication
Union (ITU), India and Sri Lanka have a low Internet penetration of
about seven percent and 5.5 percent respectively. With an objective
to reduce this digital divide, the OLPC program provides each child
with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and
software designed for collaborative, joyful and self-empowered
learning.

Targeted at children from ages 5 to12,
the open-source software provides them an opportunity to fully own
the laptop, which is an open-source machine. The children and their
teachers will have the freedom to reshape, reinvent, and reapply
their software, hardware, and content. Therefore, OLPC will not only
revolutionize the way children learn, but will also scale up the
eco-system of sharing between diverse set of communities existing in
these countries. Kerala and Manipur are the first Indian states to
have initiated the orders of the XO laptops. About 1,300 laptops for
13 rural schools have already been distributed in Sri Lanka.

Chamindra de Silva, Head of Strategic Initiatives-Global
Technology Office, Virtusa Corporation said, “Most small and medium
open-source projects focus more on development rather than quality
assurance. We initiated the Open Source Quality Assurance program as
we identified an opportunity to contribute a lot of value to the
open-source community, utilizing Virtusa's industry grade maturity
in software quality assurance.” OLPC Community Support Manager,
Adam Holt, excited about Virtusa's contribution to the OLPC program
said, “Corporate professionals and community volunteers working
side-by-side in worldwide collaborations are literally waking up our
planet to what education can become. Eco-sustenance cannot work in
isolation. Large organisations across geographies and expertise must
come together to support such world-impacting initiatives. Utilizing
its software and hardware testing capabilities, Virtusa's
contribution to the OLPC initiative is an excellent example of
corporate support”.

Based on the success of the pilot
project, Virtusa will seek to continue to partner and expand the
program to this and other projects of social benefit. Virtusa QA
trainee, Dhanushka Nuwan, elaborated on the experience. “The
open-source has enabled us to engage and interact with a global
community of OSS OLPC developers. I initially received an extensive
on-the-job training where I was able to methodically gather
requirements, analyze, and define scope and review testing in
open-source projects. We got an opportunity to be creative with
testing new technologies such as wireless mesh, build automation
frameworks, create new testing methodologies and learn many of the
Red Hat skills.”