By IPS Correspondents
JERUSALEM, Jul 29 2008 (IPS)

Israelis are barred from travelling to the West Bank and Palestinians from entering Israel without a permit, but that has not deterred Zvi Schreiber, an Israeli living in Jerusalem, from creating a high-tech start-up company that does all its programming in the West Bank town Ramallah and its business development and marketing in the Israeli town Modi'in.

"It has always been an ambition of mine to contribute something to job opportunities and economic growth in a place like Ramallah," says the 39-year-old UK-born Schreiber, who moved to Israel 12 years ago.

Schreiber's venture is called G.ho.st – an acronym for Global Hosted Operating System – and it provides users with a virtual, web-based operating system that allows them to store files, save documents and includes a uniform desktop. On the site's homepage, G.ho.st ambitiously defines itself as "A free web-based virtual computer for every human being."

"It is a web-based Windows," Schreiber, who has a Ph.D in computer science, tells IPS. "You aren't stuck on one computer. Everything is available from anywhere in the world where you can access the Internet."

G.ho.st (http://g.ho.st) is Schreiber's third start-up. His first, a platform called Tradeum, was sold during the first Internet bubble in 2000 for 508 million dollars in shares. His second venture, called Unicorn Solutions, dealt with data management for big enterprises and was sold to IBM for what Schreiber says was a considerably more modest sum.

Due to security constraints, the 40 Palestinian developers working on G.ho.st communicate with their Israeli counterparts by means of video conferencing. When a face-to-face meeting with his Palestinian counterparts is required, Schreiber says he heads for a gas station not far from the West Bank town of Jericho, on the road from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea, where they can meet. "It's surreal," he says. "There are camels outside. It's in the middle of the desert."

Google and Yahoo both offer web-based email, and Google Documents is a web-based office application, but Schreiber says that no one offers the type of total environment – and with a single sign-on – that G.ho.st does. An early-stage version was launched in April 2007, but since then he says work has been done on speeding up G.ho.st and adding what Schreiber calls "cool web-based programmes," like an instant messenger that enables users to communicate between different networks.

G.ho.st has 70,000 registered users, and Schreiber says there are "thousands" of logins every day. It has already begun picking up accolades. In May, it was chosen as one of just five new consumer technologies worldwide to launch on-stage at the Wall Street Journal's 'All Things Digital Conference'.

Schreiber says that most of the initial interest in G.ho.st is coming from emerging markets. "Users in emerging markets often don't have a desktop of their own," he explains. "Many people in these countries use Internet cafes. Our system is free, doesn't have to be downloaded and can be accessed from anywhere."

Since Israel and the Palestinians negotiated the Oslo Accords in 1993, much has been said and written about how economic prosperity in the West Bank and Gaza is a prerequisite for a successful and enduring peace process. President Shimon Peres spoke in the mid-1990s about a "New Middle East" where peace and prosperity went hand in hand.

But Israelis and Palestinians have spent much of the last 15 years, since the Oslo Accords were signed, talking to each other through the barrel of a gun, and the vision of a peaceful, prosperous region has been dashed. In G.ho.st, however, Schreiber might be starting to resuscitate at least a small piece of that discredited vision.

G.ho.st is also starting to serve as a model for other Israeli companies. Schreiber says that several Israeli high-tech firms have begun consulting him on working with the Palestinians. A few have actually begun to do so, although in these cases Schreiber's precedent is yet to be replicated, and work is being outsourced to Palestinian programmers in Ramallah and its environs.

"We want to be a model for others and we feel we are starting to be," says Schreiber.

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
JERUSALEM, Jul 29 2008 (IPS)

Israelis are barred from travelling to the West Bank and Palestinians from entering Israel without a permit, but that has not deterred Zvi Schreiber, an Israeli living in Jerusalem, from creating a high-tech start-up company that does all its programming in the West Bank town Ramallah and its business development and marketing in the Israeli town Modi'in.

Zvi Schreiber Credit:

Schreiber's venture is called G.ho.st – an acronym for Global Hosted Operating System – and it provides users with a virtual, web-based operating system that allows them to store files, save documents and includes a uniform desktop. On the site's homepage, G.ho.st ambitiously defines itself as "A free web-based virtual computer for every human being."

"It is a web-based Windows," Schreiber, who has a Ph.D in computer science, tells IPS. "You aren't stuck on one computer. Everything is available from anywhere in the world where you can access the Internet."

G.ho.st (http://g.ho.st) is Schreiber's third start-up. His first, a platform called Tradeum, was sold during the first Internet bubble in 2000 for 508 million dollars in shares. His second venture, called Unicorn Solutions, dealt with data management for big enterprises and was sold to IBM for what Schreiber says was a considerably more modest sum.

Due to security constraints, the 40 Palestinian developers working on G.ho.st communicate with their Israeli counterparts by means of video conferencing. When a face-to-face meeting with his Palestinian counterparts is required, Schreiber says he heads for a gas station not far from the West Bank town of Jericho, on the road from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea, where they can meet. "It's surreal," he says. "There are camels outside. It's in the middle of the desert."

Google and Yahoo both offer web-based email, and Google Documents is a web-based office application, but Schreiber says that no one offers the type of total environment – and with a single sign-on – that G.ho.st does. An early-stage version was launched in April 2007, but since then he says work has been done on speeding up G.ho.st and adding what Schreiber calls "cool web-based programmes," like an instant messenger that enables users to communicate between different networks.

G.ho.st has 70,000 registered users, and Schreiber says there are "thousands" of logins every day. It has already begun picking up accolades. In May, it was chosen as one of just five new consumer technologies worldwide to launch on-stage at the Wall Street Journal's 'All Things Digital Conference'.

Schreiber says that most of the initial interest in G.ho.st is coming from emerging markets. "Users in emerging markets often don't have a desktop of their own," he explains. "Many people in these countries use Internet cafes. Our system is free, doesn't have to be downloaded and can be accessed from anywhere."

Since Israel and the Palestinians negotiated the Oslo Accords in 1993, much has been said and written about how economic prosperity in the West Bank and Gaza is a prerequisite for a successful and enduring peace process. President Shimon Peres spoke in the mid-1990s about a "New Middle East" where peace and prosperity went hand in hand.

But Israelis and Palestinians have spent much of the last 15 years, since the Oslo Accords were signed, talking to each other through the barrel of a gun, and the vision of a peaceful, prosperous region has been dashed. In G.ho.st, however, Schreiber might be starting to resuscitate at least a small piece of that discredited vision.

G.ho.st is also starting to serve as a model for other Israeli companies. Schreiber says that several Israeli high-tech firms have begun consulting him on working with the Palestinians. A few have actually begun to do so, although in these cases Schreiber's precedent is yet to be replicated, and work is being outsourced to Palestinian programmers in Ramallah and its environs.

"We want to be a model for others and we feel we are starting to be," says Schreiber.

Excerpt: