Stan Beer
Wednesday, 01 April 2009 06:49
Business IT -
Technology
Page 1 of 2
Microsoft
and Lenovo have won a massive deal worth hundreds of millions to supply
sub-notebooks running Windows XP and Microsoft Office to 200,000 year 9
students in NSW state schools. The three year deal, with an option to
renew, will see all year 9 students get the notebooks to keep for the
remainder of their school years and beyond.
Microsoft spokesperson Joanna Stevens Kramer told iTWire that XP
was chosen by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training
(NSW DET) but they would be upgraded to Windows 7 as soon as it became
available.
Netbooks usually run by Atom processors, with 1GB RAM
and in this case with 160GB hard drives, are typically not powerful
enough to run Windows Vista. And Lenovo's IdeaPad S10e, the netbook being supplied to the schools is no exception.
The arrangement leverages the NSW DET’s existing volume licensing
agreement with Microsoft, which provides licenses for up to 1.3 million
users, including all students, teachers, administrators, and staff
across NSW state schools.
"The
laptops will be supplied under the existing (three year) volume
licensing agreement with the government which was renewed about a month
ago," Ms Stevens Kramer told iTWire.
"They will be supplied with
the full Office suite and come with a three year warranty to cover them
for the time students have them at school."
The initial laptop rollout is scheduled for July 2009.
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