Lenovo to deploy 12,000 PCs for gov't school project

Lenovo to deploy 12,000 PCs for gov't school project

June 05, 2006
Updated 12:36pm (Mla time)
Alexander Villafania
INQ7.net

COMPUTER company Lenovo Philippines is set to deploy 12,000 desktop computers in the next 120 days as part of the "PCs for Public High School" program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The school computerization program, which started in 2002, is on its third phase and is targeting over 1,000 public high schools nationwide. Last March, Lenovo won the bidding to provide the computers and was formally awarded the contract in late May. This is the first time for Lenovo to bag a major government project after IBM sold its PC business to the Chinese brand in 2005. Lenovo Philippines Country Manager Victoria Agorilla said in an interview that the PCs are already being manufactured from different plants and not just in China, where Lenovo's main office is located. "We'll be able to deploy the PCs in time. We'll also be conducting teacher training on how to use the computers," Agorilla said. The PCs for Public High School program intends to install at least 10 computers in 4,000 public high schools in the next five years. Compaq, which merged with HP in 2002, won the first contract involving 20,000 computers. Incidentally, Agorilla was also the former Compaq executive who led the winning bid for the school computerization project.