Intel to deliver Half a Million Classmate PCs to Portugal

Since its launch, the Intel Classmate PC has gained immense popularity. The low-cost PC targeted at school children has marked its presence in India, US and Europe. Now, Intel has entered a new market, southwestern Europe – Portugal.

The Portuguese Government has joined hands with Intel to provide 500,000 educational PCs to the nations children.

Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates and Intel’s Chairman Craig Barrett launched a new progam called Magellan Initiative (“Iniciativa Magalhães”) under Portugal’s education technology plan. It complements Portugal’s successful year-old e-School (“e-Escola”) project, wherein teachers and students of secondary level of schooling would get to access educational notebooks and Internet browsing.

With this initiative, the program is expected to provide half a million Intel-powered classmate PCs by the upcoming school year. The Government’s umbrella plan is to increase the computer usage and internet access across their country.

Elaborating on the recent step, Craig Barrett, who is traveling to Portugal on behalf of Intel and is also the chairman of United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN GAID), expressed, “We enthusiastically support Portugal’s commitment to a comprehensive technological plan for education. The government’s priority to make technology accessible to Portugal’s schools and children is a model for governments and corporations working together to prepare future generations for long-term opportunities.”

José Sócrates explained, “This new collaboration with Intel underscores Portugal’s commitment to advance quickly toward a knowledge-based economy. By equipping our schools with state-of-the-art computing technology and Internet connectivity, we hope to hasten the transition to economic models that benefit our citizens.”

However, Intel hasn’t revealed which version of classmate PC will be introduced in Portugal.