HP starts distribution of 1.5 mn notebooks in UP

Notebooks will be distributed as part of a govt contract over next 7 months among eligible students in the state

PC manufacturer Hewlett-Packard, has from today begun fulfilment for one of India’s ambitious digital inclusion project – the distribution of 1.5 million HP notebooks by Uttar Pradesh (UP) government to eligible students in the state. The first 10,000 HP notebooks were handed out by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav at a ceremony held at Colvin Taluqdars’ College in Lucknow today.
 
As part of the project, HP notebooks are being provided by the UP state government to all students passing Class 12 or equivalent examinations in 2012, and enrolling for higher education, across 313 tehsils in the Uttar Pradesh region.

 
Rajiv Srivastava, Vice President and General Manager, Printing and Personal Systems
Group HP India said:“We truly believe that by empowering students and teachers globally, we can address some of the bigger social challenges around the world.”

 
On January 28, the UP state government awarded the Rs 2,800 crore ($515 million approx) contract to HP to supply 1.5 million notebooks over a seven month period. HP was selected to be the sole provider following a stringent selection process that evaluated all aspects of the device, distribution, after sales support, pricing and training capabilities.
 
As part of the contract, HP will supply the HP Pavilion G4 notebooks, which have a 14 inch display, resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels, 2 GB of internal memory, 500 GB hard disk capacity, webcam, three hours of battery backup, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support. It also includes three USB ports, HDMI, Media card reader, a port for the microphone jack, a VGA, one headphone or speaker out port apart from the AC power slot, a DVD Read and Write optical drive and support typing in three languages - Hindi, English and Urdu. The devices will run the Windows 7 platform with MS Office Pro Academic Version 2010 and an option to run on UBUNTU LINUX as well, in dual boot mode.

 
The UP institutions whose students received the notebooks today include Aeronautical Training Institute, Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Faculty of Architecture GBTU Lucknow, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Karamat Husain Muslim Girls PG College, King George Medical University UP LKO, M.B.P. Govt PG College LKO, Mahamaya Government Degree College BKT LKO, National PG College LKO, Navyug Kanya PG College Rajender Nagar, Netaji Subhas Govt Girls PG College Aliganj, PT Deen Dayal Upadhyay Govt Girls PG College Rajajipuram LKO, Shia P.G. College and UP Viklang Uddhar Dr. Shakuntala Misra University.
 

As part of the contract, HP will be setting up a call center at Lucknow along with service centers at all the 313 tehsils based on the distribution schedule. The service centers will be fully equipped to provide repair through certified team of engineers. HP will also maintain a stock of fast moving spares parts at all the service centers to ensure faster repair and turnaround time.
 
A full day training to teachers about the products and demonstration to students is also planned. The training content will be in English and Hindi.