Reports suggest $250m deal for 2B1 machines
vnunet.com, 13 Oct 2006
The Libyan government has agreed to purchase 1.2 million laptops from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, according to reports in The New York Times.
The deal, reported to be worth $250m, would make Libya the first country to officially place an order for the 2B1 laptops.
OLPC has said that five to 10 million units would need to be pre-ordered before full-scale production and distribution could begin.
The OLPC project was founded by Nicholas Negroponte and officially unveiled in 2005. The goal is to provide the low-cost machines as a way of linking children in developing countries to educational resources on the internet.
The prototype designs of the 2B1 run on a low-power AMD processor and carry 128MB of RAM. Current plans are for the computers to run a Linux operating system, and to have manually rechargeable batteries.
A pilot for the project is scheduled to begin in early 2007 in Brazil, Argentina, Libya, and Thailand.
Remote access - Three steps to getting connected
3.4 million UK professionals now work from home – is your company equipped?
Cost benefits of a global collaboration network
This white paper is a must read for organisations looking for evidence of the bottom-line benefits of high-definition video and voice communications
Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies; IThound.com brings you over 6,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.
Join our live chat session on Thursday at 11am to...
Researchers from security firm FireEye have been able to effectively...
Do you agree?
Have your say on this article