A laptop on every desk (KELOWNA)

By J.P. SQUIRE Wednesday, July 5, 2006, http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/article_2446.php
School district support staff in the IT department spent almost all day unpacking 19 pallets and counting $1.5 million worth of new laptop computers Tuesday.At the end of the afternoon, after checking and re-checking serial numbers and boxes, they were one short of the 1,000 ordered. Two more shipments will deliver another 1,000 laptops in the fall.“People don’t realize there are so much behind-the-scenes logistics,” said Jon Rever, the school district’s district principal for technology and learning services.As an asset worth $1,460, each IBM ThinkPad must have its serial number recorded and then the information on which Grade 7 student at which of the six middle and five elementary schools received it. In three years, those students will turn it in and receive another for Grades 10-12.As the program expands from Grades 7-9 to 10-12, the number of laptops arriving each year will double from 2,000 to 4,000. And then thousands will be returned to lenovo, the largest producer of PCs in China, under a lease agreement with the school district.It will refurbish the laptops and market them overseas.The district began the pilot project at Springvalley and Rutland middle schools last year with entry-level series R43s.The new laptops are T series, business-grade titanium models with less plastic, making them more durable.“They are a couple of steps up and are loaded with great software,” said IT technician David Swystun, including a full encyclopedia and multi-language dictionary.