19/03/2003

Kennedy announces £70m Hewlett Packard contract

Education Minister, Jane Kennedy has announced the signing of a £70 million contract with Hewlett Packard as part of the ongoing C2k project.

Providing an information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure for Northern Ireland’s schools, the contract will enable the linking of all individual school networks into a Northern Ireland based Online Data Centre.

Speaking at a reception to announce the signing of the contract in Malone College, Belfast, Ms Kennedy said: “This contract, which brings our investment in C2k to £204million, will provide email and messaging systems, online conferencing services, web publishing and hosting facilities for all 370,000 pupils and teachers in our grant-aided schools. The Online Data Centre will provide broadband access to a wide range of education materials directly supportive of the Northern Ireland Curriculum.

“C2k will also provide wider access to the schools’ Management Information System, which is a key requirement in helping to reduce the bureaucratic burden on our teachers."

The Minister revealed that the recently published review of the Education Technology Strategy revealed that 85% of the targets set in 1997 for technological change in schools had been or would be met by the end of this school year.

Welcoming the deal, chief executive of the Western Education and Library Board, Joe Martin, said: “As Chair of the Project Board which has taken forward this major project from the beginning, I am delighted that we have reached this very important stage. All C2k contracts have now been put in place; these will ensure that we have the best possible ICT infrastructure for schools in Northern Ireland."

Jim Kent, Vice President and General Manager, HP Services, UK and Ireland, added: "C2k is not just about the best use of technology in schools, it's about the future of the education process. The work being done in Northern Ireland can act as a global example of e-learning best practice, and we are proud that HPS has been chosen as the key technological enabler in this pioneering venture."

Work will begin during this school year to install the equipment in a number of pilot schools, and the Northern Ireland Data Centre will be available to all schools by March 2004.

C2k is the major project, within the Northern Ireland and Education and Library Board Service, to provide the information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure needed to ensure that the young people in our schools acquire the knowledge and skills they need for the emerging “Information Society”.

The project aims to deliver a “managed service”, a new approach to providing ICT for schools.

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