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ICTA together with Intel®, in a prerelease media conference held today, announced the launching of the
eSri Lanka PC due to be out on the market August this year. Hon. Minister of Science and Technology, Prof Tissa Vitharana, presided over the launch and unveiled the
eSri Lanka PC, at the Water’s Edge, Kotte. Representing ICTA were Prof. V.K.Samaranayake, Chairman and Manju Haththotuwa, Managing Director/ CEO while Intel® was represented by Gerry Greeve, Vice President, Intel® Corporation and Amar Babu, Director – Sales, South Asia.
The eSri Lanka PC Programme is aimed at increasing Sri Lanka’s current low IT literacy, by enabling access to Information Communication Technology (ICT). This programme fosters the charter to ‘bridge the digital divide” that has been taken on by government’s across the world through the UN Millennium Declaration and World Summit on the information society.
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Research in this area has shown that consumers lack awareness of the benefits of owning a PC and PC usage. This program was jointly embarked on by ICTA & Intel® to address these issues and will increase the accessibility and usage of PCs and the Internet across population segments and pave the way for ‘knowledge–based societies’.
The eSri Lanka PC, a personal computer (PC), based on Intel® architecture, will be installed with educational tools and programmes. It will also expose the users to the functionality and availability of open source software in an easy to use environment. Developed in collaboration with Intel®and other partners, this is one of the main ways through which ICTA plans to increase ICT literacy in Sri Lanka.
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Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Gerry Greeve, Vice President, Intel® Corporation, said, “This launch is part of an integrated e-government strategy and a worldwide programme that helps make PCs and ICT more accessible to citizens and business by creating awareness and offering assistance, incentives or benefits.
This endeavor aims at ensuring that e-literacy becomes as basic as reading, writing and arithmetic and governments can increase business productivity and citizen satisfaction and in turn boost economic growth and competitiveness. Intel® is also in a unique position in the market, wherein we can influence the industry and enable focused support for the program, so that we can encourage household PC adoption and Internet access and open the gateways to the future.”
EO/MD, ICTA, Manju Haththotuwa said “It is envisioned that through this programme people, across the country, will gain access to information and education; perhaps that was not accessible before; giving them a chance to uplift their position in life and enabling them better opportunities. Thus with this programme, as with all our programmes, we are in effect using ICT to bridge the digital divide”
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Intel® has a presence in 112 countries and has expanded operations in Emerging Markets including Sri Lanka. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.
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