People try out laptops displayed at an electronics retail store in Tokyo November, 16, 2014. Japan's economy unexpectedly shrank an annualised 1.6 percent in July-September after a severe contraction in the previous quarter, likely solidifying the view th
People try out laptops displayed at an electronics retail store in Tokyo November, 16, 2014. Japan's economy unexpectedly shrank an annualised 1.6 percent in July-September after a severe contraction in the previous quarter, likely solidifying the view that premier Shinzo Abe will delay a second sales tax hike next year. Picture taken November 16, 2014. Reuters/Yuya Shino

The New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education & Communities (DEC) has awarded a contract worth $250 million to HP and Lenovo, where the two vendors will supply desktops, tablets and notebooks to 750,000 students in 2200 NSW schools and 130 Technical and Further Education (TAFE) campuses in NSW with 500,000 students. Each PC vendor has signed a $125 million deal with DEC that will run until 2017. The contract can be extended twice for a period of one year, as per reports.

According to a report on IT News, it is mandatory for students of public schools to buy desktops, tablets or notebooks from the supply panel whereas TAFEs can either buy hardware products from the panel or other state contract vendors. The Education Department was looking for a supplier from the ICT Hardware Agreement for the NSW Government that had started in mid 2013 with HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, Samsung and Pioneer Computers as approved suppliers. A spokesperson from DEC said in January that the department was negotiating with two suppliers and was expecting to have a contract in place by March 1. The final decision was to sign the contract with HP and Lenovo, reports IT News.

Education segment: The key focus area for tech product suppliers

Various reports reveal that education segment is one of the key verticals for most of the tech product suppliers. Recently, Acer had unveiled the 8-inch Iconia One and the Iconia Tab 10 which also caters to the education segment. The product was unveiled in New York but the company is yet to announce its availability in Australia, as per a report on CNET.

Google has also tried to tap the education market with its Chromebooks. As per a PC World report, Chromebooks are cheaper and because of its low cost, it is easily adopted by cash strapped schools. As per ZDNet, Chromebooks are easily deployable and manageable and special tools developed by the search engine giant allow educators to get the most out of the devices. Even Apple has dominated the education segment, says the ZDNet report.

Last month, Google and Asus had unveiled the Asus Chromebit , which is a ‘computer on stick’ that can be plugged to any display to run all those software that typically runs on personal computer, reports NDTV Gadgets.

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