The Nedbank Foundation has partnered with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to launch two "50x15" learning labs at the Sol Plaatjie Secondary and Mmabatho high schools, in the North West province.
The new labs will provide learners with Internet access, as well as educational, personal and professional development, says AMD country manager Imi Mosaheb.
The labs are based on previous 50x15 deployments, which aims to enable affordable Internet connectivity and computing capability to 50% of the world's population by the year 2015, he says.
The 50x15 foundation is a participant in the Nepad e-schools initiative, and one of the corporate founding members of the Nepad e-schools initiative, together with Oracle, Cisco Systems, HP and Microsoft, he notes.
AMD's PCs are low-cost, with a fully kitted 30-PC lab costing no more than R57 000, says Mosaheb.
"They run the latest operating systems, including Windows Starter Edition, Windows XP Pro and Linux, and are equipped with content and applications, a local area network, Internet connectivity and a teacher-training programme," he says.
"The only thing that users can't do on these PCs that regular PCs allow is to burn a CD."
Mosaheb says the PCs are anti-theft protected, as they are bolted onto a desk, which is, in turn, bolted to the floor. But the biggest advantage to these PCs is that they are practically maintenance-free, he says.
"One of the key problems in e-school projects is that, over time, the equipment wears and breaks to due constant use. In one year of run time of the Gugulethu lab, the only things that broke were a mouse and keyboard, and that's because people dropped them," he says.
Mosaheb says the PC labs also receive maintenance and support from Microsoft, Cisco, Tarsus, Oracle, First for Business and Learnthings.
The PCs also require low-power solutions, and can be run with solar power, he says. "Five to six PCs require the same power as a six-watt light-bulb."
The North-West is the second province where AMD has launched its PC-labs, with the first lab launched in Gugulethu, in the Western Cape, last year.
Plans are also in motion to set up labs in schools in Limpopo and in the Free State this year, he says.
AMD has also rolled out the PC-labs in a number of emerging markets, including Brazil, China, India and several countries in Africa, he says.
AMD is also a participant in the GautengOnline initiative.
"We have also taken AMD's PC model to the State IT Agency for evaluation for inclusion on its approved list, so that it can be used for roll-out in schools and other government bodies," Mosaheb explains.
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