Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates and Intel Chairman Craig Barrett have announced the Magellan Initiative, a new program that will place 500,000 of Intel's Classmate PCs into the hands of Portuguese school children.
The portable toy-like computer system will be used to compliment Portugal's existing e-School project, which aims to provide notebooks and Internet access to both teachers and students.
Though originally aimed at third-world countries, this agreement marks the biggest deal for Intel's Classmate PC to date. Half a million devices are expected to be delivered in the upcoming school year, and Portuguese prime minister José Sócrates states: "by equipping our schools with state-of-the-art computing technology and Internet connectivity, we hope to hasten the transition to economic models that benefit our citizens."
In addition to the Classmate PCs, Intel will serve as Portugal's technology adviser for the Magellan Initiative and currently plans to create a “Competence Centre” in Portugal to expand the use of mobile PCs and Internet access and use that knowledge to replicate pilot projects in other countries.
Having bitterly parted ways with the One Laptop Per Child project, Intel has now sealed a single agreement that nearly matches the estimated 600,000 total orders for the OLPC's XO laptop.
Official press release: INTEL COLLABORATES WITH GOVERNMENT OF PORTUGAL ON A COMPREHENSIVE NEW EDUCATION INITIATIVE
