Happy New Year and greetings from beautiful, surprisingly sunny London! Today is the opening of BETT (the British Educational Training & Technology tradeshow), and Intel® Learning Series is proud to kick off 2012 by announcing here this morning our next generation of Intel classmate PCs. These new platforms take our focus on “purpose built” technology for education to a whole new level – with increased performance, enhanced ruggedness, and up to 10 hours of battery life. We have also added new features to the Intel® Learning Series software suite, including LabCam, a touch-optimized application with six scientific inquiry tools, and McAfee AntiVirus for increased security. 

The new Intel classmate PCs are being showcased in about 20 booths here at BETT, by computer and software vendors from our network of over 500 Intel Learning Series Alliance members from 70 countries. These Alliance members, like PASCO Scientific, have optimized their education content and peripherals to run on classmate PCs, and they are showing some amazing applications here at the show.

All the latest educational technology here at BETT is thrilling, and what makes me really excited is to imagine how it will be used by students around the world. A few weeks ago, I had the chance to visit some of our Intel Learning Series projects in China, Russia, Turkey and Germany, and once again I came away amazed by the ways students and teachers are using our technology to transform teaching and learning. 

For example, in Russia, we visited a high school where they have set up telescopes in a special roof tower, their own planetarium with a spherical projector, and their own professional video studio with a “green room” for virtual reality projects. Students at this school are using their classmate PCs for scientific experiments and activities both inside and outside the classroom. I can’t wait to see what these students will be able to do with our new platforms!

Today we also announced that we have now shipped more than six million Intel classmate PCs in over 70 countries since we first launched in 2007. I can’t wait to see what these six million students and the millions more to come will be able to do with our new platforms and the new technology on display by our Alliance members here at BETT. We have big goals for 2012, and we hope you’ll join us in building a more engaging, student-centered learning model for all 1.5 billion K-12 students and teachers out there around the world.