intel takes initiative for building smart education in india

The launch of the Intel education 2 in 1 last month by the processor maker to revolutionise the imparting of education in the country has some obstructions ahead in which lack of a connected infrastructure in educational institutions will be a major one, says Rajiv Bhalla, Director, Market Development, Intel South Asia.

Below are the excerpts from the complete interaction between itVARnews and Intel.

1)Are you tieing up with any educational institutes for your launched educational devices?

We have a tie up with our partners like Repro India private limited who port content on these devices and take them to educational institutes  as a wholistic solution.

2)How would you comment on the success of these devices with the current situation of data network in the country?

These devices are designed for education vertical and allows rugged usage. They enable the option of anywhere and anytime usage. They promote inquiring based learning and with features like shock resistance and microscope they can be a right set of tool for campuses which have a Wi-Fi infrastructure. We are also in talks with the several partnerships to consider the option of a joint strategy with telcos for these devices in various schools.

3)What will be your Go to Market strategy for these devices?

These devices are available through our education solution partners. They are also available through a reseller partner of ours. The devices are also available as a reference design for the OEMs to bring to the market.

4)What are the major challenges according to you which can hamper the implementation of these devices by educational institutions?

The movement of the educational institutes from print contents to digitise contents, lack of a proper infrastructure by the institutions in terms of connectivity and a mindset of the institutions to stay with the concept of price sensitivity rather than considering the value proposition and the overall total cost of ownership are the major prevailing challenges.

5)Do you also consider the absence of  trained human resources in India as a major challenge for these devices to gain traction?

Yes at this time that is another key challenge which needs to be addressed and i think over a period of time it is being worked on with more and more organisations engaging in professional development courses where in teachers are being trained to leverage the benefit of IT in education.

6)What will be your channel strategies this fiscal?

The channel is an integral part of intel as about 40 percent of the company’s business rely on our channel partners. We will work with our channel partners to enable them to explore new opportunities. Today there are a host of opportunities around Internet of Things as well as education. We will work with our partners to train them to be able to better address the opportunities.