The Sahara Consortium, comprising local ICT distributor Sahara Computers and partners, has been granted a substantial portion of the GautengOnline tender, the provincial initiative to improve Internet access among townships and rural communities. A total of 2 500 schools stand to benefit from this project.
According to the grant, valued at approximately R25 million, the Sahara Consortium, through Sahara Computers, will provide complete ICT infrastructure and full connectivity to 110 schools as part of the first phase involving 500 schools.
Atul Gupta, MD of Sahara Computers, says: "We are delighted that a decision has been made and we would like to thank everyone concerned for their support and consideration. Accessibility and lower cost are key issues within the ICT industry and Sahara Computers is pleased to be at the forefront of this initiative."
Aside from full connectivity, Sahara Computers will provide a complete school classroom management solution that enables teachers to interact with the class on an individual and group basis. To support the solution, the Sahara Computers will also provide televisions, 25 PCs per school, DVDs, VCRs, printers and network switches.
"This represents a substantial investment in the education and training of our youth. The consortium aims to roll-out the technology and infrastructure to 24 schools per day, which means a complete roll-out within six working days. The plan is to provide schools with both AMD and Intel solutions," adds Gupta.
The minister of trade and industry, Alec Erwin, comments: "We are very pleased to announce this latest development within SA's ICT industry. The GautengOnline initiative is very much a part of what we are working towards with SAVANT, the vanguard of the local information and communications technology and electronics (ICTE) industry. We wish Sahara Computers everything of the best going forward and we look forward to providing greater accessibility and exposure to the benefits of communication technology, especially among rural communities."
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Sahara Computers locally assembles and markets the Sahara-branded PC via the reseller channel, and with its best of breed components, was the winner of The Channel's 'Fastest Growing Distributor in the local ICT industry' award. Sahara has branches in Midrand (head office), Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, with partners throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Sahara is the official distributor and OEM for a variety of international vendors including: Asus, AMD, Creative, Delta, Epson, Intel, Lexmark, Maxtor, Microsoft, Samsung, SMC Networks and Symantec. The company is a member of the Proudly South African initiative and SAVANT.
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