Biz-Tech

ComBank facilitates IT studies in rural schools

Schoolchildren in many rural areas of Sri Lanka will have an opportunity to enhance their IT skills due to a new community initiative of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon and the Mother Sri Lanka Program of the Presidential Secretariat.

Under this program, Commercial Bank plans to donate computers and related equipment to set up computer laboratories in several underprivileged schools.

The first set of beneficiary schools have been selected from the North Central, Uva and North Western provinces and a completed computer laboratory is to be handed over to the students of the first beneficiary of the project, the Kosgolla Maha Vidyalaya in Badulla district in January 2011, the Bank said.

Kosgolla Maha Vidyalaya is a school in Uva Province that won third place from Mother Sri Lanka School Dialogue competition in Sinhala medium among eight schools that participated. When the school presented its projects at the all-island final in Colombo in June 2010, Mother Sri Lanka realized that the school did not have a computer. Hence this school has been selected as the first school to launch the Mother Sri Lanka-Commercial Bank community project.

Another four schools in the Anuradhapura, Puttalam and Kurunegala districts have been identified by the project to receive computer labs. Other schools that need such assistance may make a request to the Mother Sri Lanka program.

Commercial Bank’s CSR Trust Chairman Mahendra Amarasuriya said that enhancing the IT knowledge of schoolchildren is vital for country’s progress and also will help the future success of the children.

“We recognized that although IT is a subject in the school syllabus, many schools in rural areas do not have the necessary equipment to teach the subject effectively. Therefore we decided to fund this project which we consider as an investment in the future of the children of Sri Lanka,” Amarasuriya said. Mother Sri Lanka Chairperson Janaki Kuruppu said: “To be selected to receive the benefits of this program, the schools must be members of the Mother Sri Lanka movement. These schools and the students have already pledged their loyalty and patriotism to the country.”

“We do not believe in just giving as charity. Those who believe in Mother Sri Lanka should be able to think ‘Country first.’ The Mother Sri Lanka schools have already participated in this program and shown their commitment and interest in this nation building program. The Mother Sri Lanka club in the school will look after this computer lab as its contribution to the effort,” she said.

When selecting schools to benefit under this scheme, consideration is given mainly to rural schools based on up to which grade they conduct classes, the number of students and the availability of teachers to handle the subject of IT.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon will fund the project while the selection of schools and co-ordination will be the responsibility of the Mother Sri Lanka program. Once a school is selected, the nearest branch of Commercial Bank will interact closely with the school to ensure proper utilization of the equipment to benefit the students.

The Mother Sri Lanka Program was launched to promote activities for a positive change in Sri Lanka and receives leadership direction and support from the Office of the President. It conducts activities, programs and communication campaigns to build pride in being Sri Lankan and develop positive thinking about Sri Lanka. It conducts grassroots activity that contributes towards nation building through the development of professional, physical and spiritual wellbeing of all Sri Lankans and also attracts international resources towards developing Sri Lanka. Mother Sri Lanka is a not-for-profit charitable organization.

Intel Core processor family here

Intel Corporation, introduced the much awaited and game changing Second Generation Intel Core processor family recently.

Intel disclosed some exciting and surprising new features and services, and several unique agreements that deliver an entirely new visual experience with processor graphics built in.

Over 500 desktop and laptop PCs are expected from all major OEMs worldwide throughout this year. In Sri Lanka, systems are likely to be available from all the MNCs as well as from local channel partners.

New features include, Intel Quick Sync Video, and a new version of the company’s award-winning Intel Wireless Display (WiDi), which now adds 1080p HD and content protection for those wishing to beam premium HD content from their laptop screen to their TV.

“This is a revolutionary advancement in computing performance and capabilities over any other previous generation: Intel Sri Lanka Country Manager Indika de Zoysa said. “The new Second Generation Intel Core processors have built-in visual capabilities which are stunning. This, combined with improved adaptive performance, will revolutionize the PC experience in a way that is obvious for every user to see and appreciate - a visibly smarter performance,” he said.

The Second Generation Intel Core processor family is the first ‘visibly smart’ microarchitecture to combine visual and 3D graphics technology with performance-leading microprocessors on a single chip. Incorporating the newly architected Intel HD Graphics on each 32nm die enables significant graphics performance improvements over previous generation graphics, for both HD media processing and mainstream gaming.

“These stunning new features are bound to appeal to your senses and give you a better looking PC experience,” de Zoysa said.

“The visual features built into the processor deliver everything for a stunning and seamless experience when viewing and interacting with all your PC visuals. So what you see looks amazing and runs without any interruptions,” he said.

WSO2 fetes outstanding contributors

Innovative technology company, WSO2, paid tribute to their top outstanding contributors at the Annual WSO2 Awards Night held at Cinnamon Lakeside last week.

Awards were given under three categories: Outstanding Contributor, Customer Delight and Outstanding Team of the year 2010.

Founder, Chairman and CEO Dr Sanjiva Weerawarana said, “Developing WSO2 Stratos, the first 100 percent open source cloud platform for enterprise applications, and churning out 46 product releases all in one year, was a challenge that our team took to heart and simply made happen!

“Tonight we honour those that went the extra mile and exemplified what can be accomplished through great teamwork, passion and commitment,” he said.

WSO2 also gave out long service awards, for those who’ve been in the company for five years. WSO2 celebrated five years last year, redefining enterprise middle ware and providing support services matched by no other.