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HP's e-inclusion initiative seeks to create new market opportunities by closing the gap between technology-empowered and technology-excluded communities through the creation of market and economic development opportunities, the Vice President of HP, Ms Debra Dunn, said.

Ms Debra L. Dunn, Vice-President, Strategy and Corporate Operations, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), forwarding a file to the IT-Secretary of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Mr J. Satyanarayana, in the presence of the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, at the MoU signing ceremony in Hyderabad on Thursday. Mr Arun Thiagarajan, President, India Operations, HP, looks on.

HYDERABAD, Feb. 21

HEWLETT-Packard has signed a three-year alliance with the Andhra Pradesh Government to build an HP i-Community project in Kuppam constituency of Chittoor district.

i-Community is part of HP's broader e-inclusion initiative to extend HP's business focus to traditionally underserved markets.

HP's e-inclusion initiative seeks to create new market opportunities by closing the gap between technology-empowered and technology-excluded communities through the creation of market and economic development opportunities, the Vice-President of HP, Strategy and Corporate Operations, Ms Debra Dunn, said.

Announcing this here on Thursday, she said the alliance was intended to accelerate socio-economic development in Kuppam by using information and communication technology (ICT) to increase income opportunities and access to new markets.

Stating that the first phase of i-Community project involves developing prototypes in the first six months, Ms Dunn said HP would replicate the project across the State and in other States depending on the success of the pilot project. The company would be investing over $1-million for the pilot project, she said.

The project includes providing e-government services for land records, birth and death registration and bill payments, connectivity to local schools, colleges and hospitals, youth educational services and vocational training through direct and distance learning, and health and agriculture services.

As a part of HP's e-inclusion initiative, HP Labs, the company's central research facility, is setting up a centre at Bangalore dedicated to creating economically sustainable technologies and products. "The results are intended to be widely useful, practical solutions developed through understanding India's social, economic and technological environment,'' Ms Debra Dunn said.

The AP Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, said the alliance with HP would accelerate the State Government's mission to reap the huge opportunities of the information age.

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