HKPC and IBM Partner to Launch Hong Kong’s First Cloud Computing Application for Education to Transform Learning and Improve Educational Outcomes and Efficiencies

HONG KONG, 9 November 2010 – The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled the HKPC-IBM Education Cloud Pilot, the first cloud computing application for the Hong Kong education sector. Based on an education cloud solution developed by IBM China Development Lab, the pilot will be running in the Productivity Training Institute (PTI) of HKPC for six months starting December to improve educational results and efficiencies, and eventually be extended to other Hong Kong educational institutions.

“Cloud computing, an emerging IT consumption and delivery model, offers Hong Kong tremendous opportunities to improve productivity and enhance competitiveness,” said Dr. Samson Tam, Deputy Chairman of Hong Kong Productivity Council and Legislative Councilor.  “We are delighted to collaborate with IBM to roll out the Education Cloud Pilot, which marks the beginning of our partnership in cloud computing and drives the transformation of education to meet the demands of a globalized, knowledge economy.”

The Education Cloud is a scalable and robust cloud computing platform that allows learning institutions to put their computing resource intensive courses on the cloud, and enables students to study outside the classroom at their own pace. It was developed in China Cloud Computing Lab, part of IBM China Development Lab and a member of IBM’s global network of twelve cloud labs.

With this platform, teachers will have bigger flexibility in designing course and interacting with students online, and improving course materials through collaboration. In addition, IT administrators will benefit from virtualization and automation capabilities of cloud to optimize resources, reduce costs and enhance productivity.  PTI will be able to provide a new training option for local enterprises on top of its existing services, offering flexibility and efficiency for knowledge sharing.

Drawing from the expertise and support of IBM China Development Lab, HKPC and IBM have deployed Education Cloud for PTI and will start a pilot by hosting two information technology (IT) courses - Computer Forensics and Linux/Unix Security – on the cloud-based learning platform. More courses will be added in the coming months.

“One of IBM’s top social priorities is improving education in Hong Kong and around the world,” said Dominic Tong, General Manager, IBM China/Hong Kong Limited. “We are excited at this opportunity of partnering with HKPC, our long-time partner who has deep market insights and strong industry domain knowledge, to start building an enabling platform for individualized lifelong learning. We believe this is crucial in enabling Hong Kong people to adapt and excel in a 21st century smarter economy.”

“We are confident that the pilot will bring tremendous benefits to both teachers and students,” said K T Yung, General Manager, IT Industry Development of HKPC. “Our vision is to extend the Education Cloud to other continued learning institutions for greater collaboration and sharing. With IBM’s expertise and experience in cloud computing, we are well placed to help Hong Kong realize the benefits of the Education Cloud.”

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About HKPC
HKPC is a multi-disciplinary organization established by Statute in 1967. Its mission is to promote productivity excellence through the provision of integrated support across the value chain of Hong Kong firms, in order to achieve a more effective utilization of resources, to enhance the value- added content of products and services, and to increase international competitiveness. For more information, please visit the HKPC website at www.hkpc.org.

About IBM
For more information about IBM Hong Kong, please go to: www.ibm.com/hk


Media Contacts:

Florence Ma    Justina Shum
IBM China/Hong Kong Limited    Hong Kong Productivity Council    
Tel:  (852) 2825 7626    Tel: (852) 2788 5895    
Email: maky@hk1.ibm.com    Email: justina@hkpc.org

(Left to right) Mr K T Yung, General Manager (IT Industry Development) of HKPC; Mr Dominic Tong, General Manager of IBM China/Hong Kong Limited; Miss Joey Lam, Deputy Government Chief Information Officer (Policy and Customer Service) of the HKSAR Government; Dr. Samson Tam, Deputy Chairman of HKPC; and Ms Sandra Lue, Director of Emerging Technology Institute, IBM China Development Lab, officiated the launch of HKPC-IBM Education Cloud Pilot