CANADA: Userful, ThinNetworks, and Positivo announced that they had been selected to supply 324,000 virtualised desktops to schools in all of Brazil's 5,560 municipalities.

This initiative would provide computer access to millions of children throughout Brazil. It is a historical achievement being: the world’s largest ever virtual desktop deployment; the world’s largest ever desktop Linux deployment; and a new record low-cost for PCs with the PC sharing hardware and software costing less than $50 per seat.

The decision to deploy Userful's low-cost and environmentally friendly solution established the Brazilian Ministry of Education as a global leader in educational computing and provides other governments and institutions with a proven model for improving student to computer ratios while rolling out large numbers of desktops with minimal cost and environmental impact.

Userful and ThinNetworks would be providing the desktop virtualisaiton and PC sharing software and hardware while Positivo would provid PCs and services. This is the third phase of a nation-wide rollout of computers in schools. Userful and Thin-networks have been selected for all three phases. The first phase (19,000 desktops) has already been installed .

Userful's ability to turn 1 computer into 10 independent workstations would save the Brazilian government an estimated $47 million in up-front costs, $9 million in annual power savings and additional savings in ongoing administration and support costs.

The workstations will be used to teach students the computer skills they need to succeed in the modern workforce. Ronaldo Mota, Brazilian Ministry of Education, said: "Our goal is to bring information and communication technologies (ICTs) to 45,000 schools by 2010, and they will serve about 60 percent of 2.7 million students. Linux Educacional 2.0, a special software package put together by the Brazilian Ministry of Education for schools, will be used to leverage the power, flexibility, and cost savings of open source software.

Tim Griffin, president, Userful, said: “Userful is creating amazing results around the world. We are very happy to have been selected by the Brazilian Ministry of Education, to participate in this historic opportunity to help millions of children get the computer education they need in a sustainable way. For just $50 per additional seat.”

Sean Rousseau, marketing manager, Userful, said: Modern desktop computers sit idle while we check our e-mail, surf the web, or type a document. Userful's PC sharing and  virtualisation technology leverages this unused computing power to create an environmentally efficient alternative to traditional desktop computing. Upto 10 users can work on a single computer by simply attaching extra monitors, mice and keyboards.

This deployment alone saves more than 140,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually, the same as taking 24,000 cars off the road, or planting 35,000 acres of trees. Turning 1 computer into 10 reduces computer hardware waste by up to 80 percent, further decreasing its environmental footprint.