Compaq Computer Corp and Acer Group are among the companies looking to take a slice of the lucrative UK education market from traditional market leader RM Plc. Compaq says that it will be offering systems specifically tailored to individual school’s needs; while Acer is pushing the flexibility of its portables in a scholastic environment. Both companies have created marketing teams comprising of largely of ex-teachers to tout their wares to schools. Compaq’s team is headed up by David Heath, formally of Apple Computer Corp and Xemplar. Compaq says that it wants to grow its share of the schools market – which it is only now entering – to 15% by the end of this year and has partnered with 50 educational ISVs to this end. Meanwhile, Acer, which entered the market last year, is hoping that its involvement in the Anytime Anywhere Learning (AAL) initiative with Microsoft Corp will further raise its profile in the sector. Both companies are stressing how closely they are working with the UK government’s objectives for its National Gird for Learning wired schools initiative.
