Konica Minolta Offers LTE Connected Chromebooks to Help Conquer the Digital Divide
Reseller Partnership with Sector 5 Supports Connectivity for Economically Disadvantaged and Rural Students
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), along with its IT Services Division, All Covered (All Covered) is proud to announce its reseller partnership with Sector 5, Inc. (Sector 5), which sells cellular connected Chromebooks, an offering that will help close the digital divide faced by students in the United States. Through the alliance, All Covered will offer Sector 5’s LTE connected Chromebooks to its education customers, by working toward providing every K-12 child with an internet-enabled Chromebook device, encouraging self growth and aiding to eliminate poverty levels due to lack of educational tools. This builds on the partnership with Neverware to transform PCs and Macs into Google Chrome Device Management capabilities.
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Of the 35 million households in this country with children, approximately 15 percent have no home internet. Yet even before the pandemic hit, 7 out of 10 teachers were assigning online homework. Where education should be a leveler, students without connectivity are at a disadvantage when they are unable to complete assignments or even simply communicate with teachers and peers. Now that schools have implemented remote learning or hybrid learning, the need to get children connected is even more important to ensure they are not left behind.
“The Sector 5 LTE Chromebook fills a need in education that has largely gone ignored,” said Jon Clemons, National Solution Architect, Education IT Services, All Covered. “Greater responsibility has fallen on schools to not just provide their students with devices, but also ensure they have connectivity to use them. The Sector 5 device solves both.”
Studies show that those students without home internet access have a consistent pattern of lower scores in reading, math and science contributing more and more to the digital divide. Internet access to complete assignments is a proven game changer for the disadvantaged. Cellular connectivity allows schools to give devices to students who may not have a stable place to live or are in rural areas with no wired broadband internet.
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Sector 5 significantly broadens the reach and opportunities that a modern advanced education experience can provide. Its cellular connected Chromebooks are simpler to use than a hotspot with a traditional Chromebook, and they are the only Chromebooks on the market durable enough for education and at an affordable price point for schools. Cell carriers are stepping up as well to provide schools with affordable data plans to power these devices.
Sector 5’s LTE Connected Chromebook was recently reviewed by blogger Gabriel Brangers, Chrome Unboxed who stated, “For students, this Chromebook can withstand being thrown around the house, in a backpack or a locker. And it offers the added versatility of LTE which enables any student to access the internet regardless if their family can afford WiFi.”
“We look forward to the amazing potential our partnership with Konica Minolta and All Covered brings to deploy more Chromebooks to students who need them,” said Erick Kuvshinikov, CEO of Sector 5, Inc. “This alliance will serve well toward fulfilling our mission to close the digital divide in our nation.”
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