The PS-PhilGEPS Partners with AMD to Present the Latest Technologies Behind the MITHI Desktops and Notebooks

The PS-PhilGEPS has been making available to government agencies and to government employees even, cost-friendly Information Technology (IT) equipment. Years ago, PS-PhilGEPS had “PC ng Bayan” and the “Laptop ng Bayan” projects which were successful.

This year, PS-PhilGEPS collaborated with the office of the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) to come up with the Medium-term Information & Communications Technology Harmonization Initiative (MITHI) Project. It aims to harmonize and ensure inter-operability among ICT-related resources, programs and projects across the whole of government. The quantity and technical specifications for the common requirement for desktops and laptops of government agencies were determined by the MITHI Committee. The public bidding conducted by the PS-PhilGEPS resulted to awards for the Acer brand of desktops and the Asus brand of notebooks. Both equipment are powered by Advance Micro Devices (AMD) processors. Delivery lead time is 30 days after receipt of funded APR but shorter delivery schedules are currently being worked out with the providers.

To fully explain the technical specifications and how the notebooks and PCs can be enhanced for better productivity in the workplace, PS-PhilGEPS, in partnership with AMD, organized and held the “AMD Technology Update & MITHI Desktop and Notebook Presentation” It was held last 15 July 2016 and was co-organized by Asus, Accel Prime Technologies, Inc. and Acer Philippines together with Columbia Technologies Inc. at the Nostalg Ballroom of the Oakwood Premier Hotel-Joy Nostalg Center, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

A total of 130 participated in the morning and afternoon sessions of the lectures. The program officially started at around 9:00 AM with Director Flerida Arias of the Operations Division of PS-PhilGEPS providing the opening remarks.

Director Flerida Arias of the Operations Group of PS-PhilGEPS

Mr. Michael Taylo, Technical Lead of Acer Philippines discussed the salient features of the Acer Veriton X4110G desktop PC. At the same time, he discussed the other commercial products of Acer and productivity tools that can enhance the use of gadgets, even in government. Mobility, reliability, security, convenience were the key words that were used to describe the Acer line of products.

Mr. Michael Taylo, Technical Lead of Acer Philippines

AMD provided a technology update and the lecture was provided by Mr. Ankush Verma, Field Associate Engineer of AMD. He narrated how AMD, a 47-year old company is into introducing innovations in information technology. They are into computing, gaming and virtual reality. He also spoke of the 7th generation AMD Bristol processors and informed the audience about its productivity, battery and energy efficiency, better performance benchmark results, and better clockspeed as against its competitor.

Mr. Ankush Verma, Field Associate Engineer of AMD

The resource person from Asus Philippines, Mr. Ruemer Santillan, a Product Specialist, spoke next and informed the participants about the Taiwan-based company which has a 27-year experience in making desktops, video cards, detachable laptops, servers, motherboards, storage OEM parts, etc. He also mentioned how Asus has been recognized for its eco-friendly initiatives as it continues to reduce the lead content and rediation emitted by its devices. For the MITHI project, it has offered the Asus X550ZE notebook.

Mr. Ruemer Santillan, Product Specialist of ASUS Philippines.

Mock Agency Procurement Requests (APR) were distributed to the government buyers and IT personnel invited to the event. They can use the APRs in preparing their orders for the featured equipment. Acer and Asus, on the other hand, provided model units for viewing and evaluation. The Question and Answer portion became very informative with participants extending their queries about some operational aspects of the PS-PhilGEPS.

Participants of AMD Technology Update & MITHI Desktop and Notebook Presentation

PS-PhilGEPS gave away early bird prizes and before the event ended, AMD, Acer and Asus raffled off numerous gifts and gadgets for the attendees.