Olivetti is returning to the PC market. The company is launching a range of new generation notebooks and netbooks integrated with groundbreaking on-demand software services, as it returns to its historic innovation-driven mission and recasts its business strategy. Olivetti’s new range of notebooks and netbooks combines design with innovation, and is powered by the latest Intel processors and Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. Initially available with Olivetti PC Guard services for protecting PCs and data, the new line of notebooks and netbooks will offer access to an increasingly broad range of advanced services and applications designed to optimize corporate costs and performance through “software as a service” and “pay per use” options, allowing companies to benefit from access to constantly upgraded solutions without having to invest in technology infrastructure.
Olivetti CEO Patrizia Grieco says: “The new range unveiled today is the next major step in Olivetti’s strategic repositioning, a process that began last year with rollout of the Document Hub for digital document management, which marked the company’s entrance into the software solutions and IT services market. Olivetti is returning to compete with a product that has been a staple of the company’s past, re-envisioned for the services of the future that are about to revolutionize our social and working lives. The company is doing this by leveraging its technological competencies and working together with leading partners.”
The new range draws on the technology competencies of Advalso (Olivetti’s services centre for customer help and IT support), Telecom Italia’s Data Centers (which will be providing leading-edge software services), and Olivetti’s proprietary network of highly-qualified nationwide concessionaries. After initial rollout on the Italian market, the new range will be marketed in countries where Olivetti has a sales presence.
The new initiative has been conceived for business customers and, through Telecom Italia, consumers. Olivetti is targeting the new data and PC protection services market, which is forecast to register significant levels of growth. The new offering is part of Olivetti’s strategy of repositioning the company on the software solutions and IT services market by integrating hardware products, services and advanced applications, and working in synergy with Telecom Italia and a number of high-level partners.
“The renaissance of the Olivetti brand, which for many generations has been synonymous with Italian technological excellence, is good news for the country and, more in general, it’s good news for the IT industry. This collaboration is particularly pleasing for us as it allows us to make a significant contribution to the return of a great Italian brand in terms of performance, connectivity services and security. We are especially proud that Olivetti’s new products have an Intel processor beating at their heart,” says Dario Bucci, Intel CEO for Italy and Switzerland.
“I am happy to be here today, at this return to the future of a brand that has been so vital to ’s technological advancement. The close collaboration announced today will, I am sure, allow us to combine the latest generation of Microsoft solutions with Olivetti’s latest innovations, allowing us to offer Italian consumers new experiences and leading-edge value-added services,” says Pietro Scott Jovane, CEO of Microsoft Italy.
The new range of Olivetti Notebooks has been designed to cater to people who need to work on the move. Initially, the company is launching the Olibook S1300 and Olibook S1550, which come with 13.3’’ and 15’’ screens, and are targeted respectively at professionals and SMEs, and the 15.6” Olibook S1500, which is designed for the consumer and professional market. Complementing the notebook range is the 10’’ Olibook M1025 Netbook, which is designed to appeal to all user types.
Though they differ in processing power and memory, every single one of these models is equipped with the latest generation of hardware and software technology: the Olibook S1300 Notebook has the new Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage processor (ULV), ensuring longer battery life. New Intel® Core™ i3 and Intel® Core™ i5 processors are available for the Olibook S1500 and Olibook S1550 Notebooks,
while the new Intel® platform incorporating the Atom ™ N450 CPU powers the Netbook. The new Microsoft Windows 7 operating system is to be found across the range, in either Starter, Home Premium or Professional versions.
The entire Olibook Notebook range benefits from Intel® MyWiFi, which can be used to easily and automatically to connect a Notebook to other WiFi-equipped devices wirelessly, without requiring a WiFi access point. The Olibook S1300 and S1550 Notebooks also feature Always Aware, a function that protects the hard disk from accidental knocks and sets off an audible alarm if somebody tries to take the notebook. Olivetti’s new PCs offer access to Olivetti PC Guard, a PC and data protection service available simply by registering on a dedicated site and paying a monthly fee. The A-T PC Guard service, which is based on Intel® Anti-Theft technology, can be used to lock a PC if it is lost or stolen. Users can set rules for what to do if the PC is believed to have been stolen (after a certain number of failed logins, failure to connect to the services center, etc), and then easily reactivate the computer if it is found again. The computer can also be rendered inoperable if the user calls the Olivetti help centre on a toll-free line and reports it stolen. The Olivetti DE PC Guard service protects confidential data by using an advanced encryption system that prevents unauthorized users from accessing data. The service, which works without requiring access to the internet or a corporate network, complies with current corporate personal data storage and protection standards. A backup and automatic hard disk data recovery service will soon be rolled out to complement these PC and data protection services. The range goes on sale in April, when the Olibook S1300 Notebook and M1025 Netbook will be available for purchase. The Olibook S1500 and S1550 Notebooks come out in May and June respectively. The range will be marketed to Business clients through the Olivetti concessionary network and the Telecom Italia sales network, which is also handling sales to Consumers.
A press campaign conceived by the Tita advertising agency is scheduled to run in daily newspapers, magazines and on websites to mark the launch of Olivetti’s new range.
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Olivetti (a 100 percent-owned subsidiary of Telecom Italia SpA) operates in the IT business, offering office products and solutions, specialist banking and retail applications, and data systems for vertical markets.
Olivetti products are distributed in fifty countries around the world, with a particular focus in Europe and the .
Milan, 15 March 2010
