Oman introduces world's first collaborative learning solution for K12 students with Microsoft's Live@edu portal

The two organizations came together today at the Gulf Leadership Forum in Abu Dhabi to sign an agreement that will bring advanced online services to a target of 650,000 students.

This is a turnkey project bringing technology that had only been previously offered to university students to a younger age group for the first time.

"This is a great achievement for the region and also for Microsoft. Oman's Ministry of Education is setting the standard for the world to follow, bringing advanced connectivity and collaborative learning resources to students at an early age, thereby increasing their ability to compete in the future job market. We are proud to be a partner with the Government of Oman, and we remain committed to supporting the development of human capacity in the region," said Charbel Fakhoury - General Manager, Microsoft Gulf.

Present at the signing ceremony were Ralph Young, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector Microsoft, Dr Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, Chief Executive Officer of Oman's Information Technology Authority (ITA), Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager, Microsoft Gulf and Abdullah Lootah, Country Manager Microsoft Oman. Also present were Khalid Al Siyabi IT Director, Ministry of Education Oman who supervised the project in partnership with Microsoft.

"Our education portal will allow students, teachers and parents to gain access to all the rich resources that the education system in Oman possesses. This will help us to develop a pool of young talent that will support the continuing growth of our economy and the success of our nation for the future," said Dr Rawiyah bint Saud Al Busaidiyah Minster for Higher Education.

The new solution will initially offer services to some 230,000 students from the first quarter of 2008. It will provide a free email service, messaging servies, 5GB of storage and up to 1 GB of password-protected online storage space, automatic e-mail reply, and IP address white listing, which keeps e-mail messages sent from university mail servers from getting caught in spam filters.

Using Microsoft's innovative solution, it allows every student in Oman to upload Microsoft Office documents and grant collaboration permission to other students and educators, allowing schools to give their students and educators a new, free option for organizing research or class assignments or working with classmates or colleagues.

"We selected Microsoft's solution because of its long term commitment to Oman, which is highlighted in many joint initiatives in capacity building we have embarked on in the past. Microsoft's solution is also easy and efficient to maintain, and brings supplementary value in terms of storage space, technical services and local support," said Khalid Al Siyabi, IT Director, Ministry of Education Oman.

The education system of Oman, including its schools, universities and academies, uses Microsoft solutions across all areas of its operations. The new live@edu portal will be installed on the existing .Net platform. The Ministry aims to bring extend the portal to some 650,000 students in the future.

Since Microsoft Live@edu launched in March 2005, more than 400 schools from more than 30 countries have chosen the Live@edu suite.