Browse
related articles
It was the first inspection visit of the facility after it was conferred the status of Microsoft Authorized Refurbishment Centre in order to evaluate the activities of the centre.
Badshah said the Dubai centre maintains professionalism and adheres to very strict environmental regulations. "The people who run the PC Refurbishment Centre have very good understanding of the technology. The Centre also maintains very good marketing plan for acquisition and the refurbished PCs are looked at the perspective of new machines being sold," he said.
"The Centre has developed a good system with good partnership, publicity and good facility. It is a great model we can talk about to others," said Badshah, adding that Microsoft is happy to renew its agreement with the centre.
Eng. Khalid Abdelrahim Abdalla, Director of Customer Relations Department in the Municipality briefed the Microsoft delegation about the centre. Qasem Mohammed Rafi Al Qasem, Head of PC Refurbishment Centre and Khalid Moussa Idris Sharief, Senior Technical Support Officer also joined him.
"We have so far refurbished 3,000 PCs and there are orders for 800 PCs now. We are not only receiving old PCs, laptops and printers, but all kinds of electronic equipments including vacuum cleaners, toasters, TVs. Until now, we have received a total of 34,000 items," he said.
Abdalla said the Centre, through its partner Mohammed Bin Rashid Humanitarian and Charity Establishment has distributed 2,525 PCs so far to many needy people in different countries.
"After the centre was established in February 2007 we had conducted a massive media campaign to publicize our activities. In addition to this, a directive was sent by the Director General of Dubai Municipality to all government departments to utilize the facility. We are also getting a lot of private sector partnerships. Information about the centre is distributed in shopping malls.
Public can contact us on toll-free number 800900 and our vehicle is sent to collect old PCs from the door steps of the callers," he said.
Abdalla said that the project was displayed in the GITEX and other exhibitions. "We are now planning to give advertisements about the centre on electricity bills. Five customer service centres of Dubai Municipality located in different areas of the emirate of Dubai also accept old PCs from the public," he said.
"After receiving old PCs we not only clean them, but format them with latest programs such as Windows XP and Office 2003. After updating the PCs we hand it over to Mohammed Bin Rashid Humanitarian and Charity Establishment, our strategic partner. They send it to schools in the UAE as well as charity organizations all over the world," said Abdalla.
"Microsoft is the software partner of the Centre, which has 10 employees. We are currently looking for a hardware partner. We have a vehicle now to collect the PCs. Two more vehicles will join the fleet soon. So far it is known as a local centre and we want to make it a national centre for PC refurbishment," he said.
Abdalla said that the Centre is developing a PC Museum as the centre is receiving very old PCs and other equipments related to computer. "It will be the first such museum in the whole GCC and MENA region," he said.
Abdalla said the Centre, which targets three main areas such as environment, charity and training, is getting cooperation from government offices, private establishments, banks, hotels and individuals. "If there are more than 20 PCs to be collected, we send our vehicle," he said.
Abdalla said so far 1,593 bodies in the UAE and 932 from outside the country have benefited from the centre. "Many schools from the UAE have benefited. Recently we distributed 1,000 PCs to the National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia), who thanked us for providing PCs with latest programs," he said.
Abdalla said the centre also imparts training to students. "Recently a group of students from the Higher Colleges of Technology got trained here," he said.
Saleh Zaher Al Mazroei, Acting Director of Mohammed Bin Rashid Humanitarian and Charity Establishment handed over 30 refurbished PCs to Gharnata School, Dubai in the presence of Microsoft officials. Ayisha Mahmoud a teacher from the school received the PCs. Mazroei said the organization distributes the refurbished computers only to needy people.
"We do not give it to individuals. We give them to schools and charity organizations approved by the government,"
he said.
The PC Refurbishment Centre, which was set up aimed at spreading the culture of technology and protection of environment, houses 6.542 PCs, 8,199 monitors, 2,214 printers, 446 scanners, 3,795 keyboards, 2,391 mouse, 328 speakers and 304 laptops. It aims to collect 5,000 computers a year and hope to make it 10,000 by working with different local and federal government bodies and private establishments.
Posted by Nadeen El Ajou
