Compaq offering discount to state
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By John Duchemin
Advertiser Staff Writer
As part of its sponsorship of the Asian Development Bank meeting in Honolulu, computer maker Compaq brought in 36 shipping pallets of state-of-the-art hardware.
When the ADB meeting ends, however, Compaq doesn't want it back.
The laptops, desktop computers, servers, projectors, a storage network with terabytes' worth of memory will be going up for sale at bargain-basement prices, so Compaq can avoid the cost of shipping it all back to the Mainland.
The state gets first crack at buying the equipment, but private interests are free to inquire, said Karen G. James, operations manager of local Compaq distributor GeminiTech.
The hardware includes models of Compaq's latest products — including iPAQ Pocket PCs, handheld computers that have more memory than many desktop computers, and have wireless Internet capability.
James estimated the equipment would cost $600,000 at retail prices. The state will get a "significant discount," she said.
"This is really just a favor — there's no financial incentive, other than that Compaq would just as soon not pay to ship the equipment back," James said. "This could be very good for education — K-12 public schools really need computer labs, for example."
She would not say how much the discount would be, but said it would be well below the already discounted prices the state pays for much of its computer equipment.
