The use of the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet with Windows 8.1 and dedicated apps encourages greater interaction during training courses and allows Finmeccanica – AgustaWestland to achieve significant savings.

AgustaWestland – a world leader in helicopter design and construction – chose to use Microsoft technology on Lenovo hardware for its Training Academy courses, which represent a symbol of excellence in Italy and worldwide. In order to improve the learning process the Academy turned to Microsoft which, thanks to its partner Lenovo,provided the Italian branch with 250 Lenovo ThinkPad tablet 2 running Windows 8.1.

The AgustaWestland Training Academy works in 3 continents (Europe, America and Asia), trains more than 6,000 students, pilots and technicians from over 40 different countries each year. With its unique experience and know-how in the field of helicopter systems, the company focuses on military and commercial operators across the world. Its courses stand out thanks to the exclusive use of state-of-the-art technology and innovative flight simulators, and allow attendees to obtain certifications that are valid worldwide.

Until recently students used various manuals and technical books – which involved a large amount of paper and high printing costs. Thanks to the use of Lenovo tablets with Windows 8.1 technology, AgustaWestland can reduce printing costs by 50% and save hundreds of thousands of euro over the coming years.

The Microsoft mobility solutions adoption process began with the digitization of all course manuals and the creation of 12 special apps. At the beginning of each course students received a Lenovo tablet with Windows 8.1 and a USB stick containing all reference material. Using the LOB app Touch on Windows 8.1, not only were students able to consult various electronic documents, texts and books but they could also save their own notes. In a planned second phase students will be able to take the tablets on simulators and helicopters for quicker and more efficient manual consultation.

“The decision made by Finmeccanica – AgustaWestland is a concrete example of Microsoft’s ability to support Italian excellence and the digitization of business in the field of training. Thanks to Windows 8.1, the solutions offered in partnership with Lenovo have brought significant advantages to the company in terms of security, ease of management and integration with the desktop applications already in use at the Training Academy. We are proud of this project and, thanks to our solutions, to have helped this company to reduce course running costs and to improve user and customer experience” – said Claudia Bonatti, Windows Division Director, Microsoft Italia.

“We believe technology is a means for making teaching innovative and engaging, therefore we decided to digitize the training process and to provide students with mobile devices. We chose tablets based on the Windows 8 OS to enhance and innovate the learning processes, keeping as primary the focus on the quality of the service we offer to our clients. We evaluated also other ICT solutions, but we chose Microsoft for several reasons: it grants continuity to the past investments and it guarantees security. Moreover, Microsoft environment is easy to use and widely spread among our clients” – said Finmeccanica – AgustaWestland.

“The ThinkPad brand has always been synonymous with enterprise class quality and Lenovo, by investing further in research and innovation, is now able to provide professional tablets (such as, for example, the new ThinkPad Tablet 8 and Tablet 10, the latest in the Tablet 2 family) that are highly reliable and compatible with the requirements of sectors where IT is truly critical, as is the case with AgustaWestland” – added Elio Biella, Global Account Manager at Lenovo Italia.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Lenovo, società globale di tecnologia da 39 miliardi di dollari, é il primo produttore di PC al mondo, con clienti in oltre 160 paesi. Formatasi di fatto nel 2005 con l’acquisizione della Divisione PC di IBM, la Società sviluppa, produce e commercializza prodotti e servizi tecnologici affidabili e di alta qualità, sicuri e facili da utilizzare – con un modello di business basato su innovazione, efficienza operativa, soddisfazione del cliente e solida esecuzione strategica. Le sue linee di prodotto comprendono gli storici PC con marchio “Think” (ThinkPad, ThinkCentre…), dedicati al mondo business, e quelli destinati al grande pubblico, come la pluripremiata famiglia di PC e tablet “Yoga”, oltre a server, storage, workstation, e una famiglia di dispositivi per il mobile Internet, come tablet e smartphone. Lenovo, una delle società “Fortune 500” a livello mondiale, possiede importanti centri di ricerca a Yamato, in Giappone; a Pechino, Shanghai e Shenzhen, in Cina; e a Raleigh, nel North Carolina (USA). Per ulteriori informazioni: www.lenovo.com/it