RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – February 5, 2008 – Lenovo today announced that it has established a marketing and technology partnership with The AIR Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advocate, teach, and deliver information accessibility tools. The relationship will also set the stage for future enhancements in the delivery of accessible technology worldwide.
The AIR Foundation’s mission is to level the playing field by making computer and Internet accessibility for the blind and visually impaired available to anyone, regardless of financial limitations. As the baby boomer generation ages, virtually anyone who uses a computer will be impacted – particularly those with low vision or blindness – and anyone who knows or works with these users will be affected.
Through this joint arrangement, Lenovo will collaborate with the AIR Foundation to make the AIR Foundation’s accessibility solutions available to customers worldwide and assist the AIR Foundation in promoting accessibility globally. Lenovo will also provide Lenovo ThinkPad notebook PCs and ThinkCentre desktop PCs to The AIR Foundation to utilize in demonstrating its accessibility solutions.
“Lenovo is committed to furthering the cause of The AIR Foundation,” said Scott DiValerio, senior vice president, and president Americas, Lenovo, “and to bringing this type of accessibility to Lenovo’s global customer base.”
The Lenovo relationship marks The AIR Foundation’s second such corporate alignment. Its first was with Serotek Corporation, the leading provider of Internet and digital information accessibility software and services, for its System Access To Go (SA To Go) web 2.0 enabled software solution. SA To Go is available free of charge through The AIR Foundation to anyone from anywhere there is Internet access.
“The AIR Foundation is delighted with Lenovo’s corporate support and its belief in accessibility as a fundamental human right,” said Art Schreiber, executive director of The AIR Foundation, “Collaboration with global organizations like Lenovo is the only way to bring the AIR vision to life.”
The AIR Foundation
The AIR Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advocate, teach, and deliver information accessibility tools. We focus on the accessibility needs of blind and low-vision people. Our mantra is “accessibility is a right” and we work with corporations and agencies worldwide to deliver free accessibility to all. For more information, call 1-877-369-0101 toll free or visit www.AccessibilityIsaRight.org.
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) develops, manufactures and markets high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services worldwide and is dedicated to building the world’s best-engineered personal computers. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, Lenovo’s heritage in both emerging and developed markets has resulted in a New World Company business model where ideas, operations and resources are borderless and mobile. With four operational hubs in Beijing, Raleigh, Singapore and Paris, Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as a marketing center in Bangalore, India. For more information, see www.lenovo.com