Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is committed to bridging the digital divide. As Director of Worldwide Public Sector and Education, I help uphold that commitment by supporting the digital transformation of public services, education, and healthcare; working with leaders dedicated to helping people develop digital skills at home, at school, and in the workplace. 

Over the past 15 years, our active collaboration with Soheil Katal, CIO of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), has allowed us to share our expertise on campus security, virtual reality, connectivity, and processors. More recently, we’ve helped sustain LAUSD’s mission to prepare every student for college and career readiness. When a global pandemic forced everyone to remote learning, LAUSD needed to go through a digital transformation and issued a challenging request for proposal. Between battery life, performance, and connectivity, Chromebooks powered by Snapdragon with LTE proved to be a perfect solution.

Searching for a stronger machine

Modern instructional programs like Minecraft for Education can be very central processing unit intensive. They generally work fine on Windows machines but Chromebooks on the market at the time didn’t have enough processing power. We worked with Soheil to procure and deploy a new fleet of devices that solved three key requirements: processing, privacy, and connectivity.

Enhanced education with Snapdragon compute platforms

Education is cost sensitive in every area: network equipment, services, and devices. That’s why our engineers took the input and recommendations to manufacturers, aligning the final product to the instructional needs and pricing requirements. As a result, we helped LAUSD to procure and deploy a new fleet of more than 100,000 4G/LTE-connected Chromebooks powered by Snapdragon 7c Compute Platform — with more on the way.

The laptops with Snapdragon processors allowed teachers to deliver interactive and engaging learning experiences, even when students were not in the classroom. The devices also allowed LAUSD to integrate coding and programming into the curriculum, which is a crucial skill for students to have access to learn. Now every student is on a level playing field as they engage with interactive learning experiences like Minecraft for Education.

In addition to challenges of the global pandemic, a chip shortage meant limited inventory to fulfill larger orders like the one LAUSD needed to place. I’m proud to say that Qualcomm Technologies and our industry partners stepped up during the pandemic to prioritize education and get students and teachers the devices they needed.

With our combined efforts, LAUSD was able to overcome the challenges of remote learning and continue to provide their students with the resources required to achieve their potential, as well as reach college and career readiness. These Chromebooks, powered by Snapdragon processors and modems, gave students built-in connectivity, so they didn’t need to have Wi-Fi at home to get online. They also have enough processing power to run interactive learning applications.

Experience the Snapdragon Difference

If you are looking for new solutions to improve the educational experience for your students and teachers, discover how Snapdragon compute platforms power modern learning for any environment.