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Gartner CEO Michael Fleisher Advises U.S. House of Representatives on Digital Divide
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WASHINGTON, D.C., October 2, 2000 - Michael D. Fleisher, CEO of Gartner Group, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB) this morning advised the U.S. Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology on the latest status of the Digital Divide in the United States. Fleisher also recommended government policy actions to decrease the divide, in part, by increasing Household Internet Access.
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Fleisher urged government officials to create policies that would speed Internet access to all U.S. homes such as offering tax credits to businesses that provide Internet access to employees, providing telecommuting incentives, and encouraging programs that bring Internet access into homes and not only public locations such as libraries.
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Fleisher also outlined the next stage of the digital divide as broadband access.
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"We may finally master Internet access in every home," Fleisher said. "But a new digital divide will gape before us if broadband access costs an additional $40 per month per household. This will be the equivalent of having the moderate and upper classes in IMAX theatres while the underprivileged are still watching silent movies."
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Gartner's Digital Divide and American Society Report will be delivered in its entirety tomorrow, Tuesday, October 3, 2000 at 1:30 p.m., during Gartner's Capital Hill e-Government Seminar, "How to Leverage the Power of 'G'" at the Capital Building, Room HC-5, in Washington, D.C. An executive summary of the report, which is available at
www.gartner.com, outlines the state-by-state status of the digital divide in the United States.
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The Gartner Digital Divide and American Society Report measures the national digital divide and points to increasing home access to the Internet as the best national solution to bridging the socioeconomic gap. For example, a business and government program that provided laptops to students in Hundred, West Virginia, has met with great success. After distributing 144 laptops to students for both home and school use, West Virginia has jumped from 33rd to 11th place on national achievement tests.
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About Gartner
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www.techrepublic.com) is the leading online destination developed exclusively for IT professionals by IT professionals. Gartner, founded in 1979 and headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, achieved fiscal 1999 revenues of $734 million. Gartner's 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants, are in more than 80 locations worldwide. For more information about Gartner's industry-leading products and services, please visit us on the Web at www.gartner.com.
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