Hosting provider seeks to inspire next generation of programmers with ground-breaking mini-computer

One of the UK’s top hosting companies, Webfusion, is giving away a Raspberry Pi free to every customer who buys a dedicated server from them between now and the end of the year.

Launched to great acclaim earlier this year, the Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer board that plugs into a TV and a keyboard. It’s a miniature ARM-based PC which weighs only as much as a packet of crisps, but can be used for many of the things that a desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. The Raspberry Pi has been a huge success, with over 4,000 being produced every day.

The offer stems from Webfusion’s close association with The Raspberry Pi Foundation, the charity behind the technology. Since January 2012, Webfusion has been providing complimentary managed hosting for the Foundation’s download server.

“We believe very strongly in the Raspberry Pi project, because its aim is to inspire interest in computing among the young,” said Webfusion’s CEO Thomas Vollrath. “Partnering with the Raspberry Pi Foundation demonstrates our commitment to proving our customers with up to date industry expertise as well as an ecofriendly independent infrastructure combined with the latest hardware.

“While many of us at Webfusion can remember getting our first taste of computing from messing around with BASIC on BBC Micros, the growing complexity and cost of IT means that it’s much more difficult to get started in programming, and Raspberry Pi was designed make it more accessible for all,” continued Vollrath.

“Anyone who buys a dedicated server from Webfusion will receive a Raspberry Pi free which they can give to their children or to their children’s schools. Of course, they are also great fun for grown-ups either as a novelty or, if you’re serious about self-improvement, you can use it to learn new skills for yourself.”

You can find out more about Webfusion’s range of physical servers by visiting: www.webfusion.co.uk/dedicated-servers/raspberry-pi/