Hewlett Packard announced today that it was awarded a four-year hardware and services contract by the Maine Department of Education. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) award effectively ends the state's long-running exclusive contract with Apple, which was in place since 2002. The program will ensure each student in the school system is equipped with a computing device, an underpinning of the initiative since it was founded by then-Governor Angus King in 2001.