Educational Services of America Wins International Innovation Award from Citrix

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Release Highlights:

• Educational Services of America (ESA) is the winner of the 2012 Citrix Innovation Award, an international award recognizing visionary organizations that use Citrix technology solutions to drive innovation and simplify information technology.
• Using Citrix technology solutions, ESA students with special needs are provided specialized instruction and at-risk students get the support they need to succeed in school, reducing the likelihood they will drop out.
• ESA, one of three finalists, was the only finalist headquartered in North America. The award was presented Wednesday, May 9, at Synergy San Francisco, Citrix's premier event on cloud computing, virtualization and networking.

Educational Services of America (ESA) is the winner of the 2012 Citrix Innovation Award, which recognizes companies using Citrix technology solutions to simplify information technology, improve organizational agility and transform the way they do business.

ESA, the nation's leading provider of K-12 alternative and special education schools and programs for students at risk of dropping out and for students with special needs, uses Citrix private cloud technology to help educate more than 12,000 students nationwide each year. ESA uses its Citrix solution to deliver tutoring and other educational support to students on demand and at their convenience, wherever their learning sessions can become an integrated part of their day.

"ESA's Information Technology and Curriculum teams led the partnership with Citrix and the collaboration with our teachers, directors and leadership to transform the ways we reach students," Mark Claypool, ESA president and CEO, said. "As a result of this collaboration, we can scale up quickly and efficiently to reach students wherever they are, any time, on any device, and students can easily access educational resources on their terms and timeline, greatly improving their academic performance and enriching their lives."

The award was presented Wednesday, May 9, at Synergy San Francisco, Citrix's premier event on cloud computing, virtualization and networking. Citrix solicited nominations of innovative customers from its partners and regional sales teams around the world and narrowed them down to three finalists. ESA was the only finalist headquartered in North America.

Citrix XenDesktop allows ESA to reach students wherever they are, any time, on any device, from a school-based PC to a learning center thin client or the student's own Mac or iPad, freeing students from a desktop computer at a learning center or school.

With Citrix NetScaler, Repeater and Branch Repeater, students are engaged by rich, often graphically intense multimedia content tailored to their individual learning needs and style—with a high-performance experience—even over uncontrolled wide area networks (WANs). Citrix allows ESA to deploy desktop-based applications alongside web-based applications in one environment, resulting in maximum flexibility in the programming choices available for students.

"Congratulations to Educational Services of America for winning the 2012 Citrix Customer Innovation Award," said Kim DeCarlis, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Citrix. "All of our finalists told amazing stories of how technology can drive business innovation and how it can ultimately do more than just change the way people work, but change the way people live. ESA has a unique and touching story of how technology is truly making a difference in the lives of kids who need specialized and personalized ways of learning in order to succeed in life.  It's great to see ESA use Citrix technology to provide educational opportunities to students that otherwise might be left behind. We are proud to recognize their accomplishments and look forward to witnessing what they achieve with their students in the future."

About ESA

ESA's mission is to provide personalized, evidence-based educational services for non-traditional learners in collaboration with families and public school districts. To fulfill this mission, ESA operates two strategic service divisions: Ombudsman Educational Services, which partners with public school districts to provide alternative education to non-traditional learners and students who are at risk of dropping out of school, and Spectrum Center Schools and Programs, which partners with public schools to provide individualized services for students with challenging educational and behavioral needs such as autism, emotional disturbance and developmental delay. ESA partners with 240 public school districts in 22 states and the District of Columbia to serve 12,000 students each year in more than 170 schools and programs. For more information, visit www.esa-education.com.

Resource Links and Images

Educational Services of America
ESA Corp: www.esa-education.com
Ombudsman: www.ombudsman.com
Spectrum: www.spectrumschools.com

ESA Logo (Click to download hi-res)
Photo: ESA accepts the 2012 Citrix Innovation Award (Click to download hi-res)

SOURCE Educational Services of America