The American Red Cross in Greater New York is the organization's largest branch in the country. In keeping with its mission of preparing for, preventing and coping with disasters, the New York charity has ten local units that attend to an average of eight disasters a day.

The Challenge: Providing Case Workers with Fast Access to Mission-Critical Data

The Red Cross needed to provide disaster relief workers with fast access to ECHO, a custom services and case management application that enables rescue teams to capture information about disasters. Users were finding it difficult to access the application remotely due to slow connections and outdated hardware in many locations.

"We're a non-profit organization, and don't have a huge IT budget to buy the latest computers," said Leslie Hunt, CIO for the American Red Cross in Greater New York Chapter. "Our computing infrastructure ranges from the latest client devices to outdated hardware. With almost 350 people accessing our systems over a huge geographical area, we needed to leverage what we had. In addition, the organization relies on volunteers with varying computing skills-so, the system we implemented had to be simple and efficient."

Implementing Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server Software

To meet these challenges, the American Red Cross in Greater New York implemented Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server and Microsoft® Windows NT® Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, with the help of G&G Group, a Silver-level Citrix Solutions Advisor. Noted Kevin Sankhi, network administrator for the American Red Cross in Greater New York, "Citrix software was the only solution that would allow us to provide fast access to ECHO on any device ranging from a PC to a Macintosh to a UNIX device across any connection." Caseworkers and disaster workers can now access ECHO from disaster sites quickly and easily.

Cost-Effective Business Continuity Solution for Disaster Relief

After the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Buildings in New York City, the Red Cross had to devote the vast majority of its resources to the disaster. But, Citrix MetaFramePresentation Server helped the organization ensure business continuity, as users were able to easily access ECHO and help victims. "Because of the robust infrastructure we have with Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server, we were able to continue to work and attend to other fires and disasters in the City," noted Hunt. "Computers can't give hugs, but people can. Citrix technology enables our relief workers to spend less time on paperwork and more time empathizing with the people they're helping."

"Citrix software has offered us ease-of-use, cost-effectiveness, and the reliability that only a centralized system can provide," continued Hunt. "We want our users to focus on doing their jobs. We're now able to make application access transparent and seamless for them, without making a huge hardware investment."

Centralized application administration has also helped the IT team at the American Red Cross in Greater New York save valuable time and money that was previously spent on traveling to remote offices for support. With the session shadowing feature of MetaFrame Presentation Server, the IT person can take control of a user's session remotely, and troubleshoot. "When a new caseworker comes on board, we can easily provide training with the session shadowing feature," noted Sankhi.

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