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Monday, March 18
The Indiana Daily Student

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IU wins Citrix Innovation Award for software to help visually impaired people

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IU won the 2019 Citrix Innovation Award on Thursday for its AT Desktop, a virtual desktop accessible to people with visual impairments.

Citrix, a digital workspace company, announced the award at its Citrix Synergy conference in Atlanta. IU’s system was one of more than 1,000 global submissions for the award and won through a two-part voting system comprised of votes from social media and votes from a panel of Citrix IT professionals.

“I think that Citrix really saw that we were trying to deliver the same sets of software that you would use if you use IUanyWare to everybody, regardless of their ability,” said Matthew Link, associate vice president for University Information Technology Services Research Technologies.

IU uses a process called virtualization to run IUanyWare, a cloud software service that allows students, faculty and staff to run IU-licensed software applications on web browsers or mobile apps without installing them, according to an IU press release. IU delivers the software through Citrix.

AT Desktop helps people with visual impairments use IUanyWare like any one else would, Link said.

“Ignoring a whole population of people — the loss is far greater than I think anyone really realizes,” said Stephanie Cox, manager of IU virtualization services, in a video on Citrix’s website about the award. “It’s almost overwhelming when you think about all of the possibilities of greatness that are there when we include everyone.”

Cox and her team at IU virtualization services collaborated with UITS Learning Technologies on AT Desktop for almost three years, Link said.

“It’s our job to do everything we can to empower everybody at IU to continue to learn and grow,” he said.

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