FAIRFIELD, NJ, April 13th 2010 – The ZDNet article titled “The Intel Education Appliance – Where do I get one?” penned by Christopher Dawson highlights the benefits of a comprehensive, on-site ICT (Information & Communications Technology) solution for small and medium sized schools. He adds that the Education Appliance from Critical Links, the approved infrastructure solution for Intel® Learning Series, is exactly what he had in mind for such a solution. Critical Links is a pioneer in delivering ICT infrastructure solutions for School 2.0 - the next-generation of schools. Critical Links is a member of the Intel® Learning Series Alliance and its School 2.0 portfolio of software and hardware are developed based on Intel® Learning Series Educational Appliance recipe.

The article goes into some depth about the Education Appliance – including the three core areas where the appliance provides an integrated education solution, namely, LEARNING, NETWORKING, and ADMINISTRATION. To quote from the article, “In terms of learning, the box enables wikis, blogs, forums, and chat. It contains a complete learning management system, integrates with interactive whiteboards, allows screen sharing between teachers and students, and can stream presentations out to student computers. It even integrates a gradebook”. The author also highlights the security features of the Education Appliance, “The Education Appliance handles everything from DHCP to content filtering and intrusion protection. Much like an average school firewall/content filter, the appliance takes care of networking needs that would otherwise be handled by a variety of equipment in a larger, enterprise setting.”

The Critical Links education appliances are the first fully integrated IP based platforms for schools that combine comprehensive learning, networking and administration capabilities on a single platform. The Critical Links Education Appliance has been deployed at over 1200 schools in the world’s largest school modernization program and has been recognized with numerous industry awards.

The Critical Links School 2.0 portfolio comprises of the Education Appliance series eA60TM for 60 students and education appliance series eA1000TM for all the way up to 1000 students (education appliance SeriesTM 60, 100, 500 and 1000 depending on the number of students). These platforms offer a host of learning, networking & administration capabilities for the next generation of schools. This includes comprehensive voice & data communications, collaboration (wikis, blogs, content creation and sharing), data security and content filtering and student and ICT administration capabilities (Classmate PC management, theft deterrence, backup/restore etc). They also feature full-fledged learning management (LMS), activity management (LAMS), client management, asset management and a student information system (SIS).

More information on the Critical Links education portfolio and Critical Links’ education initiatives can be found at the new School 2.0 portal: http://education.critical-links.com/.

About Critical Links

Critical Links is a pioneer delivering innovative Information & Communications Technology (ICT) and Learning infrastructure solutions for School 2.0 – the next generation of Schools.

Critical Links’ School 2.0 portfolio provides the 1:1 learning, Networking and Administration necessary to support a highly interactive and content rich & collaborative educational experience; apart from a host of networking and communication capabilities, it also offers comprehensive learning management, client management, asset management and a student information system.

The School 2.0 portfolio is comprised of the Critical Links education appliance (eA) series that can be deployed in both a classroom and on a school wide basis. The Critical Links education appliance (eA) comes in versions to support anywhere from 60 to 1000 students and beyond.

Critical Links’ education appliances have been deployed globally including in the world’s largest school modernization program. More information about the edgeBOX portfolio and Critical Links’ educational offering can be found at http://education.critical-links.com. Follow our School 2.0 initiatives on Twitter now: http://twitter.com/School20

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