Omanhene of Agogo Visits Citrix

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Apr 24, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Citrix Systems, Inc., the global leader in access infrastructure solutions, announced that His Royal Highness, Nana Akuoko Sarpong, Omanhene of Agogo, Ghana, will visit Citrix headquarters in Fort Lauderdale today to discuss how Citrix technology is aiding in Ghana's economic development plans.

Nana Sarpong will meet with Traver Gruen-Kennedy, chief evangelist for Citrix and founder of the Digital Development Partnership (DDP), a non-profit organization created to foster technology transfer, economic development and educational opportunities in under-served communities around the world. In addition, Nana Sarpong will meet with the children attending 'Bring Your Kids to Work Day'at Citrix to discuss Ghanaian traditions as well as exhibit unique artifacts from his native country.

With an abundance of natural resources, Ghana remains heavily dependent on international financial and technical assistance. As the 32nd generation ruler in the Ashanti nation of Ghana, Nana Sarpong wants to provide his country with cutting-edge technologies that will help address the malnutrition and starvation that face his people. In a partnership of local and international interests, Nana Sarpong will be joined by members of Florida's Collier City Community Development Corporation, Inc. (CDC), which will serve as a model for the King's economic development plans. Using the Collier City CDC as a model, Nana Sarpong is looking to leverage Citrix(R) technology to manage a large-scale project that would replenish the nation's forests and deliver volumes of quality fish and other food products to the people of Ghana. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, Nana Sarpong, Gruen-Kennedy and representatives from the Collier City CDC convened at the United Nations to explore opportunities for the people of Ghana.

The Collier City CDC has been up and running since 2001 after approaching Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Center & Aquaculture Department for support in building an aquaculture and hydroponics farm. The idea was to raise organic fish, vegetables and herbs for sale to restaurants and markets in an effort to create jobs and a better quality of life in Collier City. The fish farm also had specific information technology requirements and, through the DDP, turned to Citrix access infrastructure solutions as the engine for its business needs. Since Citrix technology enables applications to be hosted on a central server, the Collier City CDC could leverage the most up-to-date productivity tools for its business functions and a higher level of support, regardless of the hardware it had in place.

Citrix volunteers donated not only servers, thin-client computers and software to the project, but also their time to training community members and local high school students in running the technology. These efforts helped to build community education opportunities in Collier City and ensure that the fish farm could become a self-sustaining business.

'Citrix and the Digital Development Partnership have worked to bring the Collier City community together,'said Sid Jones, chairman of the Collier City CDC. 'We look forward to helping Nana Sarpong achieve similar economic growth and community involvement in Ghana.'

Early this year, the Collier City CDC was approached by the nation of Ghana to learn if the establishment of a similar access infrastructure solution was possible. Nana Sarpong's intention is to replicate the entire project on 1,100 hectares, the equivalent of more than 2,700 acres, of land in Agogo, Ghana. The project will deliver fish as a quality food product both within the country and for possible exportation, seedlings of teak and mahogany for reforestation, and technology transfer to manage the large-scale initiative. Ultimately, the project will be designed to not only create jobs for the local people but also help address the hunger crisis facing the country's 20.2 million occupants. One hectare will produce 25,000 pounds of food per year, enough to feed 1,000 Ghanaians.

'It is rewarding to see the results of our community leaders, local students, volunteers and Citrix solutions in Collier City,'said Gruen-Kennedy. 'The project's impact grows daily. I am confident that together we can create similar economic development and educational outreach opportunities as we build a digital bridge to Ghana.'