VANCOUVER, British Columbia – June 10, 2020 – Absolute® (TSX: ABT), the leader in Endpoint Resilience™, announced today that Anaheim Union High School District, one of the largest school districts in California, selected the Absolute Control® solution for unbreakable visibility and intelligent management of their fleet of almost 30,000 student devices.
The Anaheim Union High School District is a partnership of students, parents, faculty and staff that serves the educational needs of families in Anaheim, California and surrounding cities. Technology has long been a part of the district’s vision to graduate college and career-ready students, but equipping 30,000 students with technology was a sizable investment - and Anaheim Union’s leadership wanted to protect it.
“We started using Absolute when we had a rash of laptop thefts,” said Erik Greenwood, Chief Technology Officer at Anaheim Union High School District. “Absolute Control stemmed the thefts and, because it was so effective, we now use it on all of our mobile devices.”
Historically, devices didn’t go home with students. However, when the COVID-19 outbreak occurred, the district had to transition to a fully remote learning environment. In order to get devices into the hands of students who needed them, Greenwood and his team had to quickly configure 7,000 Chromebooks and 2,000 mobile hotspots. Tracking how many students the district was serving with technology, as well as the mapping of which student was using which device, became the new normal for Anaheim Union.
With Absolute Control activated across their entire fleet, Anaheim Union’s IT department had an unbreakable digital tether and an always-on, two-way connection to each device being checked out, ensuring these devices could be remotely managed even after leaving the school network.
“As you can imagine, our school board is keenly interested in how many students have been equipped with technology,” Greenwood continued. “With Absolute Control, we can go in and look at devices and match them with student numbers. It’s been a very helpful way to tighten up the data quality across our new check-out system.”
While Anaheim Union’s original intent in using Absolute was theft deterrent, they rely on the solution for so much more today. Gaining comprehensive fleet visibility and control has allowed them to better leverage the assets they already have and respond to student needs in a timely way.
“Never has there been a more critical time to ensure the effective enablement of distance learning and efficiently manage student technology investments,” said Warren Young, AVP of State, Local and Education at Absolute. “We are grateful to Anaheim Union for their partnership during such a pivotal time for the education community. We are committed to continuing to deliver the unbreakable visibility they need to ensure students have access to critical learning technologies and resources – no matter where they are.”
Read the full case study here. To learn more about Absolute, visit www.absolute.com.