News Release
News Release
CONTACTS:
Maria Gallagher
Jeanne Abi-Nader
(202) 463-4860 x541
(212) 484-7954
mgallagher@blackboard.com
jabi-nader@rlmnet.com
Integrating Two Leading Commerce and ID Software Applications with Blackboard Platform Offers Single Solution for Unifying Commerce Transactions on Campus
Washington, D.C. – November 29, 2000 – Blackboard Inc. today announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to acquire the former AT&T CampusWide Access Solutions and CEI SpecialTeams, a division of iCollege. The combination of Blackboard’s leading e-Learning platform with two of the nation’s largest campus commerce and ID platforms will integrate the Internet even more into the academic, social and financial activities of millions of today’s college students.
Higher education institutions have moved rapidly to bring many critical academic and administrative services online, but they lack the ability to conduct financial transactions on their campus e-Learning and portal Web environments using student debit accounts like those managed with CampusWide and iCollege software.
Currently, these two systems are used to manage accounts with an estimated $1 billion in balances for some three million students. These accounts are linked to the universities’ official ID cards that students use to make purchases and access services within the campus’ defined ID program. However, the leading software applications for managing these transactions and enabling security and ID services are not connected to the institutions’ increasingly important e-Learning and portal Web environment. By expanding on the technology already in place for commerce and ID and integrating transaction processing and access rights into the Blackboard platform, institutions will be able to move a wide variety of student transactions online for the first time.
CampusWide and CEI SpecialTeams will be merged to form Blackboard CampusWide Transaction Solutions, a clear leader in the market. With over 450 institutional customers, complementary technology and 150 dedicated professionals, the new entity will be positioned to deliver greater focus and value to current and new customers, alike. Also, the total offerings of the new Blackboard Inc. will deepen the company’s relationships with the more than 1,450 academic institutions it will serve at an enterprise level.
The deal announced today follows a previously announced agreement under which iCollege has agreed to acquire AT&T’s CampusWide subsidiary and expects to close the deal in early December. Blackboard’s acquisition of both businesses is expected to become final by early December 2000. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Makes
e-Learning Work
“This deal makes e-Learning work by offering a seamless solution for bringing a wide range of campus services and student activities online,” said Matthew Pittinsky, chairman and co-CEO of Blackboard Inc. “It strengthens the capabilities of our Blackboard platform by enabling key Web services to be unified through a campus’s online education environment. It makes it possible for colleges and universities to move their institutional fees, preferred retail partners and other e-commerce transaction points online for the first time, greatly expanding the capabilities of e-Learning environments and addressing an important practical challenge facing our customers.”
The transaction responds directly to the growing need of colleges and universities for one infrastructure that conveniently enables financial transaction processing, security and access rights in the e-Learning environment.
“This deal is a key part of our ongoing initiatives to strengthen the system services provided by the Blackboard platform,” Mr. Pittinsky continued. “As we work to establish Blackboard’s e-Learning software platform as the industry standard to power distance learning, virtual campuses and campus-based intranets, we are also expanding and strengthening the critically important, behind-the-scenes system services that give students, faculty and other users of the platform a seamless experience.”
Benefits
Colleges and Universities
Blackboard expects the deal to result in significant benefits for everyone in the academic marketplace, particularly the colleges and universities that are customers or potential customers of the three companies and the institutions’ students and their families.
“In addition to increasing their ability to deliver student services and seamlessly manage transactions that accompany the learning process, institutions will gain added financial resources through increased revenues and potential cost savings,” Mr. Pittinsky said. “Students and their families will also be empowered by the increased convenience of being able to make all key online purchases using campus debit accounts.”
“This acquisition logically connects two key pieces of campus life together,” said Joe Pietrantoni, Vice President of Auxiliary Services of Duke University. “With more and more education and support services delivered online, these acquisitions will enable colleges and universities to provide a consistent experience both on campus and over the Web.”
William Lewis, Vice Provost for Information Technology of Arizona State University, agrees. “Our vision behind adopting the Blackboard platform is to unify a wide range of campus Web services into one e-Learning environment for faculty, students, staff and even alumni. As it progresses, this integration will further strengthen the ASU campus ‘portal’ by offering the increased convenience of being able to make key online purchases using campus debit accounts.”
Protects
Customer Investments
The combined company will fully protect current investments by academic institutions in CampusWide’s Optim or CEI SpecialTeams’ Envision and Access commerce and ID systems. Orders and expansion plans, as well as regular service to customers, will not be affected by the acquisition.
“We
are committed to a seamless migration, and the new Blackboard CampusWide
Transaction Solutions line of business will continue to offer and improve these
products,” said Michael Chasen, President and co-CEO of Blackboard Inc.
“At the same time, we will be working on a convergence strategy to
bring together the separate, unique strengths of these high-quality systems.”
Other
Results of the Deal
Under the agreement, Blackboard is also acquiring iCollege’s e-Learning Web property, iCollege.com. The iCollege.com Web services complement Blackboard’s portal capabilities and can easily be integrated into Blackboard’s platform.
The
combined company will employ approximately 450 people.
Headquartered in Washington, DC, it will have a west-coast office in
Phoenix, AZ, satellite offices in Richmond, VA, New York City and South Dakota,
and field staff in five states and four countries.
About CampusWide and iCollege
CampusWide Access Solutions and iCollege’s CEI SpecialTeams provide, respectively, the nation’s first- and third-most popular campus commerce and ID software applications. CampusWide’s Optim9000 and CEI SpecialTeams’Envision and Access 2000 are the systems of choice at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and Canada. Through iCollege.com, iCollege also provides a variety of Web-based services for college-bound students, faculty, alumni and others in the higher education marketplace.
About
Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. is a leading e-Learning Internet infrastructure software company. Blackboard’s technology powers online education and related commerce in the academic marketplace of schools, colleges and universities, as well as the organizations that serve them, such as textbook publishers, test preparation companies and other education service providers. With more than 1,000 “live” institutions, Blackboard serves 3.5 million active users in more than 70 countries, generating more than 200 million page views per month. With an additional 5,500 institutions using Blackboard’s Web site, Blackboard.com, Blackboard is fast becoming the industry standard platform for bringing education online.
Academic
clients include Cornell University, Georgetown University, the University of
Tennessee and Harvard Law School. Top
commercial education brands powered by Blackboard include Kaplan Inc, LEXIS-NEXIS,
Academic Systems, BigChalk.com, AOL@School, FT Knowledge (division of Financial
Times) and others. Partners include
AOL, Oracle, Dell, Sun Microsystems, Pearson, Peoplesoft, KPMG Consulting,
McGraw Hill, Saba and others. Headquartered
in Washington, D.C., Blackboard has over 250 employees.
Additional
information about Blackboard can be found at http://www.blackboard.com.
