WASHINGTON, May 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blackboard Inc.
(Nasdaq: BBBB) is helping K-12 schools, higher education
institutions and local governments prepare for hurricanes with mass
notification services that alert entire communities in just
minutes. While the 2009 hurricane season was quiet – only one named
storm reached the U.S. mainland – the National Hurricane Center
today predicted an "active to extremely active" season for 2010,
posing above-normal risk to U.S. and Caribbean coastlines.
Building on success using the AlertNow™ and
Blackboard Connect™ services to manage previous
storm events, Blackboard clients are busy preparing for the new
season that begins June 1. Both
services have become trusted tools in hurricane-prone regions,
helping to keep communities informed throughout the lifecycle of a
storm incident, from preparation and evacuation to cleanup and
recovery.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools, a K-12 district serving
approximately 70,000 students, has integrated Blackboard's AlertNow
service into its crisis communication plan for more than two years.
Hurricane Hanna struck the region as the 2008-2009 school year
began, and school officials sent a number of messages to families
and staff to keep them up to date on school operations.
Likewise, when Hurricane Ike struck La
Porte, Texas in 2008, Emergency Management Coordinator
Jeff Suggs used the Blackboard
Connect service to send more than 227,000 messages to residents.
During the course of Ike, La
Porte sent messages to urge evacuation in the face of the
storm; to set curfews and deploy personnel and volunteers in the
storm's wake; and to manage cleanup and recovery in the weeks that
followed.
"The Blackboard Connect system was invaluable to La Porte in the 2008 season," said Suggs.
"When Ike threatened, we didn't have to worry about the technology
or budget when it came to sending messages and notifying our
citizens. Every time, Blackboard Connect delivered. And when the
storm had passed, the feedback we got from the community was
overwhelmingly positive."
Such client experiences are not uncommon: Blackboard mass
notification products offer many advantages that uniquely suit them
to communicating during tropical weather:
- A Software-as-a-Service model enables users to record and send
messages from any location, whether a hardened alert operations
center or an evacuation post miles from the affected zone.
- Server and telecom facilities provide the speed, capacity and
redundancy communities need to send tens of thousands of messages
quickly and reliably.
- Multi-channel delivery options, including voice, email, SMS –
and new Facebook and Twitter alerts – increase the likelihood that
parents, students and constituents will receive notifications, even
if some networks are inaccessible in the wake of a storm.
- No per-message pricing plans that might cause users to think
twice before sending vital information. Blackboard customers don't
have to worry about trade-offs between public communications and
cost – freeing them to alert clients with safety instructions at
each stage of a hurricane event.
"When they have critical information to communicate, leaders
shouldn't have to wonder if their mass notification service will
work reliably and quickly, or if they can afford to send a critical
alert," said Ed Miller, President of
Blackboard Connect. "Even when storms have knocked the power out,
our redundant systems help school and community leaders reach
families across multiple communications channels. It's a point of
pride for us that Blackboard Connect mass notification solutions
are ready when our clients need them most."
For more information about Blackboard's mass notification
solutions, visit
http://www.blackboard.com/Alert-Notification/Resources/Landing-Page.aspx
About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) is a global leader in enterprise
technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of
millions of students and learners around the world every day.
Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12,
professional, corporate, and government organizations to extend
teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and
security, and communicate more effectively with their communities.
Founded in 1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North America, Europe, Asia
and Australia.
Any statements in this press release about future
expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard and other
statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans,"
"expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ
materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements
as a result of various important factors, including the factors
discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Form 10-Q filed
on May 7, 2010 with the SEC. In
addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press
release represent the Company's views as of May 27, 2010. The Company anticipates that
subsequent events and developments will cause the Company's views
to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these
forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company
specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These
forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as
representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to
May 27 2010.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.