WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to
severe winter storms across much of the nation, education and local
government leaders used mass notification capabilities from
Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) to send more than 13 million
messages in a single day on January
11, marking an unprecedented level of outreach in a 24 hour
period for the company and highlighting the speed and reliability
of its mass notification services.
Officials nationwide leveraged the Blackboard
Connect™ and AlertNow™ services to
keep their communities aware of the latest weather conditions,
school and road closures, and other snow emergency procedures with
an array of phone, text and e-mail messages. At the same time,
Blackboard notification tools were busy delivering hundreds of
thousands of routine messages without delay, including attendance
notices, public health messages and other scheduled
communications.
"When winter weather serves up its worst, leaders around the
country turn to Blackboard to relay critical information to their
communities," said Ed Miller,
President of Blackboard Connect. "Times like these remind us that,
when it comes to the safety of our schools and communities, speed
and reliability matter most – and today we have millions of
informed recipients to prove it."
Using the Blackboard Connect™ and
AlertNow™ services, officials can record, send
and track personalized voice messages to landlines and mobile
phones, as well as e-mail, text messages (SMS), and messages to
TTY/TDD devices for people who are hearing impaired. Among the 13.7
million messages delivered in the 24 hour period were some 10.4
million voice calls, 3 million e-mails and 300,000 SMS alerts. For
voice messages alone, January 11
surpassed Blackboard's previous highest level of outreach by some 3
million calls.
Outreach spiked early on January
11, as school districts in the Eastern U.S. began to send
calls for school closures and delayed openings. In the middle of
the day, traffic was characterized more by cities and counties
warning residents of dangerous roads and communicating snow removal
plans. By late afternoon, as weather continued to worsen, many
districts closed school for the following day. During this time,
Blackboard's mass notification platform delivered an unprecedented
1.6 million messages in a single hour, between 6 and 7 p.m. Eastern.
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110113/SF30243)
The strong performance of Blackboard's communications platform
is the result of significant investments in capacity and strong
relationships with telecommunications providers that enable
Blackboard Connect™ and
AlertNow™ services to deliver millions of
messages per hour. In 2010, the system achieved a new standard of
reliability, with 99.999 percent uptime.
For more information about Blackboard's mass notification
solutions, please visit http://blackboard.com/connect.
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 November 5, 2010 with the SEC. In
addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press
release represent the Company's views as of January 13, 2011. 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
January 13, 2011.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.