Late this afternoon, Blackboard Inc. announced that it is acquiring synchronous and collaboration technology leaders Elluminate and Wimba.
The teams from these companies will combine to become Blackboard Collaborate, intended as a standalone platform to support synchronous live courses over the Web. The Collaborate technology will supplement traditional classroom courses, support full distance-learning courses, and facilitate other collaborative uses such as virtual office hours, team meetings, professional development, student projects, mentoring, and tutoring.
Blackboard Collaborate's major goal is to provide continued support for integrations with open source applications and with commercial learning management systems (LMSs). The product will draw on a variety of capabilities and technologies from all three companies, including audio, video, white board, and social learning.
In the press release, Michael L. Chasen, Blackboard President and CEO stated that, “Collaboration technology is joining the range of solutions that our clients are leveraging to support and improve the teaching and learning experience. We expect this will grow as institutions look for cost-effective ways to encourage social learning and support learning interactions of all kinds.”
The deal is expected to close in August. In the announcement, Blackboard Inc. stated that the acquisitions were made for $116 million in cash.
Press release: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Blackboard-to-Acquire-prnews-3205930566.html?x=0&.v=1
Related financial information: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Blackboard-buying-Elluminate-apf-3334386395.html?x=0&.v=1 and http://biz.yahoo.com/e/100707/bbbb8-k.html
