Industry Briefs
NEWS
CHANGE IS GOOD.
CyberLearning Labs, developer of enterprise learning management systems, has
changed its name to better align itself with the identity of its Angel LMS flagship
product; the company will now be known as Angel Learning (www.angellearning.com).
Although the name has changed, the elements of the organization remain the same,
say company spokespeople.
21st CENTURY VIDEO CONFERENCING.
Out with the old, in with the new. As institutions cycle out of their older
TDM-based, multipoint video conferencing equipment, and upgrade to new IP-based
systems, Radvision (www.radvision.com)
video conferencing solutions launches a series of initiatives (including special
education bundles) enabling schools to take advantage of low-cost upgrades.
With this first initiative, Radvision’s viaIP Multipoint Conferencing
Unit (MCU) has been approved for sale through the FCC Universal Service Administration
Company (USAC) Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) E-Rate program (www.sl.univeralservice.org),
which makes its products eligible for federal funding via the Federal E-Rate
program.
Upgrading to Campus Management.
Instead of relying on multiple sources, Santa Barbara Business College
(CA) has streamlined its student information and administrative workflow management
systems by moving to a single-source solution, CampusVue, from Campus Management
(www.campusmgmt.com),
provider of administrative solutions.
M&A, ETC.
COVERING THE WLAN MARKET.
Chantry Networks (www.chantrynetworks.com),
provider of secure integrated mobility management solutions, has recently announced
an agreement to be acquired by Siemens (www.siemens.com),
the global communications company. Siemens spokespeople say the acquisition
will strengthen and expand the company’s position in the WLAN market.
More specifically, Siemens will integrate Chantry’s mobile office applications
with their WLAN solutions. The acquisition is expected to close early this year.
FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES.
During the final days of Educause 2004, networking giant Cisco Systems (www.cisco.com)
announced its intent to acquire Perfigo (www.perfigo.com),
a network solutions company. Under the agreement, Cisco will pay approximately
$74 million in cash for Perfigo. According to Cisco spokespeople, the acquisition
will enhance Cisco’s Self Defending Network security strategy and provide
small- and medium-sized enterprises with secure networks. Final conditions should
be wrapped up by the second quarter of Cisco’s 2005 fiscal year.
PEOPLE
MOVIN’ ON UP.
In an effort to expand future stages of development, Blackboard (www.blackboard.com),
the enterprise software application provider, recently announced Tim Hill as
the new senior vice president of Marketing. He joins Blackboard with more than
20 years of experience in sales and marketing. Prior to joining the company,
Hill was the founder and president of Hill partners, an integrated marketing
consultancy, and did stints at Saga Software, and Iomega, the personal storage
solutions provider.
STEPPING IN.
As CEO/chairman/president John Murray steps down from Plato Learning (www.plato.com),
provider of computer-based eLearning instruction, David W. Smith, interim CEO,
steps up. Smith joins Plato with 30 years of experience in education products
and services. Formerly, he worked with data collection service provider NCS
Pearson, multimedia publisher McGraw-Hill, and Houghton Mifflin, the textbook
publisher.