Blackboard Inc.

Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB, http://www.blackboard.com) is a software company based in Washington,_DC, USA. Founded in 1997, Blackboard began as a consulting firm contracting to the non-profit IMS Global Learning Consoritum (http://www.imsglobal.org). In 1998, Blackboard LLC merged with CourseInfo LLC, a small course management software provider, to form Blackboard Inc. The first line of e-learning products was branded Blackboard Courseinfo, but the Courseinfo brand was dropped in 2000. Blackboard went public in June 2004.

Today, Blackboard develops and licenses enterprise software applications and related services to over 2200 education institutions in more than 60 countries. These institutions use Blackboard software to manage e-learning, transaction processing and e-commerce, and online communities. Blackboard's product line includes:

• The Blackboard Academic Suite, consisting of
  • The Blackboard Learning System, a course management system
  • The Blackboard Community System, a community and portal system
  • The Blackboard Content System, a content management system

• The Blackboard Commerce Suite, consisting of
  • The Blackboard Transaction System, a transaction processing (debit card) system tied to university IDs
  • The Blackboard Community System, an e-commerce front end for the Transaction System
  • Bb One, a network of commercial and retail business that accept Blackboard-powered debit card transactions

Blackboard also has an open architecture, called Building Blocks (http://buildingblocks.blackboard.com), that can be used to extend the functionality of Blackboard products or integrate them with other software systems.