Blackboard Delivers Over 13 Million Messages in Response to Winter Storms

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.

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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.