Blackboard Connect Supports Growth of New York City's Successful Notification Program
Notify NYC expands to bring important alerts to residents citywide
WASHINGTON, June 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- New York City's closely
watched notification and alert program expanded recently to serve residents
citywide, thanks to the success of the initiative's pilot phase which has been
supported by Blackboard Connect(TM) mass notification technology from
Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB).
Notify NYC began in December 2007 as a pilot program covering four
neighborhoods. Since then, New York's Office of Emergency Management has
successfully delivered important and relevant messages to thousands of city
residents. Last week the program expanded to cover the entire city, and
residents can sign up to receive alerts - via text, email and voicemail
messages - on everything from public health warnings, natural disasters and
AMBER alerts to subway delays, school closures and alternate side parking
changes.
"Anyone will be able to sign up for neighborhood-specific emergency alerts
on their cell phone, email, or home landline," said New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg. "You can be just about anywhere and receive instantaneous
information about events of concern in your community, or any other area of
the city. Many New Yorkers have this technology in their pockets, and I'm glad
that their government can now supply them with timely emergency information."
Drawing on the experience gained in delivering over 1 billion messages for
more than 2,500 government and education organizations nationwide, the
Blackboard Connect platform has enabled officials at state and local
governments, federal and military agencies and K-12 and higher education
institutions to reach residents, students and parents quickly, regardless of
their location or preferred method of communication.
"We're proud to partner with New York in expanding this successful program
that can help New Yorkers be more engaged and aware of events around them,"
Brendan Cotter, President of Blackboard Connect for Government. "We've worked
for years with large cities, agencies, institutions and systems that have the
same goals and challenges that New York does in making their notification
program successful, and look forward to leveraging that experience to support
a greater number of residents."
The Blackboard Connect platform focuses on multi-modal communication:
sending messages through multiple modes of communication to ensure a greater
probability that more individuals can be reached more quickly. The platform
supports voice messages to land lines, cell phones and satellite phones; text
messages to cell phones, PDAs, networked digital signage and other text-based
devices; text messages to e-mail accounts; and messages to TTY/TDD receiving
devices for the hearing impaired.
Notify NYC is the product of a multi-year mayoral initiative to enhance
and strengthen the City's public communication systems and improve the
coordination of public information during major events. Notify NYC will
integrate information and technology services for multiple City agencies, and
provide the public with a one-stop destination for time-sensitive and
important notifications.
New York City residents can sign up for the Notify NYC alerts online at
http://www.nyc.gov or by calling 311. Residents can register multiple email
addresses or phone numbers, and can elect to receive different types of
alerts.
For more information about Blackboard Connect solutions, please visit
http://www.blackboard.com/Alert-Notification/Connect-Platform.aspx.
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 May 7, 2009 with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking
statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of
June 4, 2009. 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 June 4, 2009.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.
06/04/2009
CONTACT: Matthew Maurer of Blackboard Inc.,
1-202-463-4860 ext. 2637,
matthew.maurer@blackboard.com, or Kierstan DeLong of Edelman, 1-916-267-1904,
Kierstan.Delong@edelman.com, for Blackboard Inc.
Web Site: http://www.blackboard.com
(BBBB)