Blackboard Announces the Availability of the EasySwitch Conversion Program to Enable Migration from WebCT to the Blackboard Learning System.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2002

Blackboard Reiterates Support for its Basic and Enterprise Licensees

Blackboard Inc., the leading software infrastructure company for e-Education, announced today the Blackboard EasySwitch program.

The Blackboard EasySwitch program allows institutions using WebCT to rapidly and cost effectively migrate their existing courses to the Blackboard Learning System.

The Blackboard EasySwitch program is designed for:

-- Institutions that desire a basic course management system and are migrating
to Blackboard because of concerns that WebCT is ending support of its Standard
Edition product;

-- WebCT licensees who are concerned about financial costs and pedagogical
disruption because they will be required to migrate to new technologies and
license terms;

-- Institutions that want to convert legacy courses to their Blackboard
Learning System but have been required to maintain a WebCT license for archival
purposes; or,

-- Institutions that currently use multiple course management systems and want
to standardize across the campus with a single reliable learning solution with
long term viability.

Marty Smith, Chief Information Officer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and an immediate adopter of this program, commented, "Blackboard's new course conversion technology provides Embry-Riddle with an affordable web-based tool to migrate our existing department-level legacy courses from WebCT to our fully integrated Blackboard e-Education environment."

EasySwitch Integrates Technology and Services for High Quality Affordable Conversions The Blackboard EasySwitch program utilizes proprietary technology that was developed to handle conversion of existing courses to the open Blackboard format, which is based on IMS standards.

In addition, the program leverages skilled consultants who work closely with the institution to ensure that data is accurately transferred, properly formatted, and delivered correctly in the Blackboard Learning System.

"We are pleased to offer institutions the conversion technology and services that protect past investments in unsupported or discontinued technologies," said Michael Chasen, Chief Executive Officer of Blackboard. "Having released our enterprise course management system and its basic edition over a year and a half ago, we have seen significant interest from institutions running WebCT looking to migrate but are concerned about the quality and cost of conversion. EasySwitch was designed for them."

Participants that join the Blackboard EasySwitch program who do not currently license the Blackboard Learning System may be eligible for a credit of their current WebCT License toward the purchase of either the basic version or the enterprise edition of the Blackboard Learning System.

Blackboard's Commitment to Academic Institutions of All Sizes and Levels

Blackboard will continue to innovate and develop all of its products for the benefit of all its clients. Recently, Blackboard invested more than $10 million in research and development for the Blackboard Learning System (Release 6) and a multi-lingual edition of its product. This investment will benefit all of the company's 2,300 clients regardless of license level or institution size.

"Blackboard's upcoming release contains many new and exciting, pedagogically innovative features, and we are looking forward to migrating to the new version," said Caroline Hecht, Course Technologies Project Manager at Cornell University. "We are pleased to see that Blackboard is committed to providing continuous innovation and support to its entire client base, including those of us using the Basic Edition of the software."

Institutions interested in learning more about the Blackboard EasySwitch program can contact the company at [e-mail] or 800/424-9299.

About Blackboard

Blackboard Inc. was founded to transform the Internet into a powerful environment for teaching and learning. The company offers a complete suite of enterprise software products and services that power a total "e-Education Infrastructure" for schools, colleges, universities and other education providers.

Blackboard solutions deliver the promise of the Internet for online teaching and learning, campus communities, auxiliary services and integration of Web-enabled student services and back office systems.

The Blackboard Learning, Community Portal, and Transaction Systems are consistently ranked by industry analysts as the market share and customer satisfaction leaders for thousands of academic institutions and a leading number of the Internet's most popular consumer education sites. The company is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices and staff across North America, Europe and Asia. Please visit www.blackboard.com for more information.