Elluminate, Inc., the leading provider of web, audio, video , and social networking solutions that support 21 st century teaching, learning, and collaboration, announced today continued growth in adoption, usage, revenue, and customers. Bookings for the third quarter of 2009 grew over 60 percent year-to-year, fueled by significant customer renewals and upgrades, as well as many new global customers for both K12 and Higher Education markets. This results in a total of over 1,400 institutional customers who have purchased Elluminate solutions worldwide, representing over 7 million annual participants in Elluminate sessions.
Elluminate is experiencing exponential growth in adoption and usage with more than 625 million minutes of live, online instruction served annually. In addition to the increased use of Elluminate solutions to meet the challenges of 21 st century teaching and learning, much of this growth is fueled by the use of Elluminate web conferencing solutions to address tightened operational and travel budgets.
During the 3 rd quarter, Elluminate announced numerous product and service enhancements. These include an integration of the Elluminate Live!® virtual classroom environment with Desire2Learn Learning Environment , new seat configurations and increased affordability of single-room starter configurations of Elluminate vSpaces™ , the general availability of Elluminate Plan! ™ 2.0 and Elluminate VCS™ 2.0 , and an accredited online Teacher Certification Program .
In addition, the company continued to focus on providing comprehensive solutions for major educational initiatives, such as faculty and staff professional development and continuity of learning , as well as the continuing expansion of LearnCentral™ , a social learning network for educators, sponsored by Elluminate. LearnCentral has over 22,000 members and is growing at a rate of over 1,000 new members per week.
During the third quarter, Elluminate welcomed over 270 new customers from a variety of institutions, including virtual schools, departments of education, school districts, community colleges, universities, corporations, and other organizations, demonstrating the wide appeal for strategic investment in real-time collaborative solutions. These include Bowie State University, Camosun College, Chattanooga State Community College, King Faisal University, Mississippi Virtual Public School, New York Law School, North Carolina A&T State University, Plainfield Public Schools, Royal Roads University, San Diego State University, Southeastern University, University of Dayton, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Texas at Brownsville, Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de Mexico, University of Pretoria, Universidad Rafael Landivar, University of Tromso, and Vancouver Island University.
“Demand for the use of concurrent Elluminate seats grew dramatically to where scheduling was arduous to manage,” said Nicolas Gagnon, director, Bureau of Pedagogical Services, Laval University. “Our upgrade to enterprise-wide, open-access licensing is one more way to help us maintain our online and distance learning leadership.”
“MVPS chose Elluminate because it was easy to use and allowed us the flexibility we need to help students be successful in an online environment,” said Tamara Billingsley, an instructor at Mississippi Virtual Public School. “We have already started using Elluminate to hold synchronous learning sessions with students and provide a virtual help desk that is open to all students every night, which allows them to drop in and get immediate assistance. In addition, we are offering training sessions and professional development opportunities for teachers.”
“Elluminate is extremely proud to have earned the commitment and loyalty of so many enthusiastic customers worldwide, especially in these challenging economic times,” said Maurice Heiblum, president, Elluminate, Inc. “Our continuing growth across academic markets not only represents the willingness of institutions at all levels to invest in enabling technology that is positively impacting education, but also the realization that Elluminate solutions enable customers to significantly reduce costs and generate new sources of revenue.”
About Elluminate, Inc.
Elluminate, Inc. provides proven, best-in-class web, audio, video, and social networking solutions that support 21 st century teaching, learning, and collaboration. The company serves more than 624 million annual web-collaboration minutes to over 7 million teachers and students located in 170 different countries. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and Pleasanton, California, Elluminate is the trusted choice of prominent academic institutions and corporations, including ADP, Apple Computer, California State University, Florida Virtual School, Georgetown University, K12 Inc., London Knowledge Lab, Los Angeles Unified School District, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Novell, Queen’s University, Royal Veterinary College, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, and many more. For more information, visit http://www.elluminate.com .