Outbound Call Center Featured Article

Blackboard Delivers Over 13 Million Messages Due to Winter Storms

By Sujata Garud
TMCnet Contributor

Blackboard Inc. delivered more than 13 million messages in a single day on Jan. 11, marking an unprecedented level of outreach in a 24 hour period for the company and highlighting the speed of its mass notification services.

The messages were sent on behalf of education and local government leaders for mass notification capabilities due to severe winter storms across much of the nation.

In a press release, Ed Miller, president of Blackboard (News - Alert) Connect, said, “When winter weather serves up its worst, leaders around the country turn to Blackboard to relay critical information to their communities. 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.”

Officials can use the Blackboard Connect and AlertNow services, officials to 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, Jan. 11 surpassed Blackboard's previous highest level of outreach by some 3 million calls.

Outreach spiked early on Jan. 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 delivered1.6 million messages in a single hour, between 6 and 7 p.m. Eastern.

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.

Recently, Blackboard was in news when it completed its purchase of 90 percent of Presidium for $53 million in cash. Presidium provides student management services for admissions, financial aid and other IT support.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications & technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2011, taking place Feb 2-4, 2011, in Miami. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.

Sujata Garud is a TMCnet freelancer with three years of writing/editing experience and two years of market research experience. As an editor she has covered the IT, electronics, banking, pharma, construction, mining and healthcare industries. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Janice McDuffee