Best-of-breed Features, Flexibility and Scalability Lead to Selection as Core Component of Online Distance Learning Community of Up To One Million Students and Teachers
Open Text(TM) Corporation (TSX:OTC)(NASDAQ:OTEX), the world's largest provider
of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software, today announced that The Open
University, the UK's largest university and a world leader in distance education,
is developing a large-scale Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) that extends
its use of FirstClass, the leading collaboration and communications platform
for academic institutions. The VLE will be one of the world's most extensive
and will accommodate up to one million users. Open Text announced the news at
the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Philadelphia, which
is underway this week.
FirstClass delivers a platform independent, cost-effective and feature-rich
solution that enables academic organizations to create collaborative online
communities connecting students, faculty, and administrators. FirstClass delivers
a broad range of features including email, calendaring, instant messaging, collaboration
and document sharing, web publishing and unified messaging. FirstClass is deployed
in more than 3000 academic institutions and is offered by the FirstClass Division
of Open Text.
"The Open University is pleased to be continuing its on-going and collaborative
relationship with Open Text," said Joel Greenberg, Director of Strategic
Development, Learning and Teaching Solutions with The Open University. "In
particular, we look forward to working with the FirstClass Division of Open
Text to deliver components of the FirstClass system into our new Virtual Learning
Environment based on interoperability standards."
The Open University maintains one of the largest and most successful online
learning communities in the world, currently supporting over 350,000 active
students and associate lecturers -- each with licensed access to FirstClass.
The University's VLE is designed to enhance the online learning experience for
both students and teachers by offering a collaborative, interactive community
that facilitates:
- Teacher-to-student and student-to-student communications including email,
instant messaging, online "meeting spaces" and areas for teacher-hosted
course support;
- Information exchange via file upload areas, where instructors can "drag-and-drop"
documents and course resources, with permission-based access by students;
- Discussion forums where students and teachers can discuss specific courses
or topics;
- Online announcements to inform students of important course-related information;
- Remote access to personalized learning environments from any computer, at
any time.
"We are thrilled that The Open University is extending its use of FirstClass
for this strategically important project to create one of the world's largest
online distance learning communities," said John Myers, General Manager
of FirstClass, a division of Open Text. "The Open University is an example
of how progressive academic organizations are moving beyond simple email or
groupware applications, to more powerful solutions that enable collaborative
learning communities for students and faculty."
NECC Conference
The FirstClass Division of Open Text
will be exhibiting in Booth 2424 at the National Educational Computing Conference
(NECC) in Philadelphia this week, June 28-30, 2005, at the Pennsylvania Convention
Center. For more information on the conference, go to: http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2005/.
For more information on FirstClass, go to www.firstclass.com.
About Open University
The Open University is the UK's largest
university and a world leader in distance education. For more than 30 years,
it has been at the forefront of global development in designing and delivering
higher education programmes that make intelligent use of combining the latest
communications technologies with traditional teaching methods. It has more than
200,000 students in more than 40 countries studying for a variety of degrees
and vocational qualifications ranging from short courses to PhDs. More than
2 million people have used the OU to gain access to university study from their
homes and workplaces - many of whom would have been denied access to conventional
universities (the OU has no prerequisites for its undergraduate courses). But
this successful mass higher education has been achieved while maintaining the
same quality standards as leading conventional British universities. Independent
authorities have consistently ranked the OU in the top five UK universities
for teaching quality, and virtually all of its research areas have received
ratings of national or international excellence. Employers also vote for the
value of the university by sponsoring nearly 30,000 students a year to do OU
courses, and a quarter of Britain's MBA students are doing their degree through
the Open University Business School. For further information, please visit www.open.ac.uk.
About Open Text
Open Text(TM) is the market leader in providing Enterprise Content Management
(ECM) solutions that bring together people, processes and information in global
organizations. Today, the company supports almost 20 million seats across 13,000
deployments in 114 countries and 12 languages worldwide. For more information
on Open Text, go to: www.opentext.com
Safe Harbor Statement
This news release may contain forward-looking statements relating to the success
of any of the Company's strategic initiatives, the Company's growth and profitability
prospects, the benefits of the Company's products to be realized by customers,
the Company's position in the market and future opportunities therein, the deployment
of Livelink, FirstClass and our other products by customers, and future performance
of Open Text Corporation. Forward-looking statements may also include, without
limitation, any statement relating to future events, conditions or circumstances.
Forward-looking statements in this release are not promises or guarantees and
are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ
materially. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks involved
in the completion and integration of acquisitions, the possibility of technical,
logistical or planning issues in connection with deployments, the continuous
commitment of the Company's customers and other risks detailed from time to
time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),
including the Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2004. You should not place
undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which are based on
management's beliefs and opinions at the time the statements are made, and the
Company does not undertake any obligations to update forward-looking statements
should circumstances or management's beliefs or opinions change.
Copyright (C) 2005 by Open Text Corporation. LIVELINK, FIRSTCLASS and OPEN
TEXT are trademarks or registered trademarks of Open Text Corporation in the
United States of America, Canada, the European Union and/or other countries.
This list of trademarks is not exhaustive. Other trademarks, registered trademarks,
product names, company names, brands and service names mentioned herein are
property of Open Text Corporation or other respective owners.
