New Card Technology Brings
Enhanced Security, Convenience
and Speed
WASHINGTON – March 5, 2010 –
Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB)
has announced the general
availability of Release 3.6 of
Blackboard Transact™,
and with it the introduction of
a unique contactless campus
ecosystem that aims to make the
student experience significantly
more convenient and secure.
Developed specifically for
higher education institutions in
the United States, the fully
integrated technology platform
transforms the way students
navigate life on and off campus.
Using smart cards with built-in
chips that enable payment or
entry with a wave or a tap,
students can get into secure
buildings and facilities, pay
for books, meals and laundry and
even access campus events – all
at significantly faster speeds
than with traditional
identification technologies.
Already used by hundreds of
institutions to support campus
commerce and security,
Blackboard Transact is the first
platform to fully support the
industry leading, standards
based Near Field Communication
(NFC) contactless technology.
And
while there are more than 400
million cards and mobile phones
worldwide that carry Sony’s
FeliCa contactless technology,
Blackboard’s platform is the
first to bring FeliCa to U.S.
colleges and universities to
enable a faster, safer, more
convenient system that
integrates better with many
technologies already on campus.
“We saw Blackboard’s contactless
solution as a way for us to keep
pace with rapidly changing
technology by adopting a
solution based on industry
standards,” said Nirmal
Palliyaguru, Director of ACCESS
and Conference Services at Santa
Clara University. “We knew that
Blackboard Transact would help
us solve the challenge of
increasing data security and
establish a base from which we
could expand the platform in
years to come. Ultimately we see
this technology allowing us to
replace campus ID cards with
mobile phones and devices as the
ID.”
“To continually improve the
student experience it is
critical to methodically
innovate and introduce new
technologies that meet the
increasing demands of today’s
students and deliver real return
on every dollar invested,” said
David Marr, President and Chief
Operating Officer of Blackboard
Transact. “Smart contactless
technology meets these criteria
by letting institutions support
and monitor all commerce and
security activity from one place
while students enjoy the on
demand college experience
they’ve come to expect.”
With Sony’s Felica technology,
the Blackboard Transact
contactless solution offers a
secure file system and data
communications structure that
enables communication between
the software, the card reader
and the FeliCa card via mutual
authentication and encrypted
data transfer.
Along with the release of
Blackboard Transact 3.6, the
company also introduced a new
contactless card reader
specifically designed for
contactless transactions. The
flagship model, the VR4100
Contactless Vending Reader,
supports Bluetooth and full
video playback, allowing for a
rich video experience for
advertising, alerts and
notifications and other special
messages on a full color touch
screen.
By
introducing contactless, the
Blackboard Transact platform
brings an innovative
solution to a wide array of
institutional needs and helps
institutions more fully leverage
their investments in technology.
The
platform includes capabilities
within two integrated modules
that are complemented by a host
of strategic consulting and
support services:
-
Commerce Management:
facilitates campus ID card
issuance, on-campus,
off-campus, and online
commerce; cashless payment
processing for dining,
bookstore, vending, laundry,
copy, print and parking
services; financial
reporting; and self-service
account management.
-
Security Management:
monitors all campus activity
using integrated door access
control, video surveillance
and mass notification
capabilities.
For
more information about
Blackboard Transact contactless
solutions, please visit
http://www.blackboard.com/contactless.
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.
